Iona: The Living Memory of a Crofting Community

Iona: The Living Memory of a Crofting Community

by E.MairiMacArthur (Author)

Synopsis

The Hebridean island of Iona has been the focus of intense outside interest for over 1400 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 aims 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 reorganization 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.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Edition: 2nd Revised edition
Publisher: Polygon at Edinburgh University Press
Published: 10 Jun 2002

ISBN 10: 1902930274
ISBN 13: 9781902930275

Media Reviews
Will justly take a place among the major reference works on island history. -- The Herald
MacArthur offers a fine mix of historical insight and personal sensitivity. As a study of Iona this book must be definitive. -- Radical Scotland
A first-rate piece of historical research which impressively combines a whole range of investigative techniques in a highly imaginative way... I hope that some at least of Iona's countless visitors will read this book. -- The Scotsman