About
On Iona, beside Sràid nan Marbh, the street of the dead, where it met the track up from the landing place, MacLean's Cross has stood since the late 1400s. Pilgrims coming up from the boats would have stopped here to pray on their way to the abbey and St Columba's shrine. It is a free-standing, disc-headed cross carved from a single slab more than 3 m high and decorated on both sides with tightly packed plaitwork and foliage. The west face shows the Crucifixion, the east face two animals, and at the foot of the shaft rides an armed horseman, possibly the MacLean chief who commissioned it. Today it stands on a stone base in front of the parish church, about 270 m from the pier on the road to the abbey. Iona is car-free: leave the car in the free car park at Fionnphort on Mull and take the ten-minute CalMac ferry.
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- MacLean's Cross, IonaOpen at all times; an unstaffed roadside cross on Iona, reached by the CalMac ferry from Fionnphort (winter timetable)
Opening times may change at short notice.
Historic Scotland: 'MacLean's Cross is free to visit and is open year-round.' No hours, closures or notices on 21 October 2026. The CalMac winter timetable for Fionnphort to Iona runs from 19 October 2026 to 25 March 2027; check sailings before travelling.
The cross stands on a stone base at the roadside beside the Street of the Dead, about 250 metres south of Iona Abbey and close to the Nunnery ruins, with a small plaque. No facilities at the cross; toilets are near the Iona slipway.
Photo: The tall carved stone of MacLean's Cross on its stone base by a drystone wall and the road on Iona, with the parish church behind. Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maclean%27s_Cross,_Iona_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6982765.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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