Situated in the village of Rodel, three
miles south of Leverburgh.
St Clement's Church at Rodel, on the Isle
of Harris, was built in the late 15th century for the Chiefs
of the MacLeods of Harris, who lived across the Minch at Dunvegan
Castle.
In 1528 Alasdair Crotach Macleod,
8th Chief, prepared for himself a magnificent wall tomb. Above
a carved effigy of the chief, four angels circle above the Virgin
Mary and two bishops; the chief's castle at Dunvegan and his galley;
below is the scene of the Chief hunting stags; the weighing of
his soul and an inscriptions.
The arch of the tomb carries carvings
of the twelve apostles; two angels and God the father holding the
cross and surrounded by the beasts of the four evangelists. This
is the finest late mediaeval wall tomb in Scotland.
The church
became ruinous in the 18th century and was restored in 1784;
it was accidentally burned and restored again. In the 19th century
it was used as a cow byre before being restored by Lady Dunmore
in 1873.
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