Something Amazing

I saw something truly amazing during my visit to Lewis last year. My wife and I were staying in a cottage on Great Bernera, and one day we decided to drive to Stornoway to visit Museum nan Eilean at Lews Castle. The museum was fantastic, and as I was looking at the various items on display I noticed an unusual dark green stone mounted high on a wall. It was egg shaped, with veins of lighter green running through it: a talisman of some kind. In an instant a memory of something I read 30 years ago popped into my head, and I knew what it was before reading the adjacent information plaque. Before me was something fantastic; something I thought I'd never see.

What was it?  It was something Frasier Darling found over 80 years ago buried below the altar of St Ronan's Cell in far off North Rona.

St Ronan's Cell (beehive cell oratory at left)

Inside the oratory - altar (and fulmar) at bottom

Here is Darling's description (from A Naturalist on Rona; pp. 43-44) of what he found while excavating the altar in St Ronan's cell:

As I was digging at floor level beside the altar my spade was deflected from a rounded stone which, even in the dim light of the cell, showed green. My first thought was - Iona Marble - a stone of which I am familiar, for I always carry some small pieces in my pocket. I picked up the stone, washed it, and found a piece of smooth, dark-green marble about the size and shape of a sheep's heart. There was an intricate veining of lighter green. No rock of this kind occurs naturally on Rona, and, found in this place of all others, I wondered if St Ronan had been to the collage of Iona and had brought this piece of stone to his church on Rona to be a symbol of the mother foundation.... this stone has left Rona with me, so that it may be seen by antiquaries and men of science, and that it may not be lost. But it must go back to its place as part of Ronan's altar and not be kept by me or placed in a museum. I have left a token of good faith of my present custodianship by burying three of my own pebbles of Iona marble in the masonry of the altar. Fanciful, perhaps, but it has pleased me so to do.

Oh how I wish I'd taken a photo of the Rona stone when I saw it in the museum. But I did not have a camera with me, and even if I did I doubt that the docents in the museum would have approved of taking a photo. 

So next time you are in Stornoway be sure to pay a visit to Museum nan Eilean at Lews Castle. And while there take the time to find a beautiful green stone mounted high on the wall - it is easy to miss. Darling did not want to see it end up in a museum, but I think it's the best place for it; although I wonder how many tourist who see it truly appreciate this ancient relic of island history.

If you are interested in visiting North Rona consider joining our ten-day cruise in July of 2019.

Postscript (May 6, 2018): I was just reading DDC Pochin Mould's book Irish Pilgrimages. On page 81 there is a description of a stone strikingly similar to the one found on Rona:

Martin Martin (1695) tells of St Moluag's Ball... this is Moluag of Lismore, who was originally a monk of Bangor in Ireland before crossing to Scotland. The stone was round and green, 'about the bigness of a goose egg'; it was used for swearing oaths, for curing stitches, and for throwing at enemies armies, the opposing force being flung into confusion and at once running away. Macdonald of the Isles was said to have carried the stone and always to have been victorious when he had it with him. The stone had a hereditary keeper of the Clan Chattan.

This makes me wonder if at some point St Moluag's stone found its way to Rona.

The Witches' Home - Canna

I have posted before on Canna's Prison Rock (see the November 14, 2014 post). I was just reading John Lorne Campbell's Canna: The Story of A Hebridean Island, and in it I came across an amazing drawing of The Prison that I'd not seen before: The Witches' Home, by Richard Doyle.

'The Witches' Home' by Richard Doyle

Richard Doyle was an illustrator in the mid 19th century. He visited Canna on two occasions, once in 1859, and again in 1875. It was during the 1875 visit that he made two drawings of An Coroghan, also known as The Prison, an 80-foot stack at the east end of Canna. An Coroghan is a corruption of An Corra-dhun, which means something like the extraordinary (or peculiar) fort. 

It is indeed an extraordinary fort, but one that is slowly crumbling away. There is a little sign next to it saying that the National Trust intends to stabilise the structure. But it's been 20 years since I first encountered that sign (it is still there) and nothing has been done. It's been over 10 years since I last climbed to the top of An Coroghon, which is something I would not do again, as the structure appears ready to tumble down at any moment. 

These days the stack is best left to the witches, who can fly to it on their brooms without causing any damage. If you'd like to see Doyle's drawing it is in the V&A Museum.

Best left to the witches

The Rona Cross

I think the North Rona three-holed-cross is the most intriguing early Christian monument in the Hebrides. When I first saw it in 1990, it looked a bit sad and neglected, standing in a dusty case in a dark corner of Teampull Mholuaidh in Eoropie, a mile south of the Butt of Lewis. Here is a photo of the cross from 1990 - you can see it to the left of the very young fellow in the white coat. (Oh how he wishes he took a close up photo of the cross back then.)

The Rona Cross in Teampull Mholuaidh - 1990

Teampull Mholuaidh - 1990

In 1992 the cross was placed in the custody of the Ness Historical Society, and it can be seen today in their museum in Ness. 

The most informative history of the cross that I have come across is Michael Robson's Rona: The Distant Island. In it, he says the cross was removed from Rona 'more than 50 years ago'. As the book was published in 1990, I assume that means it was taken to Lewis in the 1930s. Michael Robson's wonderful book was given to me by Rhoddy MacLeod in 2006. Rhoddy, who passed away in 2011, now lies buried in the holy ground of St Michael's, on the island of Little Bernera.

The Rona Cross on the cover of Rona: The Distant Island, by Michael Robson

Memorial to Rhoddy Macleod - Little Berneray

The Rona cross is an interesting stone. It is pierced by three holes; perhaps symbols of the trinity, and these holes line up with the neck, and armpits, of a figure carved on the cross. Even more odd is the giant phallus/fertility symbol depicted on the torso of the figure, which was either missed (or ignored) by those who wrote about the cross for many years. One of the first depictions of the cross, based on T.S. Muir's drawing from the 1850s, is a simple outline drawing used on the cover of an early book on Rona by Malcolm Stewart: Ronay (1933).

It is a shame the cross was taken from Rona.These days you'll find a half dozen similar cross-stones in-situ on Rona, and some collected inside St Ronan's Chapel, but none have holes in them.

Cross-Stones at the entrance to St Ronan's Cell - 1

Cross-Stones at the entrance to St Ronan's Cell - 2

Cross stone still in the burial ground

The earliest known (I think) photo of the three-holed-cross, is this 1887 photo that shows J A Harvie Brown at St Ronan's Chapel. Brown can be seen reclining in the grass (marked with a 'B'). The three-holed-cross is marked with an 'A'.

If you've read book 2, then you know that during a visit to Rona in 2002 I wanted, but did not have the time, to recreate that photo of Harvie-Brown reclining in the grass by St Ronan's Chapel. But on a return visit in 2011 I had plenty of time to play around, and so I took this 'selfie' reclining in the grass in front of the chapel. The original location of the three-holed-cross is marked with an 'X".

A year before that return to Rona, my wife and I visited the museum in Ness to see the three-holed-cross. Although part of me would like to see it in its true home, it is probably a good thing the stone is now in the safe-keeping of the museum. So next time you're on Lewis, be sure to visit the museum to pay your respects to the ancient cross of St Ronan. And if you want an experience to remember for a lifetime, dedicate a couple week's holiday to get out to North Rona. Northern Light Charters offers such a trip every other year. Unfortunately their 2015 trip is fully booked, but perhaps, if the demand is there, they'll offer it again in 2017.

Scenes from North Rona

In 2011 I was fortunate to spend two consecutive summer days on North Rona. The grass was tall, the sun was shining, the sea was calm, and the skuas were dive bombing. I spent my time exploring the village and St Ronan's cell, enjoying the view from atop the lighthouse on Toa Rona, climbing over the ridge to see Tunnel Cave and the site of Fraser Darling's camp. Best of all was standing at the western tip of this fascinating isle, where the only land to be seen in the sea were the two humpy rocks of tiny Sulaisgeir.

Here are a few photos from two long Rona walkabouts.

Memorial stone to Malcom MacDonald and Murdo Mackay

Inside St Ronan's Cell

St Ronan's Church and Cell

Memorial stone and the church

Toa Rona and the lighthouse

The north end seen from the ridge

Tunnel Cave

Toa Rona seen from the north end

The lighthouse

North end panorama

Skua soaring over the village

Entrance to Ronan's Cell

Researcher's shack

A well stocked shack

Beehive dwelling in the village - Sula in the distance

Sula seen from Rona (zoom)

Sulaisgeir of the Gannets

Here are a few views of Sulaisgeir from a visit in 2011. I was hoping we'd be able to land, but it was not to be. Although the sky was clear and the wind slight, the sea was still lumpy from a week of bad weather. I will have to try again someday. 

The landing place (left centre)

The light beacon - 1

The light beacon - 2

Some of the cairns of the men of Ness

Sula - North Rona in the distance