A mere three miles long by one and a half wide – composed of Torridonian sandstone, curiously unrelated geologically to neighbouring Mull – Iona is richer in Christian association than any other Scottish Island. In 563AD St Columba left Ireland with 12 companions to come...
The turbulent Tory Sound separates this windswept island from the north-western corner of mainland Donegal. Given that rough weather can cut off the tiny island for days, it is not surprising that Tory’s inhabitants have developed a strong sense of independence. Most islanders speak Gaelic...
Glencolumbkille (the glen of St. Columba), is said to have been a favourite retreat of the saint and his disciples. On the hillside ascending north to Glen Head – a sheer precipice 227m high, with a Napoleonic signal tower above it – are the House,...
From the rasping spout of a minke whale as it breaks he surface of the sea off the coast of Islay, to the mysterious ‘krek-krek-krek’ of a corncake hiding amid the long summer grass of Coll, the coast and islands of southwest Scotland are filled...
Kells/Ceanannus, County Meath One of the great centres of Celtic Christianity. where the Book of Kells may have been written and illustrated, this busy little crossroads today offers numerous reminders of its glorious past. Kells is also known as Ceanannus Mor. In AD 563, St Colmcille, also...
Island Of Saints And Scholars The coming of Christianity to Ireland in early 5th century was unlike its arrival any other country. Throughout much of the Roman Empire the religion was spread by and edict, imposed upon a conquered people by the occupying Roman administration. But...
Little is left of this once great Abbey, founded in 553 by St Columba, or Colmcille. The Venerable Bede called it ‘a noble monastery known as Dearmach, the Field of Oaks, because of the oak forest in which it stands’. Though it was plundered and burnt...