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The isolated church of St Clement's, Rodel, Isle of Harris

In the autumn of 1991, my partner and I travelled as far into the north west of Britain as you can go - to the Isles of Lewis and Harris.

We wanted to get away from urban living, and experience some of the remotest landscapes in the United Kingdom. At the very furthest point south on the Isle of Harris lies the hamlet of Rodel. We wanted to visit the medieval church of St Clement's which has a sheela-na-gig and lewd man medieval sculptures :)

 

St Clement's Church (Scottish Gaelic: Tùr Chliamhainn, meaning Clement's Tower) is a late fifteenth-century or early sixteenth-century church in Rodel, Harris, Scotland, built for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris. It is dedicated to Pope Clement I. It is sometimes known as Eaglais Roghadail or Rodal Church.

 

The church was built using local Lewisian gneiss rock. Its ground plan is cruciform and there is a tower at the west end, accessible through a door at the west end of the nave and a set of stone staircases and wooden ladders. The choir and the sanctuary with the high altar, which used to be separated by the nave by a wooden screen, are located at the opposite east end of the church. In the transepts leading off from the nave on both sides, there are additional chapels, the entrance door points nord and leads to nave. The architectural style is essentially that of 1520 to 1550.

 

More info here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Clement%27s_Church,_Rodel

 

Taken with a Nikon F-501 SLR camera.

 

You can see a random selection of my photos here at Flickriver: www.flickriver.com/photos/9815422@N06/random/

 

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Uploaded on February 8, 2020
Taken in September 1991