The peat-fire flame : folk-tales and traditions of the Highlands & Islands

ell lore
The Yellow Bell of St. Modan.
Similar powers were vested in the Yellow Bell of St.
Modan, at Ardchattan, in Argyll. This bell also could
travel through the air, heal the sick, sing sonorously in its
journeyings, and always find its way home again. On
more than one occasion its services were sought by ailing
folks in Scone. But on its last mission disaster befell it on
its homeward journey. It wandered into " some forgotten
mere among the tumbled fragments of the hills," and was
lost forever. As late as the nineteenth century there lived
among the wilds of Argyll folks who deponed to having
heard the sweet music of the Yellow Bell of St. Modan,
as it went flying over the hills and sea-creeks.
The Bell of Inchtavannach.
For many years Inchtavannach, one of the largest and
most picturesque of the isles of Loch Lomond, was the
island-home of St. Kessog. The name, Inchtavannach, is a
corruption of the Gaelic, Innis Tigh a' Mhanaich, meaning
Isle of the Monk's Abode. On this Isle there is a steep
hill-top marked on the Ordnance Survey Map as Tom na
Clog {Tom a' Chluig), Hill of the Bell; and there rested
on this hill-top until early in the nineteenth century the bell
known as St. Ivessog's Bell. This bell was of bronze. It is
said that, when it was rung, it summoned to worship all the
natives of the three parishes of Luss, Kilmaronock, and
Inch Cailleach. The last named parish is now called
Buchanan; and a very beautiful and interesting parish it is !
The inhabitants of Scotland must have possessed
exceedingly good hearing in those days, since the bell is so
small. Indeed, it is doubtful whether to-day any one living
could hear it in the distant parish of Kilmaronock. The
writer of an article dealing, among other things, with this
bell in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland (1927-28) questions whether it would be audible
even at the eastern side of Loch Lomond.
Except for its magical power of sending its chimes out
over great distances, there is little else of interest about St.
Kessog's Bell. The last we hear of it is that it was
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