Iona: The Living Memory of a Crofting Community, 1750 - 1914

by E. Mairi MacArthur

The Hebridean island of Iona has been the focus of intense outside interest for over fourteen hundred years, from the time of St Columba's monastery in the sixth century through to the transfer of its renowned monuments into the care of Historic Scotland in the year 2000.Yet the people who lived and worked alongside its sacred sites have been largely overshadowed until now. This book is the first to redress the balance, taking an in-depth look at Iona's economic and social history during the 18th and 19th centuries, a period that saw profound change across the Highlands and Islands.

It charts the agricultural reorganisation that led to a crofting system, follows the islanders through the harsh decade of the potato famine and records their worship and education, their crafts and customs, and the ties of kinship that underpinned their community. A broad range of sources are woven together - documentary, material, topographical and photographic, along with oral testimony handed down the generations - to create a vivid picture of Iona's past.

Genres: History, Scotland

296 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 1991

About the author

E. Mairi MacArthur helped to establish Friends of the Earth (Scotland) in 1978 and later chaired the FoE International network from 1984 to 1986. She completed a Ph.D. thesis on the social and economic history of Iona and wrote books based on that material.

Reviews

[Ade Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sumptuous pictures, clear text covering almost every aspect of what I am interested in. An extensive bibliography to go into things in more detail. Could just curl up with this in the winter and travel the easy way. On the other hand, the detailed map in the book will get us around when we go there in a fortnight!