Looking Back: The Summer on Iona

From October 1954

Dormitory Block Almost Complete

During the past twelve months notable progress has been made in the rebuilding of the Abbey

A community bell was recently installed on the wall of the cloister. An interesting story attaches to the bell. Presented to the Community in 1940 by Col. William W. Moss, it was found at Hilfied Farm, Aldenham, Herts, buried in rubbish. There is some indication that it may have been bought with other salvage after the 1834 fire at the Palace of St Stephen’s, Westminster. John Fam Timmins, who purchased the salvage, then owned the farm. The librarian of the House of Commons has provided the information that the bells were removed from St Stephen’s tower in 1805 and may have gone to some basement. Though it is known there were three, the Patent Rolls do not record which bells used to hang in the tower. If the Iona bell is one of them, it may have called Oliver Cromwell to prayer. The bell weighs two hundredweight and was cast in 1540 by Peter Vanden Ghein, of Malines. It carries a bold inscription, a finely-wrought impression of the Holy Family, a crest which has defied all attempts at identification, and other decorations. It will now be used to regulate the life of the Community, calling men to meals, lectures, etc, while the bell in the Abbey tower will continue to be used as a Sunday call to worship.

Other developments in the rebuilding have been such that the dormitory block will soon be ready for occupation, and a splendid new feature is the noble staircase which runs from this block down to the North Transept of the Cathedral.

This summer over 800 have spent a week either as guests of the Community or at the youth camps on the island. The visitors have included members of the Eastern Orthodox, the Lutheran and the German Evangelical Churches.

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George MacLeod on the Founding of the Iona Community

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