The leaning chapel of Inch Kenneth.

The little chapel on Inch Kenneth dates from the 13th century. Its leaning east wall was supported by buttresses added in the 16th or 17th centuries. Inch Kenneth had been an important ecclesiastical site since St Cainnech, who was a friend of St Columba, established a outpost from Iona here in the 6th century.


The chapel must have been a site of some importance. Its 700 year old windows, which face to the east, are really rather fine.


Nowadays the interior of the west wall supports 8 upended mediaeval family grave slabs which are from the Iona school of sculpture which existed in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The chapel was roofless even in Johnson and Boswell’s time and the open interior has long been used as a burial place. On a similar morning to ours, Boswell discovered several human bones within its walls. “I this morning got a spade and dug a little grave in the floor of the chapel, in which I buried what loose bones were there.” He must have done a thorough job as we found none, not even a metatarsal.

A reluctant visitor to the Priory, Oronsay (not London).

When I first mentioned to David that I wanted to visit the Oronsay Priory, he became quite distressed.

"They'll never let us out, we'll need to go into rehab and walk the twelve steps!"

"Relax David, its not the Clinic, it's just a very well preserved religious complex."

So we found ourselves approaching the beautifully maintained grounds of the Oronsay Priory.


The buildings date from the mid 1300's but there may have been a chapel here since St Columba's time. The Priory was founded by the Lords of the Isles and became a centre for religious sculpture until about 1500. Some say St Oran gave his name to Oronsay but I rather doubt this as Oronsay is quite a common name for tidal islands on the west coast. It comes from the Old Norse and means island of the ebb tide which is exactly what Oronsay is. You can walk to it from neighbouring Colonsay at low tide.


It is one of the best preserved medieval religious buildings in Scotland. It was too remote to be destroyed in the Reformation, like many of its more accessible contemporary religious buildings.


Although there are no traces of its roofs, the walls, including those of the cloisters, are still in remarkably good repair.


Fortunately for David, our departure from the Priory was unhindered by a locked door. He took a deep breath, followed by a great sigh of relief.

The graveyard on Inch Kenneth

As we roved among the isles of Mull's west coast, we found ourselves following in the wake of Johnson and Boswell. Like them, we ended up on the idyllic isle of Inch Kenneth. Unlike the other isles in this area, which have thin poor soils over basalt, Inch Kenneth is fertile as a result of differing geology. The cliffs on its western edge are composed of conglomerate but there is a dip in the land towards the east and the rocks here seem to be limestone (I hope Clark will be able to correct this). Whatever, the result is that the island is covered with deep fertile soil. In the past this island exported food to Iona. It is named after Kenneth who was one of St Columba's followers.


The depth of the soil also meant that it made a suitable burial ground. Like Johnson and Boswell we wandered through the gravestones enjoying a sense of peace and timelessness.


They had admired this beautiful 15th century Celtic cross and our hands felt the warmth of its stone in just the same way as theirs.


Since there time there have been further internments. This is the grave of Margaret Boulton, who died in 1938. She was the widow of Sir Harold Boulton who owned Inch Kenneth and who wrote "The Skye Boat Song"

Eithne's grave.

This simple stone, incised with a Celtic cross, can be found on a peaceful knoll, high above the monastery on Eileach an Naoimh in the Garvellachs.


We have wandered and spent time reflecting here several times before traversing the tides of the Grey Dogs or the Corryvreckan. I have always enjoyed the contrasting emotions experienced on such sea kayaking trips.

The grave is thought to be the last resting place of St Columba's mother, Eithne.

The State of Texa

The island of Texa lies just a kilometer off the SE coast of Islay in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. While we were cruising down Texa's west coast we spied two gable ends high on the hill above us.


We landed at a little quay below the building. Famished and quite exhausted by our exertions since second breakfast, we decided to partake of a long and leisurely third breakfast prior to any exploration of the isle.


Pushing our way through shoulder high bracken, we made our way up to the ancient lichen encrusted walls. It turned out to be a chapel which was built in the 14th century. St Kenneth(whose chapel we visited last year on lovely Inch Kenneth) was a friend of St Columba and stopped off on Texa while travelling between Iona and Ireland. It is likely that the current chapel was built on the site of an earlier chapel dating from St Kenneth's time.

Texa remained inhabited until the 19th century and its population were known as Texans. Not many people know that St Kenneth was a Texan.

Tony, David and myself decided we would try and head out west round Islay's Mull of Oa. Billy and Mair decided to explore Kilnaughton Bay and Port Ellen. Given how long we had dallied, the approaching weather front and how the tide was running, the latter option was to prove eminently more sensible.

13/07/2008