The
11th century Chess pieces (The Lewis Chessmen)
made from walrus tusk and found on the beach in the
parish of Uig on the Isle of Lewis (Hebrides) and now
in the British Museum, were found in 1831 buried in a sandbank in the
Isle of Lewis, the largest island of the Outer Hebrides (Scotland).
The sea carried away the sandbank uncovering a mysterious building (a
small brick oven) that
had been buried under the sand.
Lewis Chessmen pieces
Carved
of walrus ivory, they may have come from Iceland,
although recent investigation suggests that the Lewis Chessmen may have
originated in Trondheim, the medieval capital city of Norway, and home
to the Norsemen during the eleventh and twelfh centuries who were the
overlords of the Isle of Lewis. It seems that they brought the
Chessmen with them from Norway when they voyaged to the island. Some
authorities date them to the 12th century. There
were four sets, not all complete.
According
to legend, they were stolen by a sailor from a ship anchored in Loch
Hamnaway soon after the year 1600. A shepherd known as Ghillie Ruadh
murdered the sailor to get the treasure, but fearing discovery,
carefully buried the pieces. A few years later he was hanged in
Stornoway for another crime, and is said to have made a dying confession
to the murder of the sailor.
A
local
peasant, Calum nan
Sprot, working nearby found what he concluded to be a collection of
Elves and Gnomes. The superstitious highlander flung down his
spade and fled home in horror. Superstition in the
Isle of Lewis had survived in a powerful form.
Thus, when the peasant first looked at the group of singular little
ivory figures, it was natural that they should appear as the pigmy
sprites of Celtic folklore. However, he was induced by his wife to
return to the spot and take the figures home.
He
sold them to a local collector who realised they were Chessmen pieces.
There were 78 pieces in all, belonging to eight or more sets. 67
are now in the British Museum and the rest in the National Museum in
Edinburgh. Experts are unanimous in regarding them as "The most
astonishing collection of ancient Chessmen in existence".
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