Iolaire panel of Great Tapestry of Scotland to be exhibited on Lewis

A panel from the Great Tapestry of Scotland depicting the Western Isles' Iolaire disaster of is to be displayed on Lewis (Leòdhas) in the Outer Hebrides (Na h-Eileanan Siar) of Scotland. The panel forms one part of the 143 metres long tapestry, which is one of the longest in the world. The 160 detailed panels capture unique moments in time during Scotland’s 420 million year history. The vessel Iolaire was carrying home hundreds of sailors after the end of World War One. It was wrecked on a reef called the Beasts of Holm near Stornoway (Steòrnabhagh) and of the 283 aboard, at least 201 men perished.

The Iolaire panel was stitched during 2012 and 2013 in Harris and South Uist by Tracey MacLeod, Moira MacPherson, and Gillian Scott-Forest. It will be featured in an exhibition opening on 2 October in Stornoway's Museum nan Eilean.  The loan of the panel forms part of a wider effort both this year and next to mark 100 years since the sinking of the Iolaire on 1 January 1919. Amongst the other acts of remembrance, stones collected from the communities of each of the men who died, will be incorporated into a cairn forming part of a new memorial in Stornoway's Carn Gardens.