New research may rewrite origins of the Book of Kells, says academic

Exclusive: Author challenges assumption monks on Iona created manuscript, instead positing its origins are Pictish

The Book of Kells was likely to have been created 1,200 years ago in Pictish eastern Scotland, rather than on the island of Iona, according to research that challenges long-held assumptions about one of the world's most famous medieval manuscripts.

The Book of Kells is an intricate, illuminated account of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that was long thought to have been started in the late eighth century at the monastery on Iona before being taken in the 9th century to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, Ireland, after a Viking raid.