Columba's Iona A new history

Thousands of people visit the tiny and remote Hebridean island of Iona each year to experience its unique atmosphere of tranquil spirituality. The wood and wattle buildings built by Columba and his monks have long since vanished, replaced by the Benedictine abbey of stone which, after the Reformation, fell into neglect, to languish for three hundred years as no more than a romantic ruin. In the early twentieth century, however, it was restored by the Church of Scotland's Iona Cathedral Trust and the charismatic, controversial George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community, an experiment in Christian living which flourishes to this day.