ST ORAN'S CHAPEL

This chapel stands in its own burial ground, Reilig Orain. Oran was a relative and follower of St. Columba.

The chapel is a plain oblong building measuring 30' by 16' internally. The body of the chapel may belong to the 9th or 10th century's but the west doorway is an insertion which dates from not earlier than the mid-12th century. None of these dates supports the tradition the Queen Margaret (d 1093) built the chapel. An elaborate monument, probably of late date, has been inserted in the south wall of the interior, and a number of monumental slabs are preserved in the chapel, the roof of which has been restored.

Kenneth MacAlpin was buried in the Reilig Orain in the mid-9th century, as were succeeding Scottish kings until Macbeth (d 1057) and traditionally kings of Ireland, Norway and France. None of the monuments of the kings remain but many of medieval clan chiefs survive.

The probable original wall of the graveyard is now below ground level, but has been found by excavation. Two railed enclosures - "The Ridge or Tombs of the Kings" and, to the east of it, that of the Chiefs - have existed only since 1868 when the Iona Club collected the monuments and enclosed them for protection.

The oldest stone now surviving in the graveyard is that which protrudes eastward from the row of slabs in the Ridge of the Kings. It is a pink granite slab bearing a simple, incised, Celtic cross of the 8th or 9th centuries. Two posts of a corner-post shrine were found in 1957.