Reilig Odhráin, Iona, Scotland

Reilig Odhráin, Iona, Scotland

Visited June 2017

St Oran's chapel and burial ground is right next to the Abbey on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. The small, plain chapel was built in the 12th century, and was restored in the 20th century at the same time as the abbey. It is named after one of St Columba's followers, Oran (or Odhráin).


The chapel is surrounded by a graveyard which pre-dates the building by perhaps 500 years. Known as the Reilig Odhráin, it was the abbey graveyard and is said to be the burial place of kings of Scotland, Norway and Ireland up until the 11th century. A survey in 1549 records 60 kings buried there, although the inscriptions were gone by the end of the 1600s.


Many of the most important gravestones have been removed to the Iona Abbey museum to protect them from erosion, so most of the stones which remain are Victorian and later. The burial ground is still in use, with a modern extension in one corner where John Smith, leader of the Labour Party, was buried in 1994.