Where were the chessmen discovered?
The precise findspot seems to have been a beach at Uig in Lewis,
where they may have been placed in a small, drystone chamber.
What was found?
The 93 gaming pieces known to us today include 78 chessmen, 14
tables-men and a buckle to secure a bag.
The chess pieces consist of elaborately worked walrus ivory and
whales' teeth in the form of seated kings and queens, bishops,
knights on their mounts, standing warders and pawns in the shape of
obelisks.
The hoard is likely to be made up of four chess
sets. Eleven of the chessmen are owned by National Museums
Scotland and the remaining 82 reside at the British Museum.
Click on the image below to see a slideshow of key pieces from
the National Museums Scotland collection.
Where do they come from?
The Lewis Chessmen have fascinated visitors and art historians
alike. Believed to be Scandinavian in origin, it is
possible they belonged to a merchant travelling from Norway to
Ireland.
They were probably made in Trondheim in Norway during
the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when the area in
which the chessmen were buried was part of the Kingdom of
Norway, not Scotland. It seems likely they were buried for safe
keeping on route to be traded in Ireland.
Fact or fiction?
Above: Uig. Photo © Ross Scott
Photography
There are several different and colourful theories about how the
hoard came to be hidden at Uig on Lewis.
- Were they stolen from a passing ship?
- Were they hidden by a travelling merchant?
- Could the hoard be the prized possession of a local prince,
nobleman or senior churchman?
- Were they made by different craftsmen in the same
workshop?
- Were some of the pieces for hnefatafl, a popular chess like
game and others for chess?
Although many questions remain unanswered, there continues to be
fascination with this remarkable group of iconic objects, 180 years
after their discovery on Lewis.