I. HISTORE NOTETH PROBABLD N SO YAN E SITUATIO EARLIEE TH F NO R ESTABLISHMENTS AT IONA, PRIOR TO THE FOUNDATION OF THE BENEDICTIN TWELFTE TH F O E H D MONASTER CENEN E - TH N YI TURY W. , Y SKENEF B . , ESQ., LL.D., F.S.A. SCOT. In April 1873 I laid before the Society some notes on the history of the ruins at lona, in which I stated that none of the existing buildings reach further back than, the twelfth century. Since then the Duke of Argyll has been carrying on during the last two seasons a great work in connection with these ruins. It consists in the main of clearing away the rubbish which encumbered the ruins, disclosing the foundations of these buildings previously hidden unde e sodrepairind th ran , g such parts of e wallth s wera a precarious n ei o arrest s e proces s statea th t o f s ,o s decaywore bees Th kha . n carrie unden d o e superintendencth r r M f eo Eobert Anderson, and has been done in a most thorough manner, and with excellent judgment and good taste. I think every one who takes an interes thesn i t e ruins owe debsa f gratitudo t e Dukth Argylf o eo t r fo l the munificent spirit and sound judgment which have characterised this positioa grea n i tjudgo w nt wor no restorationef e k o bette ar e f w o r d an , the precise nature and extent of those ecclesiastical buildings of which the remains still exist. In the notes I laid before the Society I dealt ex- clusively with the ruin n theii s r historical aspect I trus t tbu ; thae th t NOTES OF THE EAKLY ESTABLISHMENTS AT IONA. 331 Society wile lon er e lfavoure b gr Andeiso M y b d n wit n accurata h e account of the work lie has accomplished, and with the architectural history of the ruins. The object of this paper is to lay before the Society some inquiries I have been making into the history and probable situa- tion of the earlier establishments during a few weeks which I spent in the island this summer. For the history of the earliest establishment—that founded by St Columba himsalf—we must look mainly to the two lives of the saint, the earlier one written by Cummin the White, who was abbot of lona from e seconth Adomnand y s b abbod an ;9 wa o 66 t o o frot 9 wh , 7 m67 65 704. The earlier, therefore, was written between sixty and seventy latee yearsth rd writtean , nhundrea d years, afte t Columba'S r s death. From these lives it appears that the monastery, or monasterium, con- structe t ColumbS y db a containe a smald l cour plateolar o sidte eon n o , of which was the church, ecclesia or oratorium, with a small side chamber or exedra communicating with it; on another, the' guest chamber or hospitium thirda n refectorye o ; ,th , havinfireplaca t i n gi focusr eo d an ; the fourth having the dwellings or domus of the monks. Separated from it, and at a little distance, was the cell of St Columba, called his domus, tuguriolum, or hospitiolum, in which he sat during the day when engage writingn di slepd an t ,night whole a t encloses Th .ewa d withina rampar r fenceo t , calle vallume dth . Now the first observation I have to make is, that it seems quite clear tha whole th t thesf eo e buildings were mad f woodeo . Adomnan tells su of twelve curraehs or hide boats which, in his own time, came from Sheil, in Lome, loaded with oaken timber—roborese materise—for repairine gth monastery—ad nostrum renovandum monasterium (B. ii. c. 46). He also tells us that St Columha sent some of Ms monks to procure bundles of rods—virgarum fascicules—to build the guest chamber—ad hospitium construendurri—and that they returned wit a vessel—navis—loadeh d with rods (B. ii. c. 3). Again, in mentioning St Columba's cell, on one occasion adde h , buils s thaboardf wa o t t i t r planks—tuguriolso o tabulis . 19.c suffulto. i ) . (B . churche th Theo t s ,n a Bed e tell s thae churcu s th t t Lindisfarnea h , founde monky db s fro me sevent th lon n i a h century entirels wa , y built k wood ooa d fcovere an , d with reeds, afte e manne e th Scotr th f so r 2 33 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F SO , DECEMBE , 1875R13 . —quam tamen (ecclesiam) more Scottorum, non de lapide, sed de robore secto totam composuit, atque harundine texit (B s .there i iii . 25)t c .I -. fore a fair inference that the parent church in lona was constructed in the same manner.. These wooden churches were common at the time in Ireland. Cogitosus, in his life of St Brigid, written in the ninth century , n elaborata give s u s e descriptio e woodeth f o nn churct a h Kildare. They also existed in England, and are frequently mentioned in Doomsday Book churce Th .G-reenstea t ha thesef o d e Essen d,an i on s xwa preserves ha d their structure composes i t I hale . th ff do trunk f oaksso , " split through the centre, and roughly hewn at each end, so .as to let them intbottome th osil a t d inta l an ,o a topplane whico th t , t ka h thee yar secured by wooden pegs. Adomnan calls the church at lona " Oratorium," and this term, as Petrie shews (Bound Towers, pp. 147, 340), was applied to the Duirtheach or oak building, in contradistinction to the Daimhliag or stone church. note ar , e thereforeW o expect , t thay remain e monasteran tth f o s y founded by St Columba should be found in the Island, and, in order to ascertain its site, we must refer to such indications as these lives afford us of its relative situation to other fixed localities. It has generally been assumed tha t Columba'sS t monastery must have been same inth . e situa- tion as the existing ruins, but this by no means follows. These ruins are the remains of the Benedictine monastery founded in the end of the twelfth centuryshale w ld finan , d that such indication derivn ca e e w s sa lined ol fro se poinm th differena o t t t locality. Beside monasteriume sth , or monastery e buildingth d an , s composin , Adomnagit n mentions some other localities connected wit t hwhici h appea havo t r e been withoue th t vallum. These aree cowhousth - r bocetumo e e granarth , r horreumyo , and the kiln or eanaba; and though he does not mention specifically the e implieh mill t ye ,s e grindin there talk th e h s one f th s o e swa a f , go corn—frugum trituratio; he also tells us of a cross, the base of which had been inserted in a millstone—in molari lapide; and the mill is mentioned existinpoes d a ol t Columba'prefac e mS e th n th callegi n i o et e y dth sda "Altus Prosator," published by Dr Todd in his "Liber Hyrnnorum," part ii. Now, therlonan i s ei littlnorth-wesa ,y ewa presene th f o t t ruinsd an , e westh roae tn th sido d f leadino e g fro landing-place mth norte th ho et NOTES OF THE EAKLY ESTABLISHMENTS AT' IONA. 333 cud of the island, a bog called the Lochan Mor, which was once a small sheet of water, but is now drained, and which is separated from the road by an embankment on the east side. From, the south-east corner of this Locha smalr no l lake flow a sstream , small now t whicbu , h must have been larger befor e s lakdrainedth ewa e , toward e soutth s h east, crossin roae gth d til t reacheli presene sth t ruins, whic t hpassei e th n so north side, and continues an eastward course till it falls into the sound of lona at a small bay. This stream is called Sruth-a-Mhuilinn, or the Mill s moutit t a Streame smal h y th Port-a-Mhuilinn ba d l an ; e Milth lr o , Port. Pennant, who visited the island in 1772, after describing the existin gsmale ruinsth d l risinan , g grounwese th thef o tn do m callee dth Abbot's Mount, says, " Beyond the mount are the ruins of a kiln and a e lake mill r pooth Th o egranary s . l thaneawa d t an i tr, servey la t di turberye nativesbehinde th drained w th s fuee i f t no th I ,o d l s i .; an , appears to have been once divided, for along the middle runs a raised way pointin hillse th o .gt North fro e granarmth y extend narrosa w flat, with a doubl a singl sidee ed on dike an other ,d fos n th dikan o es n o e" (Pennant's "Scotland," vol. iii . 295).p Johr D . n "Walker describeo ,wh e sth island about the same time, says, " Ou a plain adjoining the gardens of the Abbey surrounded an , smaly db l hills, ther vestigee ear larga f so e piecf eo artificial water, which has consisted of several acres, and been contrived bot pleasurr hfo utilityd ean s bank It .