Welcome to the Isle of Iona

Iona Abbey from the ferry

For information about the Isle of Mull click here
For information about the Tobermory click here

For the Gaels, Iona is I Chaluim Chille – the isle of Colm Cille, an Irish priest and prince who was to become revered as Saint Columba. A tiny island, of typically Hebridean beauty, it holds a unique place in the story of Scotland and kindles the imagination of thousands who journey there each year. Yet it is also where people have lived, worked and worshipped over many centuries. To and from its shores have come monks and pilgrims, clan chiefs and kings, artists and craftsmen, farmers and fishermen.

Of the earliest, we catch only fleeting glimpses now: a few Stone Age flints and tools, unearthed by the plough; a grassy cairn where some Bronze Age mourners laid their dead; fragments of pots, beads and bones which speak of a thriving Iron Age community early in the first millenium.

Later, members of the Columban settlement became skilled in the working of metal, glass, wood and leather. Succeeding generations bequeathed a rich artistic legacy in their

Iona taken from a light aircraft

intricately carved stones and crosses, fine prayers and poems, and exquisite illuminated manuscripts. The life of the crofting population down the ages is etched into rigs on the landscape, immortalised in Gaelic placenames and remembered in local lore.

Today’s island community follows in the tradition of all those who have gone before them – helping shape Iona’s story in new ways, fostering a variety of creative talents and continuing to welcome visitors from across the globe”.

E. Mairi MacArthur

For information on the Isle of Mull, click here

For information about Tobermory Click here

qrcode for the Isle of Mull

qrcode for the Isle of Iona

These two images are to be used in conjunction with a Smart Phone and we encourage you to copy this image and paste it into emails and websites. The purpose is to give a very quick way to let Smart Phone users access this website.