New Dig in Scotland Challenges Long-Held Belief that St. Columba Brought Christianity to the British Isles
"I think we're going to find the early church, and the early church is going to be about 600 (AD)"
(Scotland)?When archaeologist husband and wife team, George and Nan Bethune, retired to their farm on croft land in Caithness in Scotland, they assumed they would spend their retirement gardening. Imagine their surprise when they started digging and found what they believe to be an ancient Christian chapel.
Now an archaeological team from Nottingham University has completed the first of three digs on the site to determine whether it was Norsemen who brought Christianity to the British Isles before St. Columba?credited with bringing Christianity to the country?arrived on Iona. History reveals St. Columba left Ireland for Scotland in 563AD and subsequently founded the Manachain monastery on Iona.
Mrs. Bethune, who believes the newly discovered site was used continuously until the Reformation, said: "I think we're going to find the early church, and the early church is going to be about 600 (AD)"
Click on the link below to watch the delightfully Scottish couple express their joy at the find.
