Churchyard Crosses, Iona Abbey grounds. Iona, Argyll & Bute, Scotland.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 56° 20.095 W 006° 23.533
29V E 661210 N 6246410
The four high-crosses which stood in the grounds of Iona Abbey were carved in the C8th and C9th, the carving is as rich today as when done over 1000 years ago.
Waymark Code: WMHWB4
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/18/2013
Views: 5
Of the three high-crosses in the grounds of Iona's Abbey Church which have stood here for over 1000 years, St. Martin's Cross is the best preserved. It was carved from a single slab of gray epidiorite in the mid to late 8th Century. The most perfect of the surviving crosses on Iona, it stands in its original position where the monks of the island monastery placed it twelve hundred years ago. The cross, including its base, is 17 feet hight and is carved from a stone that originally came from Argyll, on the mainland of Scotland.
The next complete cross is St.John's Cross which at one time had one of the widest spans of any cross in the British Isles. The one we see today just outside St.Columba's Shrine, is a concrete replica, the original was made in several pieces joined together with mortise and tenon joints. Originally it was simply a cross with crossarms, but this proved to be unstable and the 'ring' support was added shortly after it was made in an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen it.
St.Matthew's cross, the third high-cross by the entrance to the Abbey, is present only as the base, the remnants of the stonework are to be seen in the Abbey Museum to the north-east of the main abbey building along with the remnants of St.John's Cross. It was made some 100 years after the other two, in the C9th.
The fourth cross is only visible as carved fragments in the Abbey Museum. It was St.Oran's Cross which stood in Reilig Odhràin, the Abbey Graveyard. It is displayed lying down in the museum and is thought to be the oldest of the three C8th crosses, followed in age by St.John's and then St.Martin's.
On St.Martin's Cross the raised circles, or bosses, are thought to represent God with everything revolving around Him. Intertwined between these bosses are serpents, which in the Celtic world represented rebirth since the snake sheds its old skin; symbolizing our rebirth into a new life upon acceptance of Jesus. The ring around the cross head represents eternal life and is a common feature in Celtic Crosses. The sockets seen on the two short side-arms are thought to have contained arms made of timber or metal to increase the span.
On all the crosses the decoration is similar to contemporary metalwork and manuscripts, notably that of the 'Book of Kells' which despite its name was thought to have been largely produced by the monks on Iona and then completed at Kells, in Ireland, after the[unfinished] manuscript was taken there for safekeeping during the time of the Viking raids on Iona.
These four crosses probably formed part of a much larger group of crosses, some timber, marking the pilgrims' route from their landing place to St.Columba's Shrine. They would also mark places to pause and pray as with the C14th MacLean's Cross prayer cross still standing at the side of Sràid nam Marbh, Street of the Dead, between the Nunnery and the Abbey.
St.Martin's Cross is carved from a single monolith of the material 'epidiorite' which is somewhat synonymous with 'amphibolite' and 'hornblende-schist'. These rocks are metamorphic and occur principally among the schists, slates and gneisses of such districts as the Scottish Highlands, the north-west of Ireland, Brittany, the Harz in northern Germany, the Alps, and the crystalline ranges of eastern N. America.
The co-ordinates given are for St.Martin's Cross.
Visit Instructions:
Please take a photo of the cross on your visit.