The Lewis Chessmen (or Uig Chessmen if you are from the West Side of the island) are among the best loved archaeological treasures in Britain. Copies have long been popular among chess players, giant carvings dot the landscape throughout Lewis, but their global fame is in no small part due to being featured in a Harry Potter film!
Discovery
In 1831 Malcolm MacLeod (Calum an Sprot) was tending cattle on the rich farming land of Ardroil on the west coast of Lewis, when one of his animals wondered out onto the sands of Uig Bay. As he followed the cow onto the beach to retrieve it, Malcolm noticed a small stone chamber. In the chamber was a wooden box. And in the box were 78 elaborately carved chess pieces (along with 14 other gaming pieces and a belt buckle). The treasure Malcolm uncovered, carved from walrus ivory and whale teeth, may well have been in its hiding place for over 500 years, having been carved most likely in Trondheim in Norway sometime in the 12th century.
Origins
The pieces were in pristine condition. Did they belong to a powerful Norse leader? Were they a merchant’s wares heading for markets in wealthy towns like Dublin? Certainly they were deliberately buried and the owner did not return. They lay hidden and safe until Malcom MacLeod found them. One story is that they came with a young shipwrecked sailor, who howed them to a man who then murdered him, stealing and hiding the treasures. The man was later hanged in Stornoway for other crimes and confessed to the murder on the gallows.
Appearance
Every chessman is unique and intricately carved. There are 8 kings, 8 queen, 15 knights, 16 bishops and 12 warders and 19 pawns. Perhaps the most well known peices are the 4 Berserkers, gnawing on their shields and working themselves into a frenzy before going into battle without armour. Chess was popular with the Vikings, looking for ways to pass the cold winter nights in their longhouses, focusing, as it does, on battle strategy which could save lives and lead to greater wealth and status. After being kept on the mainland for over 150 years, 6 of the pieces are now back in the Outer Hebrides and displayed in the Museum nan Eilean in Lews Castle, Stornoway.
Value
The first exhibition of the chessmen was in Malcolm's byre. However, he soon sold them for £30 (which he needed as his family was shortly cleared from the land at Pennydonald), and the majority were subsequently bought at auction for £84 by the British Museum with the remainder finding their way into the hands of the National Museum of Scotland. In 2019 a warder (rook) was discovered in a drawer of an Edinburgh flat and subsequently sold for the rather larger amount of £795,000. That should provide you with an incentive, as, assuming there were four complete sets, then there is still one knight and three warders missing. So keep your eyes peeled when walking the beaches around Uig.
