The precise moment at which Inchcolm Island becomes associated with religion is shrouded in historical obscurity. Placename evidence suggests that the island may have originally had some connection with the Brythonic pagan sea-deity, Manawyddan, with the original name of the island given in Latin as Emonia, Eumonia, and so forth, but nothing more is currently known about this intriguing possibility. One problem here is that the pagan era in this region is largely pre-historical - ie. before documentary records are available. However, although the Christian era coincides with the historical era as such, even reliable written records of Christianity on the island are hard to come by until quite late into the historical era. As such, our earliest evidence comes from archaeology.
Probably the earliest recorded religious site on the island is a holy well, perhaps associated with either St. Colm or St. Columba. The location of this well is uncertain, but in the OS map for 1856, a well marked as "Draw Well" can be seen towards the West of the abbey, and which still exists as the main water supply for the site warden's house:
Draw Well, Inchcolm, OS Map of 1856
The Draw Well Today
Although it is likely that this "draw well" was the medieval holy well, according to the current warden, Ron Selley, at least two other areas of the island have natural springs — further investigation could be wise.
There is also a reference in 1601 to another well dedicated to Columba "between the lands of the common of Cramond and the sea shore" on the Lothian coast, overlooking Inchcolm.[1] Certainly, Cramond Kirk was originally dedicated to St. Columba, although a dedication to the Holy Virgin was also later added.
Unfortunately, no contemporary information about the precise location of St. Columba's Well in Cramond can be found, but two possible candidates appear on the OS map for 1853, marked "Well" and "Bubbling Well", respectively:
Two Wells, Cramond, OS Map of 1853
Such wells, especially in Celtic territories, are often originally pagan sites which later become associated with specific saints, rather than their original pagan deities. Many holy wells are also reputed to have healing powers.
The earliest extant Christian artefacts from Inchcolm are an early carved stone cross and a tenth-century Viking hog-backed burial stone of the type also found along the coast at Abercorn Kirk. Both finds were originally located on the mound to the North-west of the abbey. Unfortunately, little remains of the cross itself, other than fragments of the shaft. Nonetheless, it is clearly of an early type such as one finds all over Scotland in sites dated to the first millennium, and indicates the presence of Christian activity on Inchcolm no doubt centuries prior to the establishment of the abbey itself.
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Inchcolm Cross-Shaft |
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The dating of the Viking hog-backed burial stone seems more certain - specifically tenth century. The site of its original location was excavated in 1993, and four pits of human remains were found, but their precise relationship to the burial stone is uncertain, at least archaeologically.
Viking Hog-Backed Stone, Inchcolm
In The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, J. Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson labelled the cross-slab and the hogback stone as Inchcolm 1 and Inchcolm 2 respectively.[2]
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Inchcolm, 1 from ECMS (1903) |
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Inchcolm 2, from ECMS (1903)
Tradition claims that following their defeat by Macbeth at the eleventh century Battle of Kinghorn (Fife), Danes paid in gold to have their dead buried on Inchcolm. Indeed, even Shakespeare's Macbeth makes reference to this tradition:
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition:
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.[3]
The sixteenth century Scottish historian, Hector Boece also mentions this tradition in his Scotorum Historiae, and refers to both the Viking hog-backed stone and the Christian cross-slab. Here the passage is given in the metrical Scots translation (Croniclis of Scotland) by his contemporary, William Stewart:
Into an isle callit Emonia,
Sanct Colmis Insche now callit is this da,
Quhair that thair banis restis zet to se,
In sindrie partis, in so greit quantitie,
Ouir all the yle, quilk makis zet sic cummer,
Weill may ye wit ye men were out of number,
Tha banis aucht, quha that can weill considder,
Into ane place war they put all togidder,
As I myself, quilk hes bene thair, and sene,
Ane corce of stone thair standis on ane grene
Middis the feild quhair that tha lay ilkone,
Besyde the croce thair lyis ane greit stone,
Under the stone, in middis of the plane,
Thair chiftane lyis, quilk in the feild was slane.[4]
One way or another, this tradition and the archaeology which supports it would seem to strongly suggest the presence of a Christian foundation of some kind at least owning, if not being located on Inchcolm, in the period before the founding of the abbey.
The geographical association of the cross with the Viking burial stone seems similar in some respects to the combination of hog-backed stones and Anglian crosses at nearby Abercorn, but it would be presumptuous to assume an Anglian, rather than an earlier and specifically Celtic provenance for the Inchcolm cross-fragments.
Inchcolm appears to enter into history for the first time in 1123. During an attempt to cross the River Forth in a storm, it is said that King Alexander I was forced to land on the island and take shelter. Given the geography involved, and the close proximity of the island to the Fife coastline, this would suggest that Alexander was on a journey from Lothian Northwards into Fife, for whatever reason. Regardless, tradition claims that he took sanctuary for three days with an anchorite or Christian hermit who was living alone on the island. Tradition also associates this hermit with the so-called Hermit's Cell, which still exists just outside the main abbey complex, although some doubt surrounds its actual origins:
The Hermit's Cell
The Hermit's Cell does appear to be constructed basically in the Gaelic style which can be found all over the Western seaboard of Scotland, and in Ireland, too, which might suggest direct Columban associations or even a specific connection with Iona itself. However, it has also been subject to evident later rebuilding, and the doorway (not pictured above) appears to been rebuilt in the sixteenth century, having certain Reformation characteristics.
Inside the Hermit's Cell
It is said that in acknowledgement of the hospitality Alexander received from the Inchcolm hermit, he pledged to build a church there, and to dedicate it to St. Columba, although Alexander's death the following year (1124) meant that the church was actually founded by his successor, David I. Nonetheless, in popular tradition (and bad scholarship), Alexander is still credited with the foundation itself, and a medieval Latin poem in the Donibristle Manuscript (also given below in a Victorian translation by William Ross) puts the dedication and its date inaccurately as:
M, C, ter I, bis et X, literis a tempore Christi,
Emon, tunc, ab Alexandro fundata fuisti,
Scotorum primo, structorem Canonicorum,
Transferat ex ymo Deus hunc ad astra polorum.
An M, a C, three I's, and X's two,
These letters keep the year of Christ in view,
When Alexander, First, gave Emon's isle,
His kingly gift, a rich monastic pile.
May God translate the noble Founder's soul
To regions high above the starry pole.[5]
Perhaps this decision about the church's dedication was due to a confusion by Alexander between St. Columba and St. Colm, from whom the island possibly derives its name. Certainly, Alexander was particularly interested in Columba. Or perhaps Alexander's choice of dedication signifies the possibility that the hermit who gave him shelter was a follower of the defunct Celtic Church, possibly even a solitary Culdee who held Columba in particular veneration. It is also true, however, that the Scotichronicon records a local tradition, still current today, that Columba himself visited the island. If this tradition is good history, it is certainly possible that the anchorites of Inchcolm were part of a specifically Columban institution.
A church with direct Columban connections may also have existed on the nearby island of Inchkeith, and that island's connections with Iona seem to stretch as far back as the seventh century. In the anonymous Life of Saint Servanus, we have an account of how the abbot of Iona and biographer of Columba, no less than Saint Adomnán himself, met Saint Servanus on Inchkeith and planned the latter's founding of an abbey at Culross, a few miles up the river:
And afterwards he [Servanus] went from place to place until he came to the stream that is called the Forth. Now S. Edhennanus (Adamnan) was abbot in Scotland at that time, and he went to meet Servanus as far as the island of Keth (Inchkeith), and received him with great veneration because he had heard much good concerning him. When the space of one night was passed there, and after a time which it pleased them to enjoy in sweet conversation, S. Servanus said: "How shall I dispose of my household and companions?" S. Adamnan replied: "Let them dwell in the land of Fife and from the sea of the Britains [sic] as far as the mountain which is called Okhel [Ochill]." And so it was done.[6]
As a historical account of a meeting between Adomnán (c.627-704) and Servanus, the above passage is notoriously unreliable, given the problematic dating of Servanus himself. Nonetheless, it does show that its author assumed knowledge of some form of Celtic foundation on Inchkeith in Adomnán's time. In later tradition, and in the Scotichronicon, this foundation is said to have been dedicated to him. If this is true, then it is, of course, entirely possible that some of the monks from the church on Inchkeith would have travelled to and possibly utilised nearby islands such as Inchcolm, and this would give the Firth of Forth a direct Columban connection from the seventh century at least (there was also said to be another Adomnán dedication at Dalmeny, on the Lothian shore of the Forth).[7] It should also be noted that the Northumbrian foundations in England were at this time deeply under the influence of Iona, and given the fact that seventh century travel was far easier and quicker by water than by land, the Forth would have been the best route from Iona to, say, Lindisfarne (the source of the Forth is near Ben Lomond in the West). Inchcolm and/or Inchkeith would then become highly convenient staging-posts for such journeys.
As for other religious islands in the river's Firth, it is also thought that the eighth century Anglian hermit, St. Baldred had his anchorite cell on the Bass Rock, and in 1542 a now ruined chapel was erected on the site dedicated to him. Another hermitage, of uncertain date, also appears to have existed on the Brigs of Fidra (Fidra being a small island near the Bass Rock). The caves at Dysart on the Fife coast of the Firth also have a Christian history (Servanus is said to have visited them), and dysart is an old Scots word for "desert", reflecting the interest of the orthodox Celtic Church in the example of the Desert Fathers. One way or another, it seems that there is substantial enough religious legend connected the Firth of Forth during the period in question to suggest that it was indeed being used by early Celtic Christians to set up their characteristically remote settlements in inhospitable places.
The anchorite tradition of Christian hermits, like the Culdee tradition, seems to have been particularly strong and long-lasting in Scotland as a whole, a fact commented on by Turgot of Durham in his twelfth century Life of Saint Margaret, queen of the eleventh century king, Malcolm Canmore:
At that time there were very many in different parts of the kingdom of Scotland who, shut up in separate cells, were leading lives of great strictness, in the flesh but not according to the flesh, for though on this earth, they were living the life of angels. In these the Queen venerated Christ and loved Him, and frequently occupied herself in visiting and conversing with them, and used to commend herself to their prayers.[8]
Margaret also has many local associations, and a holy well dedicated to her exists on the southern Forth shoreline near Dalmeny, overlooking Inchcolm, and it is possible that one of the anchorites whom Margaret visited was a predecessor of the one who gave sanctuary to Alexander I a century later, inspiring him to commission the building of a church there in 1123. Unfortunately, however, Alexander died the following year, and so the building of the church was briefly postponed until the rule of his successor, David I. The earliest surviving charter of the church comes from the 1160s, and the foundation was finally confirmed in 1178 by a Papal Bull of Pope Alexander III. For more information on the history of the church itself, see the abbey pages.
[1] W. J. Watson, The Celtic Placenames of Scotland (Edinburgh: 1926; repr. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 1986), p.152. [back]
[2] J. Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1903), vol.2, p.365-366. [back]
[3] William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 1, Scene Two. [back]
[4] Hector Boece, Scotorum Historiae, trans. William Stewart as Croniclis of Scotland, C16th. [back]
[5] Donibristle MS., quoted in William Ross, Aberdour and Inchcolme: Being Historical Notices of the Parish and Monastery (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1885), pp.60-61. [back]
[6] Anon., trans. W.M. Metcalfe, The Life of Servanus, in Lives of the Scottish Saints (Felinfach: Llanerch, 1990), p.36, online edition by Ogmios Press, 2001. [back]
[7] Watson, op.cit., p.152. [back]
[8] Turgot of Durham, The Life of Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland, in Lives of the Scottish Saints (Felinfach: Llanerch, 1990), p.60. [back]