MEADOW OF THE LAPWING CIRCLE PENDANT

Gorgeous, reversible circle pendant featuring original zoomorphic Celtic birds and ‘Peace to Thee’ carvings as created by the Ritchies, reimagined together into a modern and wearable annular pendant. This pendant is named for the Meadow of the Lapwing – a location found on old maps of Iona hand-drawn by the Gaelic-speaking Alexander Ritchie, in his other role as custodian of the Iona Abbey conducting tours for visitors. 

When Mhairi and Maeve first came together on Iona to envisage founding the collection, Maeve was deeply inspired walking the island with Mhairi and discovering places of quieter significance than the popular destinations. The natural beauty of Iona is all around, in birdsong, wind, water, rock, crag, meadow, shore, grass and wildflower. The infinitely beautiful Gaelic descriptions and placenames of these are not often used on Iona today, as there is almost no Gaelic spoken on the island. Yet Gaelic was the epicentre of life for the Ritchies and features on many of their artworks, so it was imperative to Mhairi and Maeve to continue the work of Aosdana, bringing back the Gaelic and weaving our love of Gaelic art, culture and place into our name, logo, designs and storytelling. 

It was a moment of great synchronicity when we considered what to call the brand, and suddenly realised that Mairi’s relative who we sought to honour - Ritchie apprentice Iain MacCormick - used the initials IMC on his work, which were the same initials for Ì Mo Chridhe - Iona my heart - a line often used in traditional Gaelic songs of the island, also engraved on many Ritchie jewels. We realised with joy we had connected to the unbroken line we sought, and the path ahead was clear!

This pendant is oxidised sterling silver. It measures 20mm by 5mm at the widest points, and comes on a double oxidised 0.7mm diamond cut mirror box chain to match the pendant finish, in your choice of 16” or 18” length chain. Each piece is Hallmarked Sterling Silver by the Edinburgh Assay Office in Scotland.

Please note 2023 delivery is up to 10 weeks. Please order by October 9 for guaranteed pre-Christmas delivery. Standard delivery time from January 2024 will be 3-4 weeks. Custom, enamel and carved stone items will be 5-6 weeks.