The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and marks the foundation of a monastic community by St. Columba, when Iona was part of the Kingdom of Dál Riata.

Saint Aidan served as a monk at Iona, before helping to reestablish Christianity in Northumberland, on the island of Lindisfarne.

[1] From 1207 to 1493, the early Clan Donald and its Lords of the Isles were entirely central to Iona abbey’s medieval existence, development and prestige.

[4] Adomnán describes a building on a small mound, Torr an Aba, in the monastery grounds where St Columba worked and wrote.

[4] The Iona monastery's position in what was then a well-used seaway would have facilitated trade, as would St Columba's personal aristocratic background.

However, Iona Abbey was probably not deserted as its continued importance is shown by the death there in 980 of Amlaíb Cuarán, a retired King of Dublin.

[17] In 1114 Iona was seized by the King of Norway, who held it for fifty years before Somerled recaptured it, and invited renewed Irish involvement in 1164: this led to the construction of the central part of the cathedral.

This was a response by Ireland's Columban clergy to the loss of its connections and influence at this significant site founded by St Columba.

[19] The Iona Nunnery, a foundation by Somerled's daughter, Bethóc of the Augustinian Order, (one of only three in Scotland - the other two were in Perth and Teampull na Trionaid in North Uist), was established south of the abbey buildings.

[1] Following the Scottish Reformation, Iona, along with numerous other abbeys throughout the British Isles, was dismantled, and abandoned, its monks and libraries dispersed.

The reconstruction was organised by the architect Ian Gordon Lindsay having generously been passed the project by his senior mentor and friend Reginald Fairlie.

The simple square font was added in 1908 and dedicated to the memory of the Very Rev Theodore Marshall DD, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in that year.

[22] In June 2021, the abbey reopened following a £3.75M renovation, fund-raised by the Iona Community over three years, and including a renewable energy system and high-speed broadband.

Numerous leading Hebrideans, such as various Lords of the Isles and other prominent members of West Highland clans, were buried on Iona,[25] including a row of Maclean chieftains[26] and several early MacLeod chiefs.

The contemporary Jedburgh-based sculptor Christopher Hall worked for many years on carvings on the cloisters of the abbey, which represent birds, flora and fauna native to the island.