Mary Macdonald was a Gaelic poet who lived at Ardtun, near Bunessan.
Her hymn "Leanabh an Aigh" was set to a traditional Scottish tune. The hymn was still in use in the area when Lachlan Macbean was doing the research for his "Songs and Hymns of the Scottish Highlands", published in 1888. Macbean translated the title of Mary's hymn as "Child in the Manger" and named the tune to which it was sung "Bunessan".
The tune "Bunessan" which Mary thus helped popularise, has since achieved an even wider audience. The editors of the influential 1925 hymn book "Songs of Praise" asked the English writer Eleanor Farjeon to write another hymn to the tune. The result was "Morning has Broken".
A monument to Mary Macdonald has been erected beside the main road not far from the ruin of the croft in which she lived. It is only 50m from this cache, and yet you could easily miss it as you drive past on the way to Iona or the Ross of Mull.