The Lewis Chessmen

In 1831, in a sandbank on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, someone found a hoard of little figures carved from walrus ivory and whales’ teeth, an army of grave-faced kings, queens, bishops and berserkers biting their shields: the Lewis Chessmen, made in Norway around 1150, when these islands were Norse. They are among the most beloved objects in the British Museum and National Museums Scotland, and their glowering faces are known the world over. Uig sands, where they surfaced, is a wild and beautiful shore.