Introduction

Yesterday, I visited the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh with this post focusing on my key interest, the Lewis Chessmen. (Lewis is an island in the Outer Hebrides which lie off the west coast of Scotland.)

Information on the Lewis Chessmen

Reverse of the chess pieces illustrating the high quality carving.

Found in a wooden box on a windswept beach on Lewis in 1831 by a local farmer.

The box contained 78 elaborately carved chess pieces along with 14 other gaming pieces and a belt buckle.The hoard contained 93 gaming pieces from at least four chess sets plus other games.

The pieces were probably carved in Trondheim, Norway during the 12th century. They were carved from walrus ivory and sperm whale teeth. During the 12th century large tracts of the west of Scotland, the Western and Northern Isles were effectively under Norwegian control.

Why the collection was hidden on the beach is not known. One line of thought is that the pieces were the stock of a merchant/trader.

Every chess piece is unique and intricately carved. There are 8 kings, 8 queens, 15 knights, 16 bishops, 12 warders and 19 pawns. Chess was popular with the Vikings due to the game’s focus on battle strategy.

Today, 11 pieces are in the National Museum of Scotland collection with the remaining 82 in the British Museum‘s collection. Six of the latter are on loan to Museum nan Eilean on Lewis.

Reverse side view with more information.

Acknowledgement: Most of the information above was sourced from an article in the Glasgow Herald newspaper dated Nov 1st 2024.

Here is a video clip of the Edinburgh collection.

More information for the visitor

A wide range of information on Scotland and it’s islands can be found in the extensively illustrated Visitors’ Guide to Scotland. ISBN is 978-1-9161332-0-4. This book is also available via Kindle.