The Carved Stones of Islay

Islay's written history is fragmentary and the monuments of her past are no less so; but for all that, they extend over a lengthened period, from the days of hill forts and standing monoliths until later times when, in the great days of the Western Church, the island became covered with chapels, under whose protecting walls there are still to be seen many of the exquisite crosses and gravestones which form so peculiar and interesting feature of the Western Highlands.

There are about a hundred examples of carved work in this island alone. Many of these are so much worn and defaced that only indications of their designs can be traced, but the remainder are of the greatest interest, some indeed being works of art in the fullest sense of the term.

The stones belong to various periods. There are little crossed rudely cut on undressed slabs of stone, and these are probably the most ancient. Then in the crossed of Kildalton and Kilnave, and in the cross-bearing slab found at Doid Mhairi, now in the garden at Ardimersay, there are examples of a style which seems to have been directly derived from Ireland; but far the greater number belong to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, when the art assumed and retained its special Argyllshire character, the plated work of the Irish monuments developing into the richly foliated scrolls which form one of the great beauties of the West Highland carving.

The above is a summary of the introduction from the book Carved Stones of Islay written by Robert C. Graham in 1885! I received a unique copy of a disk from a friend on Islay with scanned images and text from the book he personally owns. In the last weeks I managed to get 5 of the 8 chapters ready for the internet. The result is stunning I might say. The pages give a unique and extremely interesting view of Islay life around 1880 and the Carved Stones that can be found everywhere on the island