History Scotland Magazine: Review - Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands, Ian Fisher

Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands

Ian Fisher

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland & The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Monograph Series 1, 2001. ISBN 090390330X pp.178, 920 illustrations Hardback 20.00

I was delighted to be offered this book to review, as it is a volume for which early historical archaeologists in the North and West of Scotland have been waiting with eager anticipation, and as such it has long been on my wish list. It has been travelling around in my brief case with me for the past few weeks, and as work has taken me over to the mainland, I have had occasion to refer to it and use it, with great pleasure. This has been a labour of love on the part of Ian Fisher, and he is to be congratulated on the results.

Physically, it is a good book to handleA4 formatallowing clear reproduction of the very fine illustrations, hardback, with a matt colour cover, but printed otherwise in black and white. There are some slips with the illustration printing in my copy on a couple of the pages, a pity, as they detract from the otherwise high production quality. Hopefully this is a problem confined to only a few copies.

The introduction to the gazetteers (separately) of the Islands and the West Highlands, covers some of the context of the carved stones. Inevitably, this element of the book is primarily concerned with monasticism and its social implications, as the overwhelming majority of the stones are cross-marked, or free-standing crosses. A couple of brief paragraphs on the eight Pictish symbol stones in the area are primarily descriptive rather than analytical, and do not refer to the recent work reconsidering the early Gaelic settlement of the West Coast and islands, which could have a significant impact on our understanding of the distribution of Pictish, and other early mediaeval, carvings in the West.

Its marvellous to see so many new stones recorded. Included are the large groups of simple cross-marked stones, and it is fascinating to see them in context, and at the same scale as the more immediately impressive monuments, which have received so much more attention. The publication of such a record is bound as well to draw attention to gaps, real or documentary, and it is of particular interest in the light of the wide distribution of the carved stones, that there are none recorded for the Isle of Lewis, and so few for Harris. Despite the books rejection of the theory that some of the Iona stones were thrown into the sea during the Reformation, it is worth considering whether the lack of stones in the northern part of the Hebrides does reflect the Reformations impact upon Lewis and Harris society. Theres a gap here which can probably only be filled by extensive survey and excavation.

The field work behind this volume must have been a massive undertaking, and given the weather of the West Coast, its not surprising that the author didnt make it to all of the islands. This leads to a few mistakes, as for example, where Clach an Teampuill on Taransay is referred to as having no evidence of structures or an enclosure (p.113), when in fact it stands within a clear circular enclosure, with faint but evident adjacent remains of a rectangular building. It might, therefore, have been useful to know which descriptions were derived from a site visit, and which were secondary, particularly given the limited coverage of the original inventories.

These issues are, however, nit picking. This volume will come to be the standard reference for the Early Mediaeval stones of the North and West, and is of interest to both the lay reader and the academic. It raises important questions, highlights significant gaps in our research and understanding, and is a most welcome contribution to the effort of understanding the history and archaeology of the area.

Mary A. MacLeod
Arc-elaiche nan Eilean Siar
(Western Isles Archaeologist)