Saints in Scottish Place-Names
Funded by a Leverhulme Trust Project Grant
St Ronan's Church, Barvas (Rona)
Grid reference
HW 808 322 (accurate position)
Six-figure easting & northing
180800 103220
Latitude
59.12043856455614
Longitude
-5.830441139059074
County
Ross-shire
Nearby places
Rona, island Barvas (0.26 miles)
Object Classification
Antiquity
Ecclesiastical
Is linear feature?
No
Notes
An ancient (pre-Viking) ecclesiastical settlement on the remote island of Rhona, it actually lies within the parish of Barvas (Lewis) some 70 km north of the sanctuary of St Ronan on that island. Of the island where this chapel is, Monro says the inhabitants are 'simple people, scant of ony religione'. But in it is St Ronay's Chapell, 'unto quhilk chapell, as the ancients of that country alledges, they leave an spaid and ane shuil (shovel), quhen any man dies, and upon the morrow findes the place of the grave markit with an spaid, as they alledge' (Description, 522-3). In the 1640s, Donald Morrison, minister of Barvas on Lewis, went to the Rona and noted 'a chapel dedicated to St Ronan, fenced with a stone wall round it', and on the altar lay a wooden plank about ten feet long: 'every foot has a hole in it, and in every hole was a stone, to which the natives ascribe several virtues' (Robson, Rona, 9). Later in the seventeenth century the place was described by a visitor, Sir George MacKenzie of Tarbat: 'There is a chappel in the midst of the Isle, where they meet twice or thrice a day. One of the families is hereditary Bedell and the Master of that stands at the Altar and prayeth; the rest kneel upon their knees, and joyn with him. Their religion is the Romish Religion' (Robson, Rona, 8).
Relationships with other parishes
Within Barvas, parish (Lewis)
Names
2 head-names linked to this place ?St Ronan's Church
Head name
St Ronan's Church
Place
St Ronan's Church, Barvas (Rona)
Certainty that this name applies to this place
Certain
The status of this name is
Current
Is this a current OS form? ?
Yes
Is this the original referent of the place?
Yes
Is the association of this name to this object hypothetical?
No
St Ronans Chapell 1549, Monro, Description
Historic formSt Ronans Chapell Head nameSt Ronan's Church PlaceSt Ronan's Church, Barvas (Rona) Certainty that this name applies to this placeCertain SourceMonro, Description, no. 250 (p. 88) Date of citation1549 x 1549 Notes on the context of this place-nameFull title of the work as published: Monro's Western Isles of Scotland and Genealogies of the Clans, 1549, edited from a hitherto unpublished MS with introduction and notes'. |
Source code
Monro, Description
Author
Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles
Source title
Monro's Western Isles of Scotland
Editors
R. W. Munro
Year
1961
Notes
Full title of the work as published: Monro's Western Isles of Scotland and Genealogies of the Clans, 1549, edited from a hitherto unpublished MS with introduction and notes'.
Saints in this place-name
Rónán (ns) (certain)
Rónán Find m. Sáráin (maybe)
Teampull Naoimh Rònain
Head name
Teampull Naoimh Rònain
Place
St Ronan's Church, Barvas (Rona)
Certainty that this name applies to this place
Certain
The status of this name is
Current
Is this a current OS form? ?
Yes
Is this the original referent of the place?
Yes
Is the association of this name to this object hypothetical?
No
Saints in this place-name
Rónán (ns) (certain)