Cornerstone No . 194 , page 24
From the Life & Work Archives for 1958 Discovery of Columba ’ s cell ?
During the past three summer a team of archaeologists has been at work , under the Russell Trust , on the laying bare of the early Columban settlement . In a recent issue of “ The Coracle ”, Charles Thomas of Oxford , who has been in charge of the work , described the finding of what is almost certainly the remains of Columba ’ s cell . THE Columban foundation can now be partially reconstructed . It was defined by a , a high bank with an outer ditch , within which the monastery lay . The monastic settlement was quite small , perhaps a dozen wooden huts , the offices , and the little church which formed the focus . The greatest puzzle is , of course , the whereabouts of Columba ’ s cell . We are told that it was on a slightly higher spot than the rest of the monastery , that the entrance faced east across the Sound , and that it was possible to see and even hear people on Mull without leaving it . These clues all seemed to point in the same direction : the top of Tor Abb . Last year the summit was stripped . This showed that the mound was originally a ridge like a cow ’ s backbone , and had been made into a platform by building ramps , held in place by huge boulders , against both sides : on the far side , the west , this has been left exposed , and is clearly visible . On the top , on this semi-artificial platform , a little square cell had been built , its low stone walls carefully keyed into irregularities in the living rock . Its entrance was on the east , and here we must assume that steps , since fallen or removed , led down . The walls themselves seem to have been only a few feet high . All along their tops were the stubs of small wooden stakes , in the form of charcoal , implying a kind of wigwam construction of wood , turf , and heather thatch , a simple form of roof which , in more elaborate style , was in use on Mull within living memory . Within this cell was a broad slab of rock that could be used as a seat or a bed , and one thinks of Adamnan ’ s statement that Columba had for mattress the bare rock , and for pillow a stone . The only other furniture was a stand or support composed of three shaped granite stones , lined up with a slot in the natural rock , which must have supported a flat slab of schist or a wooden table . These things have been carefully preserved and can be seen now on Tor Abb . Was this in fact Columba ’ s cell ? In so far as archaeologists will commit themselves without positive evidence , the answer must be yes . It conforms to all the evidence that we have , which seems to be reliable .