 Iona is popularly said to have been the traditional burial place of Scottish kings from the advent of the Alpínid dynasty. Contemporary evidence for such claims, however, date only to about the twelfth- or thirteenth centuries. The so-called traditions, therefore, appear to have been constructed to advance Iona's prestige as a royal burial site, and may well have been instigated and encouraged by the meic Somairle. Iona was certainly the burial place of Ragnall's later descendants, and leading members of West Highland nobility. The oldest intact building on the island is St Oran's Chapel. Judging from certain Irish influences in its architecture, the chapel is thought to date to about the mid twelfth century. The building is known to have been used as a mortuary house by Ragnall's later descendants, and it is possible that either he or his father were responsible for its erection. On the other hand, it is also possible that the chapel was constructed by the kings of the Crovan dynasty: either Guðrøðr, who was buried on the island in 1188, or else Guðrøðr's father (Ragnall's maternal-grandfather) Óláfr.
