Today we went on a four hour walking tour of the island. Our guide was the fantastic David Allaway of Iona Trails Walking Tours. While I can’t begin to do justice to all the facts and stories David shared with us, I thought I would share one with you.

The history of Iona is long and complicated. Most of that history is centered around the Abbey, its rise and fall, starting in 563 A.D. However, there is archeological evidence of neolithic permenant settlers to the island for the last 5,000 years and migratory settlers for the last 10,000 years.

The most documented period starts in 536 when Columba, an Irish monk, started a mission here to evanglism the wilds of Scotland. An abbey and monastic community soon grew up around that mission. We began our walking tour outside the abbey, at St. Oran’s Chapel.

The chapel was built in the 1100s as the burial chapel of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles. Legend has it that building the chapel met with frequent delays and inexplicable failures, until Columba heard a voice tell him that the chapel would not stand until a living man was buried below the foundations. Oran vounteered and was consigned to the earth, and the chapel was built above him. After a time, however, Columba’s conscience got the better of him, and he called for Oran to be dug up and given a proper burial. However, when they uncovered Oran, he was still alive and began to talk, saying, “There is no Hell as you suppose, nor Heaven that people talk about.” Columba was supposedly so alarmed by this that he called for Oran to be re-covered with dirt immediately!

The chapel is still used today for weddings, prayer services, and even “jam sessions” by local musicians.