Iona

Iona: Three Miles Long, Fifteen Hundred Years of Consequence

The island that shaped Scottish Christianity is about the size of a large estate. Iona is 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, off the southwest tip of Mull in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, and it has been one of the most spiritually significant places in northern Europe since 563 AD when the Irish monk Columba arrived with twelve companions and founded a monastic community on its white sand beaches. From here, Christianity spread across Scotland, much of northern England, and eventually back to parts of continental Europe. Monks from Iona illuminated manuscripts, established daughter monasteries across the British Isles, and trained generations of scholars in what was, for several centuries, one of the most important centres of learning in the post-Roman world.

The abbey that now stands is largely 12th century in origin, restored in the 20th century by the Iona Community. The original wooden structures of Columba’s 6th-century monastery are gone, but the ground they occupied still holds several generations of Scottish, Irish, and Norse kings in the burial ground known as Reilig Odhrain. MacBeth is among those buried here, which is not how most people encounter him for the first time.

Getting There

You take a ferry from Fionnphort on the southwest tip of Mull (5 minutes; runs regularly throughout the day). Getting to Fionnphort requires either driving or bussing across Mull from Craignure, where another ferry connects to Oban on the mainland. The total journey from Oban takes about two hours. There are no cars on Iona beyond a small number of resident vehicles; most visitors walk.

Day visitors are common and the island handles them reasonably well in the morning hours. Staying overnight changes the quality of the experience substantially: the light at dawn in the Sound of Iona, the island after the last day-tripper ferry has gone back to Mull, and the abbey in the quieter hours are all different from the midday experience.

The Abbey

Iona Abbey is the centre of the island’s monastic heritage: a restored church, chapter house, cloister, and infirmary in various states of medieval repair. The Iona Community continues to use it as a working ecumenical community, holding regular services to which visitors are welcome. The medieval chapter house is quiet and plain in a way that suits the space.

The Iona High Cross replicas in front of the west entrance are copies; the originals (St Martin’s Cross, the oldest surviving medieval cross in Scotland, dates to the 8th century) are protected. St Martin’s Cross still stands in its original position beside the west door, weathered and intact. Examining the knotwork on it is worth the time.

The Island

Dun I, the island’s highest point at 100 metres, gives a view across the entire island and, on clear days, to the mainland and multiple islands in every direction. The machair grassland at Traigh Bhan and Traigh a’ Mhurain supports unusual plant communities and, in May and June, a wildflower display that justifies the timing of a visit. Grey seals haul out on rocks around the island. Puffins nest on the headlands; guillemots and razorbills occupy the sea cliffs.

Practical Notes

Accommodation fills year-round and advance booking is essential from April through October. The island has guesthouses, B&Bs, a small number of self-catering options, and very limited food options. Bring supplies for anything beyond a basic meal. The island can be covered on foot in a day; two days is better. The shoulder seasons of April-May and September-October give fewer people and, crucially, the quality of light that makes the beaches look the way they do in photographs.