Qualla: Abbey of Kells https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/1/abbey-of-kells-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Abbey of Kells https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells Abbey of Kells: Introduction https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells/ Photo credit Sheila1988, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1006, somebody stole the Book of Kells. The Annals of Ulster record that the great gospel book - the chief relic of the western world, the annalist called it - was lifted from the stone church of Kells. Two months later it was found buried beneath a sod of turf, missing only its jewelled cover. The thief had pried off the gold and gems and left the parchment behind. That violent removal probably explains why the opening and closing pages of the book are missing today. Everything else survives, eleven hundred years after the monks of Kells inked it.

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/1/abbey-of-kells-wp/gce1-abbey-of-kells-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Abbey of Kells: The Monks Who Fled Iona https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The abbey traces itself back to St Columba, who is said to have founded a monastery here around 554 on land granted by the High King Diarmait mac Cerbaill. But the abbey that mattered came later, built in fear. In 795, Vikings began raiding the Columban monastery on the Hebridean...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/1/abbey-of-kells-wp/gce1-abbey-of-kells-the-monks-who-fled-iona.mp3 0:06 2 full Abbey of Kells: The Book Itself https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells/ Photo credit Sitomon, CC BY-SA 2.0. Historians still argue about where the Book of Kells was made. One theory has it started at Iona and finished at Kells. Another has it created entirely at Kells over generations of monastic scribes. Wherever it was begun, what survives is 340 vellum leaves of the four Gospels in ...

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Image: Sitomon | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/1/abbey-of-kells-wp/gce1-abbey-of-kells-the-book-itself.mp3 0:06 3 full Abbey of Kells: Cromwell's Cavalry https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells/ Photo credit Sarah777 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. When Oliver Cromwell's army occupied Kells in the 1650s, his cavalry were billeted in the very church where the Book of Kells had spent six and a half centuries. Someone in the local clergy - it is not entirely clear who - made the decision to get the book out. It was sent to Dub...

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Image: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/1/abbey-of-kells-wp/gce1-abbey-of-kells-cromwells-cavalry.mp3 0:06 4 full Abbey of Kells: What Still Stands https://qualla.com/abbey-of-kells/ Photo credit Nemoi, CC BY-SA 3.0. The monastic site at Kells preserves a small museum of what early medieval Irish Christianity built and left behind. The Round Tower, ten metres higher than the surrounding rooftops, rises about 28 metres from the original street level - it has five windows at the top instead of ...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/1/abbey-of-kells-wp/gce1-abbey-of-kells-what-still-stands.mp3 0:06 5 full