Iona Library renovation celebrated

ACCOMPANIED by the Duchess and their three children, the Duke congratulated the Iona Cathedral Trust on their conservation of some 300 significant volumes, both English and Gaelic, and the creation of handsome new book presses.

A state of the art humidistat system will ensure a safe environment for the books; in addition a digital catalogue of the library has been created. This will be hosted by the University of the Highlands and Islands as a resource for Celtic scholars and others around the world.

The Trustees gratefully acknowledge a grant of £100,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. HLF rules require a focus on community as well as heritage and this proved to be a very positive experience, with children and adults from Iona and Mull taking part in workshops on book conservation and calligraphy.

Included in the Library is a ‘significant collection’ (so described by the National Library of Scotland) bequeathed early last century by brothers Robert and Alexander Ritchie on the understanding that ‘access to the Library be made available to the islanders of Iona.’

The Iona Cathdral Trust was established in 1899 by the then Duke of Argyll. By this means the Abbey ruins were conveyed to a body of trustees with the aspiration that they might one day be rebuilt. By 1913 the trustees had restored the Abbey Church and twenty-five years later the trustees gave their blessing to the Rev George MacLeod’s ambitious plan to restore the remaining heritage through his newly formed Iona Community.

Libraries have been at the heart of Iona since the days of Columba. Central to his monastery was a Scriptorium where the monks produced copies of the Scriptures and other sacred texts. It is entirely possible that the Book of Kells was created on Iona, being taken later to the sister community of Kells to keep it safe from Viking marauders.

In their book, Iona, The Earliest Poetry of a Celtic Monastery, Thomas Owen Clancy and Gilbert Markus document an astonishing bibliography of texts and manuscripts available to the monks of Iona. They also point out that back then people didn’t think of islands as being cut off by the sea; rather they were connected by it and Iona’s connectedness was reflected in its involvement in the wider world of literary culture.

In the early thirteenth century the Columban community was superseded by a Benedictine Abbey, with its library above the chapter house. It was the ruins of this Abbey which were restored last century by the Cathedral Trust and the Iona Community.

Today the heritage remains vested in the Trust, but in 1999 responsibility for the care of the buildings was passed to Historic Scotland (now Historic Environment Scotland). In turn, through a sub-lease to the Iona Community, HES ensures that the work and witness of the Iona Community continues to be based on the Abbey.

Chairman of the Iona Cathedral Trust, the Very Rev Dr Finlay Macdonald said: “The trustees are grateful to all who have supported their Library project and wish the Iona Community well for the next phase of their refurbishment of the Abbey’s domestic and residential facilities.”

Duke of Argyll, Iona Library

This article appears in the December 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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