The ruins of the nunnery, of which Beatrice, sister of Reginald, was the first abbess, and which was apparently erected soon after 1203, consist of a quadrangle about 68 feet square, having the church on the north side, foundations of the chapter-house and other apartments on the east side, and the refectory on the south side. There may have been other buildings on the west side, as the walls are broken at the ends; but if so, they are now removed.[201] The church was an oblong structure, divided into nave and choir, and had a northern aisle extending along both. At a distance of about 30 feet north of the convent church stand the ruins of another building, said to have been the parish church. It was a simple oblong chamber, and was dedicated to St. Ronan.[202] Lovely carved work has been found around the buildings, and these are carefully preserved and have been reproduced in illustration.[203] These designs were probably carved on stone from the beautiful illuminated tracery which the Celtic monks executed in their scriptorium.
No ruthless destruction about the Reformation period could deprive Iona of its three great voices of the mountain, the sky, and the sea. That St. Columba's poetic nature and susceptible heart were impressed by them is beyond doubt, for they survive in his poem—
Delightful would it be to me to be in Uchd Ailiun
On the pinnacle of a rock,
That I might often see
The face of the ocean:
That I might see its heaving waves
Over the wide ocean,
When they chant music to their Father
Upon the world's course:
That I might see its level sparkling strand,
It would be no cause of sorrow:
That I might hear the song of the wonderful birds,
Source of happiness:
That I might hear the thunder of the crowding waves
Upon the rocks:
That I might hear the roar by the side of the church
Of the surrounding sea:
. . . . .
That I might bless the Lord
Who conserves all,
Heaven with its countless bright orders,
Land, strand, and flood:
. . . . .
At times kneeling to beloved heaven:
At times at psalm singing:
At times contemplating the King of Heaven,
Holy the chief:
At times at work without compulsion;
This would be delightful.[204]
Thus Iona, the isle of the saints, the lamp lit amid the darkness of the western sea, impressed the founder as he heard its voices. May there soon be added another, the voice of the restored cathedral, connecting the present with a glorious past, carrying us away in thought by its architecture to earlier days, and by its situation to the hour when the great apostle of the Picts first landed on its shores. This may at no distant future be realised, since the late Duke of Argyll gifted the ruined cathedral to the Church of Scotland, which hopes to do for it what has already been done for Dunblane.