Little Dove Calum

This carving was an appreciation and remembrance of part of our family, the MacNeils of Oransay, who for three generations, a period of well over a century, farmed and and nurtured this beautiful Hebridean island. Together with my brother and cousins, we were privileged and fortunate to spend much of our youth within their affection and knowledge.

The dove is the symbol of Calumcille, St Columba; it is also the universal symbol of love, hope and peace. And the Priory church of Oransay is dedicated to Columba.

I chose the Kilkenny marble to mark the Irish connection with  St Kenneth, who followed Columba to Iona and Scotland.

The stone itself reacts excitingly to the light and atmosphere, ever changing and embedded with the fossils of tiny sea creatures.

With the cooperation and help of Mrs Frannie Coburn, proprietrix of Oransay, the carving will be sited on the approach to the Priory and farm.

Fo Rear Choluimb

‘… he crossed in ships the whale’s shrine… a bold man over sea’s ridge”

Beccan of Rum, d.677