6 COLONSAY 



Colonsay in place-names e.g. Poll-na-Cnarradh (Ga. Poll = 

 pool, NOT. Knarr = vessel; i.e. the Pool of the Vessel), 

 Scalasaig (Bay of Small Huts), Cnoc Innibrig (Knoll of 

 Ingibiorg), etc. in legends, and in interments such as were 

 dug up at Lag-na-Birlinn, Machrins golf-links, and at Traigh- 

 nam-Barc. Bronze coins of Wigmund, Archbishop of York 

 A.D. 837-854, similar to one recently found in a ship-burial 

 in the island of Arran, were discovered in the viking's grave 

 at Lag-na-Birlinn. A sword, rusty and almost mouldered 

 away, was lying near the bones of the warrior who met 

 his death at Traigh-nam-Barc, the local tradition in connec- 

 tion with it being, that a fight took place in the vicinity 

 between natives and the Norsemen who landed from the 

 galley at Port-na-h-Iubhraich. The leader of the latter was 

 killed, and his body encased in the stone coffin, which lay in 

 the ground undisturbed for more than 600 years. Three 

 of the principal hill-forts Dun Eibhinn, Dun Ghallain, 

 and Dun Cholla are said to have been named after 

 three sons Edmund, Gallan, and Coll of the King of 

 Lochlann. In one of the Norse sagas mention is made 

 of a certain Earl Gilli, Lord of Coin (Colonsay or Coll?), 

 being married in the eleventh century to a Norwegian lady 

 of high rank. 



The Druid's circle, some rough stones arranged in a 

 circular manner at Buaile Riabhach, recalls a still more 

 remote and mysterious past. Britain, before the Roman 

 invasion, was the stronghold of Druidism, and not until the 

 Celtic people were converted to Christianity did this form of 

 worship entirely disappear from their midst. The cill 's are 

 of Christian origin. They are the remains of chapels which 

 were in use before, some of them after, the Reformation. 

 Sites of about a dozen of these old structures are pointed out 

 in various places in the island. Portions of the walls of two 

 Temple of the Glen and Kilchattan are yet standing, 

 and, judging by what is still seen of the walls, they were of 



