KCCLESIOLOGY. 519 



a hybrid, being composed of the Norse sker a skerry or 

 insulated rock, and the Gaelic innis an island or peninsula ; 

 the name thus apparently offering etymological confirmation 

 of the site of the priory. In 1561, it appears in a rental of 

 the Bishopric of the Isles as Skeirach-na-beie, which may 

 mean " skerry of the bay " (Broad Bay). An examination 

 of the ruins of the church at Ui reveals the fact, that part of 

 the architecture is apparently Norman, and that the building 

 may be ascribed to, at least, two distinct periods. That 

 it was regarded by the Macleods of Lewis as a place of 

 peculiar sanctity, is obvious from the fact of its being their 

 burying-ground ; nineteen of the Siol Torquil, according to 

 tradition, were interred there.* The remains of William, 

 fifth Earl of Seaforth, who ended his days in Lewis, are said 

 to lie beneath a flagstone in the church. 



The establishment of the Priory Church of St. Clement 

 at Rodil, is variously attributed to David I., and to one 

 of the Macleods of Harris. The priory depended on the 

 Abbey of Holyrood House. As Ui was the " lona " of 

 the Siol Torquil, so was Rodil the " lona " of the Siol 

 Tormod. Rodil Church was repaired by Alexander Mac- 

 leod of Harris, who died in 1 547, and it contains his tomb, 

 elaborately carved, and bearing a Latin inscription. The 

 church was restored by Captain Alexander Macleod when 

 he bought the estate of Harris, and was, in 1787, rebuilt 

 by him, after its accidental destruction by fire. There is a 

 tablet in the church commemorative of the event, and the 

 inscription bears testimony to the conventual character 

 of the original structure. In the nineteenth century, the 

 church was restored by the Countess of Dunmore. 



In Lewis, there are still to be seen the remains in some 

 instances, mere traces of a number of the churches men- 



* There is a tombstone in the church bearing the almost illegible inscription : 

 " Hie facet Margaretafilia Roderici Meic Leoyd de Leodhuis vidua Lachlanni 

 Meic Fingcone obiit 1503." It has been erroneously supposed that this 

 inscription refers to Malcolm Macleod, who died in the reign of James V., 

 but Dr. Joass states that the above is the correct reading. Margaret (who was 

 probably Roderick Macleod's daughter by his first wife, Margaret Macleod of 

 Harris) was the mother of John, Abbot of lona, whose cross is in St. Oran's 

 Chapel. 



