The Clonca Grave Slab on the Isle of Iona, Argyllshire, Scotland.
The stone grave slab has a Caman & Sliothar carved into it.
15th Century

Iona is only 3 1/2 miles long and 1 1/2 wide and has more sheep than people, but it occupies a special place in Britain's history. It was from there in A.D. 563 that St. Columba set out with 12 followers from Ireland to begin the conversion of Scotland to Christianity. The island also was a target of Norse plunderers and the scene of centuries of clan and religious warfare. Its ancient burial place contains the graves of kings, and its restored abbey and the ruins of a convent date from the 11th century.

The story of Iona reads more like myth than history. Legend holds that when Columba, the descendant of an Irish king, arrived from Ireland with the daunting goal of converting the fearsome Picts to the faith of St. Patrick, he sought to do penance for the slaughter of 3,000 men in battle. He looked for a place from which he could not see his homeland. His boat, a wicker-and-hide coracle, beached at the southern tip of the island, and from there he climbed to the highest point nearby and failed to see his own country. To this day, the grassy spot is known as the Hill With Its Back to Ireland.

Near the northern end of the island Columba's monks established the huts of the first monastery. By 597, the year of Columba's death, he had converted the Picts and the Scots, and much of northern England. His missionaries had spread as far as southern England, France and Switzerland.