R Atkinson, 1936. (5) Cruciform stone, 0.44m high and 0.25m across the arms. North Rona. (iii) Although the island probably takes its name from the Norse Hraun-ey' ('rough island') rather than from the saint (iv) there are important remains of Early Christian occupation (v).

It was resettled, but again depopulated by around 1695 in some sort of boating tragedy, after which it remained home to a succession of shepherds and their families. Captain Oliver, who commanded the Revenue cruiser Prince of Wales, visited Sula Sgeir in the month of August to look for the lost boat. Congratulations on this excellent venture… what a great idea! Set in an oval burial ground marked out by a ancient turf and stone dyke, the small building has laid claim to being one of Scotland’s earliest ecclesiastical buildings (Miers 2008), since its closest architectural parallels were thought to lie in the early medieval stone chapels of southwest Ireland. Copyright School of Scottish Studies Archive & Atkinson estate. . St Ronan's church & oratory, R Atkinson1936. St Ronan's Church west gable and cross slab, Stuart Murray cross no.25 turned face up against north wall. St Ronan, Abbot of Kingarth in Bute (died 737), is said to have come here on the back of a whale to escape the noise of quarrelsome Lewis women.

During the Norse Christian period and probably about the 13th century a nave was added to the west end of the oratory. North Rona, Lewis. The party of Macleods must have called out for help as they staggered up the steep slopes towards the huddle of five houses, but no reply came. In August, boatmen who had called at the island reported that the men were well and in good spirits, and had refused offers to take them back to Lewis. St Ronan's church, new SMRU hut and Tao Rona. St Ronan's church and cross, R Atkinson, 1936. The village is situated towards the NW corner of an infield of about 20 acres, cultivated in large lazybeds. North Rona, Lewis. It is erroneously stated in Barber 1981, 532, that this stone came from the Flannan Isles. Rona is often referred to as North Rona in order to distinguish it from South Rona (another small island, in the Inner Hebrides). North Rona, with Sula Sgeir, historically formed part of the Barvas estate on Lewis, but a community buy-out of the estate in 2016 did not include the two islands, which would apparently have increased the purchase price by £80,000. On plan the church is L-shaped, for the older chancel is narrower than the nave and the north walls are fairly in alignment. (8) Incomplete cruciform stone, damaged at the top. Copyright School of Scottish Studies Archive & Atkinson estate. © School of Scottish Studies Archives/Robert Atkinson Estate, Stuart Murray. North Rona, sheep fank. The aim of the work was to retrieve material suitable for dating from beneath the foundations of the broad stone-revetted wall. North Rona was abandoned after the Viking raids, but resettled by a secular community in the 12th or 13th century; when John Morison visited from Lewis in c.1680 it was 'inhabited & ordinarlie be five small tennants'. A prominent feature is the 'Ness Shepherd's Stone', an ornate 19th century stone slab. Martin has a long interesting account of the island and its earlier inhabitants derived from natives of Lewis who had visited it. RCAHMS and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Saint Ronan’s cell and chapel stand in the SE corner of a roughly oval enclosure bounded by a heavy stone and turf wall. R Atkinson,1946. A number of carved stones of local hornblende gneiss are preserved in the chapel and others remain in the enclosure to the SW. Richard Cook and Paul Murton leaving the island. Rona is said to have been the residence of Saint Ronan in the eighth century. Richard Cook (cameraman) and Richard Paterson (sound recordist) on North Rona. The island lies 71 kilometres (44 miles) north-west of Cape Wrath, the same distance north north-east of the Butt of Lewis and 18 km (11 mi) east of Sula Sgeir. Before it was finally abandoned in the 1830s, North Rona was the remotest island community in Europe. The Remains of St Ronan's Church, Rona - geograph.org.uk - 91788, List of Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouses, "A survey of the antiquities of North Rona", "XXI, Further Notes on North Rona, being an Appendix to Mr. John Swinburne's Paper on that Island in the "Proceedings" of this Society, 1883-84", "The Scottish Islands—Deaths in the Island of Rona", "II, Notes on the Islands of Sula Sgeir, or North Barra and North Rona, with a List of the Birds Inhabiting them", "St Ronan's Church & village settlement,Rona (SM1683)", Joint Nature Conservation Committee - North Rona - Special Area of Conservation, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland - Information on the church and oratory, Scotland's National Nature Reserves - Rona and Sula Sgeir, Article in the Herald Scotland - 13 July 2002, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_Rona&oldid=976768851.

From left: Mr G Geddes (RCAHMS), Mr M Smith, Ms J Harden, Mr K Munro, Mr S Murray, Professor K Jamie. "On one occasion ... a crew from Ness in Lewis had their boat wrecked in landing at Sula Sgeir in the month of June, and lived on the island for several weeks, sustaining themselves on the flesh of birds. Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. It has an area of 109 hectares (270 acres) and a maximum height of 108 metres (354 ft)[1][4][5] The island lies 71 kilometres (44 mi) north north east of Butt of Lewis and 18 kilometres (11 mi) east of Sula Sgeir. Funder: Part grant-aided by the Hunter Archaeological Trust.

Scanned image. The island hosts an automatic light beacon, remotely monitored by the Northern Lighthouse Board. The island was occupied temporarily in 1938–39 by author and conservationist Frank Fraser Darling with his wife Bobbie and their son Alasdair, while they studied the Grey Seals and the breeding seabirds. To install click the Add extension button. Rona (Scottish Gaelic: Rònaigh, pronounced [rˠɔːnaj]) is a remote Scottish island in the North Atlantic. But its isolation has preserved the… Rutland, Nisbet, H and Gailey, R A 1960 ‘A survey of the antiquities on North Rona’ Archaeological Journal 117, 88-115.

Copyright School of Scottish Studies Archive & Atkinson estate. Copyright School of Scottish Studies Archive & Atkinson estate. North Rona, Toa Rona cairn. Publication drawing; Scotland showing St Kilda and other comparable islands and sites.

Photographic survey for scheduled Ancient Monuments architect's report, St Ronan's Chapel and village settlement, North Rona, Western Isles. Boyd (1986) gives the height as 116 metres (381 feet) and the area as 120 acres (49 hectares). This measures 0.47m high and about 0.3m in probable span but has flaked at the ends of both side-arms. Captain Oliver, who commanded the Revenue cruiser Prince of Wales, visited Sula Sgeir in the month of August to look for the lost boat. Rona was resettled after this disaster, but the population dwindled from five families to one shepherd and his flock, before it was abandoned as a permanent settlement around 1840. (iii) Monro 1960, 88; M Robson 1991, 2-6. There are only five families in this small island, and every tenant hath his dwelling house, a barn, a house for their cattle, and a porch on each side of the door to keep of the rain and snow. That's it.

As the poet Kathleen Jamie said, writing about Rona from personal experience, ‘we can imagine a past as sweet, as though bathed in a bronze light’. The stellar attraction of the village is St Ronan’s Cell and Church. St Ronan's church, Stuart Murray cross numbers 4,5,6,7 & 8. It measures 0.99m by 0.32m across the arms and 90mm in thickness. (2) Tapered slab of gneiss with slightly rounded top, 1.17m by 0.51m in maximum width and flaked in places.

The houses were occupied as least as late as 1683, and all show signs of reconstruction.

(North) Rona 1942: the Body at the Bothy Among the papers of the late Calum Smith there is a small set of correspondence apparently relating to a minor but intriguing mystery: the identity and provenance of a dead body found on the island of Rona, a.k.a. More isolated than St Kilda, it is the most remote island in the British Isles ever to have been inhabited on a long-term basis. R Atkinson, 1936.

It has an area of 109 hectares (270 acres) and a maximum elevation of 108 metres (354 ft). Digital Image Only. Lucky enough to have a carpenter among them, and wood to salvage from the islanders houses, they eventually sailed into Stornoway to a feast and celebration that lasted ‘for some days’ (Robson 2001, 30). The floors have silted up considerably, filling up the door between the nave and chapel and rendering access to the latter part possible only through a breach in the east gable; the entrance to the church is closed with stones. A number of simple cross-slabs of early medieval date are preserved within the structure, probably the grave-markers of Dark Age monks or hermits from Scotland or Ireland. Positions of 11 & 24 marked. The area to the west and SW of the church is largely occupied by burials marked by small head-stones, some of them roughly cross-shaped. It had a population of nine in 1764. Robson, M 1991 Rona, a distant island.