What Are the Lewis Chessmen?

Where and when were the Lewis Chessmen found?

The pieces came to light on the Isle of Lewis, the northern part of the Long Island in the Outer Hebrides, in early 1831. They were found near Uig Bay on the island's western coast, buried in a sandbank, and were first shown publicly in Edinburgh in April that year. The exact circumstances are uncertain, and several local accounts compete, but the find was substantial: alongside the figurative chessmen lay a set of plain disc-shaped gaming counters and a belt buckle. Why such a valuable hoard ended up buried on a remote Hebridean shore is still debated. The most common theory is that the pieces belonged to a merchant or trader moving them along the Norse sea routes that linked Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland, and that they were hidden for safekeeping and never recovered.

What are the pieces made of and what do they look like?

The great majority of the Lewis Chessmen are carved from walrus ivory, with a smaller number worked from whale tooth. Walrus tusk was a luxury material in the medieval North Atlantic, traded from as far away as Greenland. What makes the pieces so memorable is their character. The kings sit gravely on their thrones holding swords across their laps. The queens rest a hand against the cheek in a pose often read as thought or weariness. Bishops carry croziers, knights ride stout ponies, and the warders, the rooks of their day, stand as foot soldiers, a few of them biting the rims of their shields in the manner of the legendary Norse berserkers. Faint traces suggest the darker side may once have been stained red rather than black. The largest king stands a little over 10 centimetres tall.

Who made them and where did they come from?

Most scholars place the carving of the Lewis Chessmen in Norway, very probably in the trading city of Trondheim, around 1150 to 1200. In that period the Hebrides were not Scottish in the modern sense but part of the Norse world, ruled within the Kingdom of Norway. The style of the figures, their robes, thrones and facial detail closely matches Scandinavian craftsmanship of the era, and one of the queens is paralleled by a piece thought to have been carved in Trondheim itself. A minority view argues for an Icelandic origin. Either way, the pieces tell us that chess, which had travelled westward from its origins in the Indian game of chaturanga around the 6th century, had by the 12th century become a fashionable pastime among the elite of the far North.

Where can you see the Lewis Chessmen today?

The hoard is split between two national collections. The British Museum in London holds 82 pieces, while the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh holds 11, the latter acquired in the late 1880s. The division has long been a point of cultural discussion, with calls for more of the pieces to be displayed in Scotland and the Hebrides, and pieces have travelled north on loan for exhibitions. A further chessman, a long-lost warder, resurfaced in 2019 and sold at auction for a remarkable sum, having sat unrecognised in a family's possession for decades. The pieces remain among the most photographed objects in any museum, instantly recognisable and central to how the history of chess in Europe is told and displayed.

How do the Lewis Chessmen compare to a modern chess set?

The Lewis Chessmen are figurative sculpture. Every king, queen and bishop is an individual portrait, beautiful to look at but slow to read across a busy board. Medieval and early modern chess suffered from exactly this problem: ornate, regional and inconsistent designs that made serious competitive play awkward. The answer arrived centuries later. The Staunton chess set was created in 1849 by Jaques of London, replacing fanciful figures with clear turned symbols that any player can identify at a glance. Today that pattern is the world standard, mandated by FIDE for competition, with a king typically around 95 millimetres tall. If you are choosing a chess set to actually play with, modern wooden chess sets in the Staunton pattern, traditionally boxwood for the light pieces and ebony for the dark, give you the clarity the Lewis carvers never aimed for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many Lewis Chessmen are there?

Ninety-three pieces survive in total. The British Museum holds 82 and the National Museum of Scotland holds 11. The hoard is thought to represent several incomplete sets rather than a single complete one. It comprises kings, queens, bishops, knights, warders (the equivalent of rooks) and pawns, along with a small number of plain disc-shaped tablemen and a belt buckle that were found alongside them. Because the pieces do not form whole sets, museums and collectors have produced replica figures over the years to fill the gaps for display.

Q: What are the Lewis Chessmen made from?

The great majority are carved from walrus ivory, with a smaller number made from whale tooth. Walrus tusk was a prized carving material in the medieval North Atlantic world and was traded along Norse routes from places such as Greenland. The carver worked the dense ivory into expressive seated figures with detailed faces, beards, robes and thrones. Some pieces still show faint traces suggesting the dark side may once have been stained red rather than the black used in modern sets, though the colouring has largely worn away over eight centuries.

Q: Where were the Lewis Chessmen made?

Most scholars believe the pieces were carved in Norway, very likely in the city of Trondheim, around 1150 to 1200, when the Isle of Lewis was part of the Norse world. The style of the figures matches Scandinavian craftsmanship of the period, and one queen is closely paralleled by a piece thought to have been made in Trondheim. The pieces probably reached Lewis through trade routes linking Norway, Scotland and Ireland. Some researchers have argued for an Icelandic origin, but a Norwegian workshop remains the leading view.

Q: How do the Lewis Chessmen differ from a modern Staunton set?

The Lewis Chessmen are individual figurative carvings: enthroned kings and queens, mitred bishops, mounted knights and standing warders, each with its own face and posture. A modern Staunton set, by contrast, uses simple turned symbols that any player can read instantly across the board. The Staunton design was created by Jaques of London in 1849 to bring order to a chaotic variety of styles, and it became the world standard. Where the Lewis figures are storytelling sculpture, the Staunton set is built for clarity and serious play.