Monday, September 23, 2013

The MacVarish Crosses - Isle Finnan

It took me several years to make it An t-Eilean Uaine, the Green Isle of Loch Shiel. The first time I tried to get to the island there was not a boatman to be found, and all I could see from the mainland were the two crosses shown in the photo below. From a distance they looked human.

Many years after that distant glimpse of the crosses I finally made it to the island. The highlight was to see the old hand bell on the altar of St Finnan's Chapel. But it was just as exciting to finally see the crosses up close. They were carved by Donald Mor MacVarish in the 18th century, and it is not known whose graves they mark. But whoever they were, those buried here are blessed with two of the most beautiful memorials I have ever seen in an island burial ground - memorials that will stand forever on the Green Isle of St Finnan.

The Macvarish Crosses

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