Hinba

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Hinba (Scottish Gaelic: isles of the sea) is an island in Scotland of unknown location that was the site of a small monastery associated with the Columban church on Iona.[1] Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early abbots, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts.

The islands of Eileach an Naoimh and Jura are the most likely candidates, although Canna is also a possibility.

Contents

[edit] Founding and early administration

The restored Iona Abbey. In Columba's day all church buildings would have been constructed from wood.
The restored Iona Abbey. In Columba's day all church buildings would have been constructed from wood.

Columba (521-597), the first patron saint of Scotland, arrived in the kingdom of Dál Riata in modern Scotland from his homeland of Ireland in 563, and in the same year was granted land on Iona. This became the centre of his evangelising mission to the Picts. The Celtic monastic system made use of isolated retreat centres they called 'deserts' and there were two or more smaller monastic settlements associated with Iona.[2] Mag Luigne on Tiree was one, Hinba the other, the latter being a favourite destination of Columba's for a period of contemplation.[3] There may also have been similar outlying colonies on Elene Insula (off Islay) and Scia (Skye).[4]

St. Ernan, Abbot of Hinba was an uncle of St. Columba and one of the twelve who accompanied Columba from Ireland to Iona. He was appointed head of the community which Columba established on Hinba.[3] Baithéne mac Brénaind was the second abbot of Iona (597-600), and known to have administered the monasteries of both Hinba and Mag Luigne before succeeding to this position.[5]

[edit] Possible locations

Monk's cell and standing stone, Eileach an Naoimh
Monk's cell and standing stone, Eileach an Naoimh

[edit] Eileach an Naoimh

This is a rocky islet in the Garvellach group in the Firth of Lorn. Columba is believed to have visited Eileach an Naoimh and it may be the burial site of his mother Eithne.[6][7] However, Adomnán the chronicler of the life of Columba,[8] describes a settlement that may suggest a larger island than this one, which extends to only 56 ha (138 acres).[1] Adomnán also refers to a place name associated with the island called Muirbolcmar. This is Gaelic for the great sea-bag and its interpretation has proven to be controversial. Watson took the view that it is not an obvious description of anywhere on the rocky coast of Eileach an Naoimh and that Hinba must therefore have been elsewhere.[9]

[edit] Jura

An alternative proposed by Watson is Jura, some 6 miles south east of the Garvellachs. This much larger island is on the main sea route between the heartlands of Dál Riata and Ireland. It contains a large arm of the sea called Loch Tarbert that fits the description of a 'great sea-bag'. An alternative derivation of the name is that it is from the Old Irish inbe meaning 'incision', a description that could fit either Loch Tarbert or the prominent gap between the islands main hills, the Paps of Jura.[9]

Two of the Paps of Jura.
Two of the Paps of Jura.

However, other scholars have taken the view that there is no reason to interpret Adomnán's text to mean that 'Muirbolcmar' is a place on Hinba, but rather that it describes Hinba's position. A 'great sea-bag' is a fair description of the Firth of Lorn.[2] Furthermore the name Hinba, derives from the Gaelic Na Hinba (the isles of the sea). The English version of this name is a modern variant for the Garvellachs, further conflating Hinba with Eileach an Naoimh and its immediate neighbours. Murray (1973) goes so far as to say that Watson was "confused" and quotes four other authorities as being satisfied that Eileach an Naoimh and Hinba are the same.[10]

On the other hand, Marsden (1995) describes Watson's arguments as "a very convincing alternative" noting that Watson records a local name for Jura of t-Eilean Ban ('the blessed isle') and a cave on Jura's shores called Uaimh mhuinn tir Idhe ('the cave of the folk of Hy'). Marsden adds to this that Ernan the one-time prior of Hinba is known to have been buried at Kellernandale on Jura and that an (unidentified) Ancient Monument's Commission report on Iona contains an entry of 'Hinba (Jura?)'.[11]

[edit] Canna

Another possible site is Canna near Rùm, about 64 miles north west of the Garvellachs.[3] However, Adomnán notes that Brendan the Navigator set sail from Ireland to visit Columba and unexpectedly found him en route at Hinba. Canna is a most unlikely landfall on such a journey as it is well to the north of and thus beyond Iona and Tiree.

On the other hand, the elderly Brendan might well have chosen to stop off at a monastic settlement he himself had founded many years before on the island of 'Ailech'. As Watson himself agrees, Ailech is 'beyond reasonable doubt' Eileach an Naoimh, suggesting that Hinba may have been Ailech continuing under another name rather than Canna.[2][12]

[edit] Mystical events

Adomnán records that Columba was visited on Hinba by St. Comgall, St. Cannich, St. Brendan, and St. Cormac. During a Mass, Brendan saw a luminous globe of fire above Columba's head that "continued burning and rising up like a column of flame, till the Holy Mysteries had been completed". According to the same source, on another occasion whilst visiting Hinba, Columba saw "heavenly visions and revelations" that lasted for three days and nights.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Marsden, John (1995) The Illustrated Life of Columba. Edinburgh. Floris Books.
  • Murray, W.H. (1973) The Islands of Western Scotland. London. Eyre Methuen.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004 The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate. Page 67.
  2. ^ a b c Murray (1973) op cit pages 262-5.
  3. ^ a b c d "Ernan Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
  4. ^ Ireland, William W. (9 March 1903) "A Visit to Eileach an Naoimh (Hinba)". (pdf) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
  5. ^ Sharpe, Richard (1995) Adomnán of Iona: Life of St. Columba. London.
  6. ^ Pallister, Marian (2005) Lost Argyll: Argyll's Lost Heritage. Edinburgh. Birlinn. Pages 120 and 133.
  7. ^ Marsden (1995) op cit page 110.
  8. ^ Adomnan of Iona, (tr. & ed. Richard Sharpe) (1995) Life of St Columba. Penguin ISBN 0-14-044462-9
  9. ^ a b Watson, W. J. (1926), The Celtic Place-names of Scotland (2004 ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn, pp. 81–84, ISBN 1-84158-323-5 
  10. ^ These are: Reeves, William (ed.) (1857) Adomnan's Life of St Columba. Dublin. Irish Archeaological and Celtic Society; Skene, W.F. (1876) Celtic Scotland; a 1930 report by the Glasgow University Archaeology Society; and Simpson, W. Douglas referring in the text to a 1953 and a 1955 document neither of which are in Murray's bibliography.
  11. ^ Marsden (1995) op cit page 110.
  12. ^ Marsden (1995) op cit page 110.