Fig. 384.—The Nunnery, Iona. View from North-West.
made in the building. The position of the cloister garth has been defined by a low wall; and the site of the chapter house on the eastern side, with its stone seat running round it (see [Fig. 383.]), has been disclosed. The other apartments on this side remain indefinite, but the position and walls of the refectory on the south side are distinct. This part of the structure has had an upper story, probably a dormitory. The south, east, and west walls, with their small windows, are still preserved. There was, no doubt, a dormitory over the east side of the quadrangle, but the walls there are now only a few feet in height.
At a distance of about 30 feet north from the convent church stands another building, said to have been the parish church. (See [Fig. 381.]) It is dedicated to St. Ronan, and is a simple oblong chamber, 37 feet long by 16 feet wide internally.
It has a small window in the centre of the east wall, and the seat of the altar still remains. In the north and south wall, near the east end, are the remains of two windows, which have apparently been rather wider than the east window.
The doorway has been at the north-west angle, and has had a single nook shaft in each jamb; but that part of the structure is now much destroyed. The whole building is constructed with the plain rubble work usual in West Highland churches.
Numerous very fine specimens of Celtic carved work are preserved in the monumental stones which have been found and are preserved in the convent.[192] Amongst these is the monument of the last prioress. On it are carved the figure of the prioress, surmounted by a rude Gothic canopy, and an inscription bearing the date of 1543. It also contains the ancient symbols of the mirror and the comb.