The Island of Women

North of Fionnphort in the Sound of Iona, approximately due east of the Abbey, is a small island called The Island of Women (Eilean nam Ban). On our boat trip to Staff, David Kirkpatrick, the pilot, told us how the island came to have its name: As other settlers followed the monks to Iona, there was naturally some interaction between the monks and the other residents of the island. The Abbot noticed that the monks were increasingly distracted by the women of the island, so he had them moved across the sound to the Island of Women in order to solve the problem. It is generally held, however, that the primary effect of relocating the women was to make the monks better swimmers!