Origins of the Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is an intricately illustrated Celtic Gospel book, written in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables.

It has long been taken for granted that the Book of Kells was made on the Hebridean island of Iona.

But there is no direct evidence to support this.In this talk Dr Victoria Whitworth will discuss her newly published research, which points to a different candidate for its origins, the Pictish monastery of Portmahomack, in Easter Ross.

Dr Victoria Whitworth will explore the art-historical and archaeological evidence to make the case that “the world’s most famous medieval manuscript” is also the only survivor from the lost libraries of Pictland.About the speakerDr Victoria Whitworth has degrees from Oxford and York.

A former academic, she now writes full-time.

Her most recent book is The Book of Kells: Unlocking the Enigma (Bloomsbury 2025) and her current research project is a re-evaluation of the Viking Age sculpture of Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man.