Ancient Churches and Chapels of Kintyre - T. Harvey Thomson

8/14/2019 Ancient Churches and Chapels of Kintyre - T. Harvey Thomson

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PARISH OF CAMPBELTOWN

Churches - 1 Kilkerran- 2 Kilmichael- 3 Kilchousland- 4 Kilkivan

Chapels - 5 Killellan

- 6 Kilwhipnach- 7 Kilchrist- 8 Uigle (at Achadh an t-sagairt)- 9 Killeonan- 10 Kildonald(or Kildonnan)- 11 Kilkeddan

PARISH OF KILLEAN AND KILKENZIE

Churches - 1 Kilkenzie- 2 Kilmarow or Kilarrow

- 3 Killean

Chapels - 4 Kilmaho- 5 Killocraw- 6 Killagruar- 7 Kilmaluag- 8 Chapel - Loch na Cain

PARISH OF KILCALMONELL AND KILBERCYChurches - 1 Kilcalmonell

Chapels - 2 Chadh Bhride

- 3 Kilmichael - at Ballochroy- 4 Cladh Mhiceil and Kilchamaig

PARISH OF SADDELL and SKIPNESS

Church - 1 Saddell Abbey- 2 Kilbrannan (Chapel)- 3 Crossaig or "Crusay" Monastery

Chapel - 4 The Caibeal, Torrisdale.

PARISH OF GIGHA AND CARA

Church - 1 Gigha

Chapel - 2 Cara

PHOTOGRAPHS

1 Dunaverty - from Sea2 Kilcolmkill - Dean Howson's Cross3 Sanda - St. Ninian's Cross4 Kilmichael - Fragment Sculptured Stone (Photograph Missing)5 Kilchousland - Window showing McNinian's Point

6 Kilchousland - Interior WestWall7 Killean - Sculptured Stones8 Saddell Abbey - Sculptured Stones9 Kilbrannan Chapel - Main Door

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10 Gigha - East Window and Font

PARISH OF SOUTHEND

This comprises the two ancient parishes of Kilcolmkill and Kilblaan, which were united by aCommission of Parlianient in the year 1617. It also originally embraced the old parish of

Kilkivan, but this was transferred to the Parish of Campbeltown in the year 1772, not 1671,as is often erroneously stated.

The ruins of the old Parish Church of Kilcolmkill, or at least the last surviving one, are still tobe seen, as well as to a less extent, those of eight other chapels or dependent oratories,while the topical nomenclature suggests that a few more religious erections of which notrace now remains, formerly existed in the parish.

Kilcolmkill - Dean Howson's Cross

KILCOLMKILL

Picturesquely nestling in a quiet sequestered nook under the shelter of the tall bluff of KeilPoint, this is situated close to the seashore about a mile from the village of Southend, inview of the coast of Northern Ireland, the old "Scotia" from which the early Dalriadiccolonists originally crossed to Kintyre. Sanda, lacking neither in sarced nor in secular

associations of historic importance, the rugged ancient keep of Dunaverty of ghastlymemory, the familiar "Paddy's Milestone", Ailsa Craig) raising its obtrusive hump in themiddle of the North Channel and, in the south-eastern distance, the coasts of Wigtownshire,from whose ancient monastery of Candida Casa, not merely was the gospel of Christianitypromulgated at a yery early date, but which also owned a by no means inconsiderableamount of valuable land and property in South Kintyre.

According to the careful measurements of Captain White, the walls of this ancient churchare 73 feet 9 inches long, 19 feet broad, and 2 feet thick (external measurements). Hepoints out a curious discrepancy in the width of the end walls, the west gable being 4inches shorter than the east, a discrepancy also strangely enough met with in SkipnessChapel.

The building is exceptional in that the length so greatly exceeds the breadth, and about 30feet from the east end of the north wall there is a very distinct vertical line of junction; the

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masonry being squared and bonded in more regular blocks and better pointed with mortar,in the eastern third, than in the western two-thirds of this wall.

This appearance is almost certainly to be attributed to elongation of the oringinal edifice atsome time or another, by adding about 30 feet to its eastern end.

In his "Sketches", Captain White remarks that on a second visit to this interesting spot, hediscovered "built into the outside face of the east gable wall, a moulded fragment, which, in

all probability had been the head of the now missing east window".

It lies near the north end of this gable wall on a level with the top of the railing roundMcDonald of Sanda's burial place.It was the couplet arch head of this small window, divided into two by a single pentagonalshaft, and its presence in such a situation implies that this gable must have been built sinceReformation times, as only, it is urged, by those hostile or indifferent to the precious relicsof mediaeval sculpture could such a degrading solecism in ecclesiological coustruction orrestoration have been perpetrated or permitted. The presence of some sculpturedfragments of stone at the base of the north wall near its eastern end, fragments obviouslyof a former erection, also support such a view.

The addition may have been made after the union of the original parishes of Kilcolmkill,Kilblaan and Kilkivan, in 1617, the church being found too small for the combinedcongregations, and the Presbytery Records indicate that the church continued in use forsome 50 years after this date. A similar union, even more distinct, is found in the north wallof the church at Kilchousland, whatever the explanation may be.

The external walls of Kilcolmkill are, comparatively speaking complete, standing about 10feet high, with obtuse angled gables, whose apices were about 15 feet in height, althoughthe west is now only a little higher than the side walls.

To lighten the edifice, or rather slightly to dispel the dim religious darkness that lay within,

the church was provided with three little windows. Perhaps the best preserved of these is inthe north wall near the east end. With rounded top it is 4 feet high, and 8 inches broadexternally, splaying out, however, to a width of 4 feet on the inside. Just opposite to this is asimilar window in the south wall, another further to the west being now built up. In theseancient churches artificial lighting was, I believe, largely depended on.

To the west of the two windows in the south well, is the single doorway of the church, around headed one, 2 feet wide externally, and splayed also to 4 feet within. Its height isnow only 4 feet above ground level, so that now at least one must perforce bend the heador bow the knee on entering the sacred edifice.

The interior, where of old the rude fore-fathers of the surrounding district were wont humblyto stand, while the cure or care of their spiritual affairs was being attended to, is now, likethe surrounding graveyard itself, a place of tombs and monuments all bearing terse storiesin stone of their silent occupants.

Beside the west gable is a railed off enclosure with tablets commemorative of the oldMcLartys of Keil, and built into the east wall is a tombstone, sculptured with the cusomaryskull and cross-bones of the period, in memory of "Neil McNeil of Carskiey, who departedthis lyfe on the 30th October, 1685."

The churchyard itself is enclosed with a well-constructed stone wall, built in the year 1857by public subscription, and it too is full of tombs and headstones, both ancient and modern.

Of ancient sculptured stones, in the enclosure, two are those of ecclesiastics, one garbed insimple alb, the other the Kilblaan Stone, with more pretentious chasuble in addition, andtwo are memorials of ancient warriors.

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Outside the east gable wall is the railed-in burial place of the MacDonalds of Sanda, onetombstone bearing their coat of arms, and another adorned with the significant lyhphad orgalley, and the long sword of the period.

Towards the west is another enclosure and tombstone, in this instance, adorned will thecoat of arms of the original "Ralston of Ralston", who, about the middle of the 17th century,found refuge and peace here, from the persecution then prevalent in his native

Renfrewshire.

It is indeed declared that, although now mingled somewhat promiscuously, the Highlanderswere originally buried in the eastern, and the "incomers" or Lowlanders in the westernportion of the ground, a little stream dividing them, and that, for many years thisseparation and isolation of the Gael and the Gall, in death as in life was rigorouslyobserved.

In 'The Argyllshire Herald" of March 14th, 1874, we find the further traditional informationthat. in December, 1838, old Donald Shaw, late tenant of Keil, aged 88, said, "The burialground at Keil was occupied (presumably in part) by the Lowlanders of the parish of

Kilmaurs, who came from Irvine, many Covenanters fled to Scotland. A Mr Ralstonpurchased from the Laird O'May of Keil, the burying-ground for the sum of 60 merks."

The ground was then the kail garden attached to the houses that were situated close to theold road, running past the Church of Keil (at the back), but which were demolishedimmediately after the plague, the inhabitants who died of it, having been buried under theruins.

Tradition says a stranger left his bonnet at either Tonrioch or Killellan, and the plague wasspread by the person who found it. When at its height smoke issued from only three houses(in Kintyre), from the Craigs, Cantaie (?) and Keil, thecountry being like a reign of the dead.

This plague seems to have occurred shortly after the Massacre of Dunaverty in 1647.

In "Argyll's Highlands," page 270, the Ralston monument is figured, with its coat of arms, itsupper part bearing the inscription, "Erected by Gavin Ralston of that ilk, in memory ofWilliam Ralston, his great grandfather, in the year 1799." The monumnent, as wasremarked to me by the (present "Gavin Ralston of that ilk," faces, strangely enough, thenorth, and not, as was common and orthodox, particularly in these old times, the east.

Here, too, we are told that the pendicle of land added to the Cemetery of Southendoriginated in the difficulty which the Lowlanders encountered in obtaining accommodationfor the disposal of their dead when they first settled in the parish.

The survivors of the original Highlanders naturally, looked with disfavour on the incomerswho had supplanted their deceased friends and relatives, and were entirely ignorant of theirbeloved language, and the Lowlanders did not fail heartily to reciprocate similar unfriendlysentiments, regarding the Highlanders indeed as semi-barbarians, and their language, aswholly savage. Thus it was that, at first, the Lowlanders were buried in the western, and theHighlanders in the eastern portion of Keil Cemetery, although happily all this is now athing of the past.

Kilcolmkill is the anglicised form of the Gaelic "Cill-Chalum-Ghille," meaning the cell orChurch of Columba of the cells or churches. Cill or Ceall, corresponding to the Latin cella,

means, strictly speaking, a monastic cell, but, coming to be associated with thecorresponding church, and the graveyard usually surrounding it, the word has comegenerally to imply all three. That the church is called after or in honour of Columba, or, in

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other words, dedicated to him, is beyond controversy, and this is usually taken to imply thatKilcolmkill was founded here by Columba in person.

The late Rev. Daniel Kelly, minister of the parish, writing in "The New Statistical Account ofScotland" published in 1845, says the tradition connected with this is, that St Golumbalanded here on his way from Ireland to the Hebrides."

The late Mr Hugh Hunter, who for long lived at Machribeg near by, and has closely studied

and written on the subject, seems to have had no doubt that Columba in 563 landed atDunaverty the place, he says, is locally known as Kilport much in the same way asFergus Mor McErc did some 60 years earlier, and founded the first of his churches in thedesirable spot near by. The tradition indeed is that, about two years before he finally settledin Iona, Columba sojourned in this neighbourhood.

But, while it is unequivocally recorded, that Columba in his epoch making voyage toScotland, set sail from Londonderry the Doire or oak copse where in 545 he founded thefirst of his Irish Churches, the "apple of his eye" as he calls it, recorded history has hithertobeen exasperatigly silent or confusing as to the exact place of his landing. It is frequentlystated that he sailed direct from 'Derry to Iona. Thus, in Rankin's "Handbook of the Church

of Scotland" we read. "Sailing from 'Derry in a currach or wherry, with twelve disciples, allblood relations, he landed at Iona or Hy, where he founded a monastic school, and spentthirty-four years till his death in 597.

Nor is it to be supposed that a voyage of this length was beyond the scope of hismissionary bark, for Adamnan, his biographer, informs us that this was not a frail currach orcoracle, like that of the Aran Islander of to-day, but a stout vessel, built of a hide coveredframe-work it is true, but yet one forty feet long, with keel, mast, oars and sail, and onecapable of remaining fourteen days at sea.

And besides Dunaverty at Southend, and the little island of Oransay, to the south ofColonsay, another strong claimant for this honour was Loch Caolisport in Knapdale, where

between Achachoish and Ellary House, opposite a little island known as "Eilean na-h-Uamhaidh " (Island of the Cave) there is still to be seen the ruins of Cove Chapel, and justbeyond it the very suggestive "Columba's Cave. This has also been claimed as the spotwhere Columba originally landed and founded his first church in 'Scotland, and he left it, itis alleged, because he soon discovered that, in favourable conditions of weather, he could,from the hill behind, still see the distant loom of Ireland.

Now it is very gratifying to find in Dr Frank Knight's recently published work on the earlyecclesiological history of the Scottish Churches, some very welcome arid illuminatingreferences to this subject. He convincingly maintains that, in the year 562, not 563 as isgenerally stated, Columba sailed from Londonderry direct to "Eilean da Ghallagan" in WestLoch Tarbert, where his cousin, King Conal, was in residence. After remaining with him forsome time, he again took to sea, and passing north through the Sound of Islay, landed inColonsay, where he also spent some months.

Finding, however, that, in favourable circumstances, the distant loom of Ireland could stillbe recognised, he once againtook to sea, and reaching Iona on 12th May, 563, and now finding that he was entirely outof sight of his beloved Erin, he settled there and founded his famous monastery in thisisland, which was already a sanctuary for saints and a cemetery for kings.

Such a view completely negatives the tradition that Columba founded the Church ofKilcolmkill in the course of his voyage from 'Derry to lona, and, if he did found it at all, he

must, therefore, have done so at some later period, or at an earlier.

We are definitely informed by Adamnan of only one occasion in the course of hissubsequent voyages, in which Columba "was nearing the Land's End" (Mull of Kintyre), and

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it is not impossible that on that or some other occasion after he went to Iona, he may havelanded in the neighbourhood of Southend, and founded this church.

On the other hand, the discoveries of Dr Knight, in the course of his exhaustive studies,suggest an earlier visit.

When Columba embarked on his historic voyage from Derry to Eilean da Ghallagan, he didso under sentence of exile from Ireland, because of his impetuous and impious conduct,

and it is popularly supposed that this was his first visit to Scotland, then a land of pagans.

Dr Knight shows that this is far from true, that, before this, Ninian, Ciaran and scores ofother preachers of the Christian Religion, had already crossed from Ireland, and gainedmany converts here.

He points out, too, that Columba was by no means the novice of a sailor we have been ledto suppose. On the contrary, he was devoted to the sea, and well knew the exultant thrill tobe felt, when his frail bark, bending to the breeze and leaping like a thing of life frlom waveto wave, sped on through roar of storm and turmoil of tide, till, at length, under his skilfulhandling, she safely reached port.

He further suggests that, in the course of his previous adventures he had probably sailed toScotland, founding, in those earlier days, Churches in Corsewell, Cumbrae, Kilmacolm, andpossibly Kilcolmkill in Skipness. And if Kilcolmkill in Skipness, why not also Kilcolmkill inSouthend ?

Here indeed was practically the nearest part of Scotland to Ireland. Some sort of trafficbetween the two was carried on before the historically authenticated crossing of Fergus Morin 498, as Dr Knight makes it out to be, and it is most natural that Columba, following in thefootsteps of Fergus, and very likely his old friend Ciaran, both of them now dead, shouldhave landed at the very ancient port of Dunaverty, using it (possibly as a headquarters forexpeditions further south, and so confirming the ancient tradition, so firmly established in

the neighbourhood, that, for two years before he sailed on to Iona, Columba sojourned here,and founded near his so-called "footsteps" as, in spite of the absurdity of the idea, they will,doubtless, continue to be called, one of his earliest cills or cells in Scotland.

I have referred to this matter at some unusual length, as it is not merely pertinent to thesubject, but also propounds the somewhat novel theory (1) that Columba in his historicmissionary journey from Londonderry in 562 (not 563) did not land at Southend, and (2)that possibly, or even probably, he founded the Church of Kilcolmkill at Southend theoriginal building when visiting the more southern parts of Scotland at an earlier date.

The outstanding figure of the renowned "Dove of The Churches," in whose honourKilcolmkill is named, is too well known to require any further reference here.

[The Rev. Archibald B. Scott, D.D., Helmsdale, the learned author of "The Pictish Nation, ItsPeople, and Its Church," very emphatically disagrees with many of those views expressedby Dr Frank Knight. He denies that Columba went from Londonderry to Eilean da Ghallagandirect. At that time King Conal (Conaill MacCobgall) was only a "Toiseach" or Chief of a littleband of Dalriads, who had been driven into South Kintyre, by Brude, the Sovereign of thefederated tribes of North Britain, and was subject to him.

He was not then at Eilean da Ghallagan. Nor does he admit of a previous journey ofColumba to Alba before 563. The result of a searching scrutiny on these matters hecontributed to the Transactions of The Gaelic Society of Inverness, Vol. xxviii, 1912 14.

"The Gaelic Fabulists," he says, "cursed me for it, but they were not able to contradict asingle item in it." This would seem to leave the original place of Columba's landing inScotland, still elusive and uncertain].

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Nearly a hundred years ago "in 1842 Dean Howson said lie found lying among weeds inthe graveyard of Kilcolmkill, a fragment of a cross Henry, with a hole through the centre.When examining the cemetery, I searched for, but failed to find this cross.Recently, however, on hearing that a Cross existed somewhere in the neighbourhood of OldKeil House, three members of The Kintyre Antiquarian Society, Mr Latimer McInnes, Mr Jas.H. Mackenzie and myself visited the spot and found what is obviously the Crown referredto by the Dean, and which is now in the cusody of the gardener at Keil House.

According to the information given me by Mr McEachran of Kilblaan, this was originallyplaced on the apex of the eastgable of Kilcolmkill Church the re-erected, not the original gable wall. In "Fragments ofPerambulations in Kintyre in The Summer of 1833" by W. Dobie, Beith, it is indeed statedthat this east gable was crowned with a "cross fleury pierced in the centre."

It appears that when this wall, with its cross fell, many years ago, the gable was re-erectedby Mr McLaverty of Keil, but not the cross, this latter being subsequently placed at the apexof a little gothic shaped grotto with well hinside, behind the old buildings of Keil.Falling fromthis new and less honourable position, it was not replaced, being now in the gardener'scustody.

When Dean Howson visited Kilcolmkill Church in 184'2, he mentions that he saw, lyingwithin the church ruins, what seemed to be an "Aspersorium" another name for theBenitier or Holy Water Stoup. Captain White could not find this, and for long I have beensearching for it, hitherto in vain.

Quite recently, however, (December, 1934), when on the old road behind the church, apeculiar appearance in the north wall of this, near its west end, caught my eye.

More thorough examination of this, and of the photographs subsequently secured, revealthat this portion of the wall must, at some time have been reconstructed, probably at thesame time as the east gable wall, and that there has been built into it (1) stones of the

upper part of such another doorway as we have on the south wall, making it appear thatthe church had at one time a second doorway, probably in this neighbourhood (there aretwo doorways in Killean Church and three in Skipness Chapel) ; and (2) lying on its side half-way up the wall, a rounded stone with shallow hollowed out basin on its external face. Thisstone is of a softer and far more easily worked character than the other stones of which thiswall is composed, and is, doubtless, the "Aspersorium" referred to by the Dean, which liasbeen built into this wall for preservation.

I have been for long aware of a gap in the interior of the south wall, a few yards from thedoorway, and now only a little above ground level. The remnant of stone here is of exactlythe same soft brittle nature as this "Aspersorium," and points convincingly to theconclusion, that it must have been hacked out of its original position here as in SkipnessChapel by post Reformation iconoclastic zeal, and at a later date built into this re-constructed wall for preservation. I am aware of no other reference to this subject.

While the present highway lies to the seaward side of the old graveyard, the old road, asdepicted in Captain WhitensSketches, ran alongside its eastern and northern walls, and beyond the cemetery, and thelittle knoll lying to the west,descended by a steep declivity, and passed close to the large cave at the Point of Keil.

At the side of this old road, beyond the site of the church, is the "Priest's or Holy Well," withits little cross, 8 inches high, incised on the rock behind, a well from which would be

derived, no doubt, the water for baptismal and other sacred purposes, and which isgenerally to be met with in the vicinity of such a cell or sanctuary.

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Nor would any account of Kilcolmkill be complete without some reference to the littleeminence to the west of the cemetery, and which Captain White in his "Sketches" calls"Guala na Popuill " the shoulder of the congregation, although as pointed out by the Rev.Mr MacVicar, this more accurately applies to the slope of the hill on its landward side.

Here are the remains of the foundations of a small oblong building (20 feel, by 9 foot), thecell or retreat, probably of some monk or saint, in days gone by, and, it might be even, ofColumba himself.

On a flat surface of rock near are the impressions of two right feet, commonly referred to as"Columba's Footsteps," but erroneouly so.

The perfect one next the sea, it was argued before The Kintyre Antiquarian Society sometime ago, is most probably the mark of Fergus Mor McErc, the first King of Scottish Dalriada,"the first chief's foot," when, on crossing over from Ireland, he, in accordance with a well-known and long established practice, took possession of the district, by placing his rightfoot in this little excavation, which had been prepared for it, the second being probably awell-moaning but quite spurious edition of later date.

[At Drumlemble, on 3rd September, 1936, Mr David McArthur informed Mr Latimer Mclnnesand myself that he was a grandson of Daniel Mcllrevie, Stone Mason, residing at Southend,and that he (Mcllrevie) was the man who carved out the second footprint that away fromthe sea at Kilcolmkill 79 years age in 1856. Another grandson of Mcllrevie, he said,distinctly remembered sitting alongside his grandfather, and seeing him do this when hehimself was a small boy 5 years old. His name was Alexander McKinnon, and this story isotherwise corroborated].

Further inland, just at the edge of the old road, is an oblong excavation, 13 inches by 7inches, which Mr Hunter quite erroneously supposed to be an ancient "holy water stoup,"but which is indubitably the socket of an ancient cross, which at one time stood here, andwhich the late Rev. Daniel Kelly, the incumbent of the parish, in "The Statistical Account

of Scotland," 1845, definitely declares (although giving no authority for the assertion) "hasbeen removed from its proper place and now lies neglected at Inveraray.

Although then lying neglected in the former old Burgh of Inveraray, it now forms the welllooked after market cross of the modern town, bearing on its northern edge, the names ofthe three honourable "MacEuGylliChomghnans" (or McCowans) whom it commemorates.

As to the age of the church of Kilcolmkill, it is probably not earlier than the thirteenthcentury. There is a record of it in 1326, before which it was granted to the Canons ofWhithorn, by Patrick MacShillingis and Finlach his wife. This grant was confirmed by Robertthe Bruce in 1326, and by James II in 1451.

Shortly after the union of the parishes of Kilcolmkill and Kilblaan in 1017, in the year 1621,a Commission was empowered to erect a new church for the united parishes, but this oldchurch of Kilcolmkill was, according to the Presbytery Records, in use for Divine Service, formany years after that date.

K I L B L A A N

According to "The Statistical Account of 1845," no vestige remains of the (ancient) parishchurch of St. Blaan's. It stood on the left or eastern bank of the Coniglen River, about themiddle of the bend opposite the present manse, on the top of an alluvial bank which hasbeen washed away by the encroachment of the river, much in the same manner as this

river has in more recent years eroded a valuable piece of land, also on its left bank,ocposite Kilervan Cottage, higher up stream. The extensive cemetery once attached to ithas suffered the same fate, the bones of those interred having for long lain exposed to thepublic view. So too have the tombstones and monuments been swept away, one of the

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most important of them however that of an ecclesiastic clothed in alb and chasubel having been removed to Kilcolmkill, where it still lies.

St. Blaan or Blane (b. 590) to whom the church was dedicated, is reputed to have been agrandson of King Aiaan of Dalriada, his name being also associated with the venerableCathedral of Dunblane in Perthshire, and with Kilblain in Greenock.

The earliest record of Kilblaan's existence is in 1527, when its Rector, Sir Morice Makneile

died, and was succeeded by Master James Haswell. In 1538, Sir Robert Montgomeryresigned this charge, and Sir .James Mc.Gaughane succeeded him. The names of Makneile,McGaughane (a form of McEachan or McEachran) and Montgomery, are, with MacKay,MacShenoch and O'May, among the most ancient of the names to be found in the district,and, while the ancient McNeils of Carskiey are no longer there, many representatives of theold family of McEachran, who, according to "The Craignish Manuscript" originally came fromthere to Killellan, are still found in the neighbourhood, and one family stilloccupies, as it has done for generations, the farm of Kilblaan, upon or beside whoso ground,the former church of Kilblaan once stood. The present church of Kilblaan (St. Blaan's) is noolder than 1774.

THE SUBSIDIARY CHAPELS OF SOUTHEND

l St. Ninian's Chapel, Sanda

The Island of Sanda, which is about one mile long and half a mile broad, lies a mile andthree-quarters off the mainland of South Kintyre, and being possessed of a convenientharbour, was, in days of old, a place of no little importance, and a frequent rendezvous forsaints, warriors and smugglers.

It too had its old litte chapel and burial ground, now neatly walled in, although Muir, in his"Ecclesiological Notes"described it as open and otherwise shamefully neglected. The ruins of the chapel, which is

situated not far from the landing-place, measure internally about 30 feet by 20 feet. Thewalls are much demolished, their thickness being about 2 feet. The west gable is wanting.

The door, which is found in the north wall near its west end, is only 5 feet above presentground level, and is a plain rectangular one, its bolt holes being still intact. There are alsothe remains of three rectangular little windows, one in the east gable wall, and one in eachside wall near it. Of the side windows, that in the south wall is the better preserved and themost interesting, for in one corner of its sill, internally, was placed, at the time of CaptainWhite's visit, a shallow stone basin, 15 inches in diameter, probably the font or "holy waterstoup", which, very likely was not in its original position, for that was usually near the door.It is not there now, nor could I find it anywhere about, but, lying a little to the east of thiswindow sill, the remnant of a "'Piscina," into which the water which had been used forwashing the sacred vessels, etc., was emptied, is still in situ. The bowl shaped projection,which has been cut out of one of the blocks, which form the facing of the window, is fiat onthe top, and the drain hole, which is quite distinct, is carried into the wall. It is the onlypiscina now to be found in the ancient churches of Kintyre, which still remains in its originalposition.

At the base of the east gable wall internally, is a rudely built altar of stone, about four footlong and two feet high, and it soems very strange that, so far as I am aware, no mention ismade of it by any of the writers who have hitherto described this chapel. It too is the onlysurviving altar found in the old churches of Kintyre.

Within the chapel also, just underneath the piscina, lies a recumbent flat tombstone, inmemory of one of the old Macdonalds of Sanda. Decorated with the characteristic lymphador galley, under a lion rampant, with sword alongside, it bore the date 1682, and the nameArchibald Macdonald, and, according to Dean Howson, it also commemorated "Cirstin

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Stewart, his wife, who died in 1688," but all this is now undecipherable As has been pointedout by Sheriff Macmaster Campbell, this is not the tomb of the infant Macdonald, whoescaped with his nurse at the seige of Dunaverty, as Captain White supposed. His namewas Ranald Macdonald, a grandson of this Archibald, who also was married to a Stewartlady, but one whose name was Anne, a lady of the Bute family, and both of them, accordingto the historians of the Clan Donald, lie buried in the Macdonald Enclosure, outside the eastgable wall of the Church of Kilcolmkill, the lady surviving till 1732.

The Archibald buried in Sanda, was Archibald Mor Macdonald, one of the Dunaverty garrisonmassacred in 1647, who is, the Sheriff maintains, erroneously stated to be buried with hisson Archibald Og and others, in the well known enclosure at Machribeg, but whose bodywas apparently conveyed to his island chapel of Sanda, and buried there by some of hisclansmen or friends.

Sanda - St. Ninian's Cross

In the surrounding graveyard the most striking objects are two remarkable antique crosses,both about seven feet high, and both suffering severely from long exposure to theelements. The less ornate slab, a rude lumpish pillar roughly shaped into the figure of across, is of an antiquity far exceeding that of the adjacent chapel, synchronising, it isbelieved, with a period when the ancient religieux was wont to dwell in his primitive cell ororatory of wattles.

Near the upper part of the second monument, are five cup shaped hollows, arranged like aSt Andrew's Cross, below which, the shaft of a cross, narrowed in its lower two-thirds, runs

down to the base. the sketch of it in Captain White's Treatise effectively displays its details.

The mysterious tomb of Saint Senchan and his fourteen sons White remarks that "If aSaint, he was no celibate," but Frank Knight thinks that by "sons" scarcely anything elsethan "disciples" can be intended is said to have been placed at the side of the chapel.

Ten feet square, it was surrounded by a low stone wall, within which were seven polishedstones covering the sacred remains, with an obelisk higher than a man's stature in themiddle, and none entered it man or beast who was not dead at the end of a year. Analder tree a reputed charm to keep away evil spirits once, it is said, overhung the spot,but nothing of all this is now to be seen unless, indeed, a little angular ridge, a foot or soabove ground level, which lies to the north of the chapel, be one of the angles of this lowwalled enclosure.

[According to the manuscripts collected by Lord Archibald Campbell, and most courteouslyplaced at my disposal for reference by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, his son, there formerlyexisted in this graveyard an old flagstone which was treated with great respect. It displayed

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mile although on a warm summer day the roughness and arduousness of the goingmakes it appear much longer we come to a clearing of calm seclusion, under the shelterof a. little hill, close to the side of a little purling brook, in well wooded surroundings, far,indeed, from the madding crowd.

Here, but a few shapeless heaps of stones now mark the site of "Caibel Carrine" and itslittle graveyard, while its associated " Holy Well" which Captain White searched for in vain,is situated on the side of the hill above, the name of the chapel reppears in those of the

neighbouring farms of North and South Carrine.

[This well was known as "St. Catherine's Well," and was believed to have valuable curativeor medicinal powers. After drinking the water it was customary for the person using it to tiea rag with a piece of money in it to one of the branches of the surrounding trees. Traditionmaintains that few returned from participating in the ordeal without experiencing relief, andit was also averred that, if any one stole the piece of money left on the tree, the malady ofthe person who left it would at once be transferred to the thief.

It is related that a man called Hogarth, residing at Carskiey, cut down a bush overhangingthe well, to provide wood for the erection of new houses, it being impressively added, that

he died before the year was out. (From Lord Archibald Campbell's manuscripts) ].

Practically all authorities seem to accept the view that this chapel is dedicated to or namedafter a female saint, St Catherine, who lived about the beginning of the 4th century. Shewas a virgin of royal descent, who publicly confessed the Christian religion at a pagan feastappointed by the Emperor Maximinius in Alexandria. Following upon this, no less than fiftyheathen philosophers were sent by the Emperor to her prison to re-convert her to her oldreligion, but instead they themselves wore converted to Christianity by her winningeloquence. Exasperated by this unexpected result, she was in revenge bound to a wheelarmed with spikes in such a manner that every turn of the wheel would cause the spikes topierce her body. The cords, however, miraculously broke, and she was otherwise put todeath at Alexandria in 307 A.D. Her name has become familiar by the "Catherine Wheel" of

pyrotechnic displays named after this form of torture.

Now, what connection could such a female saint, a foreign one martyred in 307 A.D., longbefore the days of St Columba or even Ninian, have with Glenbreakerie or Kintyre. Does itnot seem more probable that the little chapel would have been named after some morefamiliar and local religieux, and do we not find in the "Place Names of Argyll," by DrCameron Gillies, page 59, a much more feasible suggestion, when he writes, "Carrine withCaibel Carrine seems to refer to St Ciyran" ? One of the ways in which Kilkerran is spelt in"Origines Parochiales" by Cosmo Innes is "Kilcharrane," the "charrane" sounding almost thesame as "Carrine."

Ciaran himself will more appropriately be referred to when dealing with Kilkerran in theparish of Campbeltown.

5 St Coivin's Chapel, Macharioch

In an elevated portion of a field called the "Kit" field which lies a little to the north-west ofthe farmhouse of Macharioch, are the foundations of another chapel, which measures about28 feet long and 12 broad, and whose walls are about 2 feet in thickness. These in placesstill stand to the height of a few feet, but most of the stones seen lie scattered about theground. It is said, indeed, that when the estate of Macharioch, in which this chapel issituated, was sold by the late Mr McDonald of Ballyshear a native of North Uist whoresided at Macharioch House, originally the residence of the McDonalds of Sanda many

of the stones of this chapel were taken away as was quite customary, and used to repairthe buildings of Macharioch House.

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[In the graveyard surrounding the chapel, Mr McMillan buried his eldest son, namedReginald, who died at Sanda House (now Macharioch House) which he called after hisnative place "Ballysheare". (From Lord Archibald Campbell's manuscripts) ].

On one of his visits to St. Coivin's, Captain White says he found, just outside the building "astone block about 12 inches deep with a small circular basin scooped out of it, which wasprobably the holy water stoup of the chapel."On visiting the site not long since this was looked for, and after diligent search was at

length discovered ignominiouslybut usefully filling up a gap in a turf dyks which lay to the east of the chapel enclosure. Toprevent it being irretrievably lost like so many valuable relics, this has been rescued andplaced in our local museum.Coivin, Kevin, or Coemgen is the same saint to whom the old parish of Kilkivan wasdedicated. An Irish cleric, he was the contemporary of Columba and was distinguished forthe beauty of his person, and for his remarkab!e longevity, attaining to an age of 120 years.

6 Kilirvan or Kilcalmanell

About a mile above Kilblaan, a tributary stream, the Kerran Water joins the Coniglen. In this

glen of Kerran were too old burial grounds, probably with little chapels attached.

The nearer is situated on the edge of a steep bank, near the fork of the stream. After it thetwo neighbouring farms have been called North and South Kilervan, although in Blaeu'smap the name is given as Kilcalmonell.

7 Kilchattan

The more distant is a mile higher up the vale, near the old farm ruins and hill also called,like it, Kilchattan. The saint to whom the former is dedicated is a matter of someuncertainty, but there is no difficulty in associating the latter with St Cathan, the uncle ofSt. Blaan, already referred to.

8 Caibel Innean Coig Cailleach

Under the initials N.M.K.R. in 'The Campbeltown Courier' of 12th September, 1885, an oldgraveyard and chapel of this name (wrongly spelt, however), which lies a few miles to thenorth of The Mull of Kintyre, is described.

Forty graves, he said, could be seen in the graveyard, and the suggestion is made that the"coig cailleach" five old women or nuns were nuns who had been expelled from CaibelCarrine, in Glenadale, after The Reformation, and took refuge here.

Such other names as Kilmoshenachan and Kildavie, suggest that still other dedications alsoexisted at some time in the parish of Southend, of which nothing is now known. Of thename Kilbride, however, Mr McEachran of Kilblaan gives the following very curious history.

The name, although very suggestive of a church name is quite a modern one, dating fromabout 1840. The old name of this farm on the Macharioch Road was "Aucharainne" bracken field.

The local farmers were in the habit of carting away limestone from a quarry near, and theLaird Ballyshear - in order to put a stop to this or discourage it - tried to give the place asaintly character, and changed its name to Kilbride. There is thus no church or graveyardabout Kilbride.

[It is, however, declared that "Old John McKay said there was a chapel near this place(Kilmashenachan) called Gortan Chille Breide (Kilbride) in which two young children ofRonald McMillan, Knockmoran, who went to America at the end of last century (the 19th)

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were buried. A large slice of the burying-ground has been demolished by the quarries. Thelate Dr McMillan of Ballysheare put a stop to the people working in the quarries when helearned they were destroying the keil. A good many of the bones fell 'down into the quarriesfrom the soil above. The ruins of the church were 'dug up and ploughed over 50 years ago(1832). Another version obviously of the same story. (From Lord Archibald Campbell'smanuscripts) ].

The other church in the parish of Southend, now called 'St Columba's, is the successor of an

older one erected in 1798, to accommodate the Lowlanders, who came into the districtabout 1798, and did not understand Gaelic, the language then used in the parish church.

PARISH OF CAMPBELTOWN

In the year 1617 a Parliamentary Commission for the plantation of kirks, united the ancientparishes of "Kilcharrane, Kilmichael and Kilchousland," and in 1621 permission to erect anew church for these united parishes was granted, although they, situated at The NewQuay Head, does not appear to have been opened till about 1638.

At a subsequent date 1772, not as is frequently stated 1671 - Kilkivan old parish was

also transferred to Campbeltown.

The parish at first was not known as Campbeltown, but was called by its Gaelic equivalent Ceannloch or Lochead a contraction of "Ceann Loch Ghille Chiarain," the Head of The Loch of Kilkerran. Thename of Campbeltown, in honour of the Argyll family was, it is generally supposed,assumed about 1680, although the name has been found, it seems, in an ancient documentdated 1609.

This was a Charter, dated 31st August, 1609, of "Eskamull Beg and Wagill" (Askomil Beagand Uigle) granted by Archibald, Earl of Argyll, to John Boyll, Yr. of "Dallochintoune."

Mr Duncan Colville discovered this in an old book in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh,supposed to have been written between 1688 and 1700, entitled "A Register of theProduction of Title Deeds of Numerous Lands in Argyll."

The rent was to be delivered "at the Castle or Fortalice of Keanloch Kilkerran to be builtbeside the toune of Campbeltoune."

This is consistent with the fact that in the year 1607, The Earl of Argyll obtained a FeuCharter of the lands of North and South Kintyre, therein specified, said previously to havebelonged to Angus McKonnel of Dunyveg (Highland Papers, Vol. III. 66, etc.).

The oldest Record of The Presbytery of Kintyre commences on 16th August, 1655, and fromthat date until 6th March, 1660, the united parish is referred to in The Presbytery Recordsas the Parish of Lochead.

KILKERRAN

The old Parish Church of Kilkerran in the original Latin "Ecclesia Sancti Querani" wassituated in the oldest portion of the cemetery of Kilkerran, although one has heard its veryexistence denied or questioned. It is true that only a very small remnant of it is now visible the thick walled north-east angle only slightly above ground level. But the Sexton has, hesays, been able to follow this wall for some distance to the west, as also the correspondingsouth wall, although he is unable to say how far these walls extended. Captain White gives

the dimensions as under 60 feet in length and 20 feet in breadth. The existing walls are 2feet thick.

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The cave traditionally haunted by his name, and associated with his presence, was exploredunder the superintendenceof Dr Norman Morrison, and yielded interesting and valuable discoveries, which were thesubject of a very infoimative lecture to The Antiquarian Society by him some years ago.Cove a'Chiarain indeed, with its Holy Well, inscribed stone, incised cross, and firmlyengrained traditions of the venerable Saint, is too well known to require further referencehere.

The ancient Church of Kilkerran was succeeded by the old Gaelic Parish Church at The NewQuay Head, which appears to have been erected in 1638, being replaced after lying formany years in ruins, by the present Highland Parish Church, in the year 1808.

According to The Kintyre Historian, Peter Macintosh, this was first used at the induction ofthe Rev. Norman MacLeod, recommended as his successor, by the Rev. John Smith, D.D.,when on his death-bed the year before.

Because the Lowland settlers from Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, who came over in the latterhalf of the 17th century, could not understand Gaelic, then the only language used in theold Gaelic Church, they, in the year 1655, employed Mr Edward Keith to "preach to them in

the Old Thatched House," and because this had become too small and ruinous, a newchurch was erected in 1706, "on the ground whereon the Thatched Church stood." Thisextract from "The Campbeltown Case Galbraith and Others Against Smith," appears tomake it quite conclusive that the old Thatched House stood in Kirk Street where the presentKirk Street Hall, restored in l904, after it had lain for many years in ruin, now stands, andnot, as has been at times supposed, at The New Quay Head, where the old Gaelic Churchand a considerable graveyard was formerly situated.

The subsequent history of this Kirk Street Church has been fully treated of by the lateColonel Charles Mactaggart, in his lecture to the Society on "The Lowland Church ofCampbeltown," one of a very interesting series which he contributed.

KILMICHAEL

About two miles from Campbeltown on the Tarbert Road, is the farm of Kilmichael, and onthe side of the farmhouse next the town is the old graveyard of Kilmichael, now plantedwith trees, which also appear on the opposite side of the roadway; and whose sombre areais, in early spring, converted into a bright blaze of golden yellow, by the profusion ofdaffodils then in bloom. Near its western end are the remains of the walls of a rectangularbuilding, the old parish church of Kihrichael.

In "The Argyllshire Herald," of 14th March, 1874. a copy of which I have had the opportunityof perusing through thecourteyy of Mr Duncan Colville, it is related how old D. McMillan, tenant there in 1838,recollected when the walls of this old church were standing.

In his younger days, presumably, he was in the habit of climbing the walls to "harrie"sparrow's nests, and he recollected seeing one of the largest funerals ever seen in theneighbourhood, going into this kirkyard. In 1793 he was able to read the inscription on astone which covered the remains of "John McNab, the Laird of Moy." Enclosed within awall, it was known as "The Tomb."

The stones of the old church were used by Sheriff Campbell (of that day) in building thefarm houses. A small window, round at the top, which was taken from the church, wasplaced in the house of one of the tenants, and was subsequently given to an inhabitant of

the Millknowe named Innes (Duncan Mchmes) who was a mason, and built it into the backof his house, which fronted the road. The house is still occupied by some of hisdescendants, and the window is almost certainly the central one of three which face theMillknowe.

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The present public road passes through the graveyard, the old road was placed aconsiderable distance behind the houses, taking off by High Drumore, and going close tothe houses at the Craigs.

In the graveyard can still be recognised two large flat tombstones with some form ofarmorial bearings, as well as an ancient sculptured stone decorated with the two-handedsword.

.Recently too, a well preserved fragment of another sculptured stone was found outside thegraveyard; but next to it. It is part of a flat stone slab, undecorated on one side, butshowing a portion of a two handed sword on the other, flanked with interlaced foliage orplant design work on one side, and basket or intertwining snake work of narrower breadthon the other. The fragment, which is 32 inches in length, and about half that in breadth, isnow housed in the local Museum. It was doubtless a mark of respect and honour placedover the grave of some valiant knight more than 500 years ago.

Kilmichael is named after an Abbot of Scotland, named Michael, and the ruin was theformer church of the ancient parish of Kilmichael, which was amalgamated with Kilkerran

and Kilchousland in 1617.

The parish embraced the most of the fertile laggan of Kintyre, and its valuable proprietoryrights were, along with those of Kilchousland, given in 1503 by King James IV to the Bishopof Argyll, in order to add to his apparently somewhat meagre emoluments.

Kilchousland - Window showing St. Ninian's Point

KILCHOUSLAND

The third of the old parish churches which were in 1617 united to form the parish ofCeannloch or Campbeltown, was Kilchousland. Two miles from Campbeltown, on theCarradale Road, this also is beautifully situated on the edge of a steep cliff, overhanging theseashore. To the left are the great hills of Arran, and, beyond them to the south, the hazycoasts of Ayrshire, with the stack shaped bluff of Ailsa lying isolated in the lower reaches of

The Firth of Clyde, and sweeping further round, the brown back of Davaar, looking like agreat whale asleep.

Close by on the south is the point of St. Ninian, named after that venerable saint, whilenorth lies the little "Isle of Miller." so called after a fugitive family of Smiths who, about 1688

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churchyard and clasping hands through this stone, for better or for worse, their marriagewas regarded as accomplished.A similar stone is still to be seen at Kilmory Knap, and the custom was also familiar inOrkney, being referred there as of Norse origin, and known as "the promise of Odin."

The name of Kilchousland, sometimes called Kilquhislane, has been somewhat of an enigmato etymologists, some ofwhom in their desperation have ascribed it to a mythic Spanish Princess, who died in the

neighbourhood and was buried here, but its ancient designation of "Ecclesia SanctiConstantini," found as early as 1508 in The Register of The Great Seal, clearly shows thatthe church was, in reality dedicated to St. Constantine.

This Constantine was, it appears, a Cornish Prince or King, who, in 587 or 588 wasconverted to Christianity, and relinquishing his sovereignty, and becoming a monk, passedover to Scotland, and founded the church and monastery of Govan, over which he presidedas Abbot. In later life he took to itinerant preaching throughout the country, and when hehad come to the "Island of Kintyre," he was slain by certain wicked men there, who landedbeneath the church and raided the settlement, and so he was "eikit to the number ofmartyrs." He was buried in Govan, the monastery which he founded, and this church in the

"Island of Kintyre," in which he was slain, was dedicated to his memory.

In the year 1499 we find what appears to be the earliest record of Kilchousland. In that yearKing James IV. presented Master Adam Colquhoun to the parsonage of "Glenquhisslan," as itis here called, then vacant by the death of Alexander McRannall Mor McDonal. As alreadymentioned Kilchousland and Kilmichael were in 1508 handed over by the King to swell therevenues of the needy Bishop of Argyll.

The glebe is now in the possession of The Highland Parish Church of Campbeltown, and thechurchyard is still occasionally used for burial.KILKIVAN

Kilkivan is the fourth and last of the four old parish churches, by whose amalgamation thepresent parish of Campbeltown was formed. Prior to 1617 an independent parish church, itwas at that date combined with the old parochial churches of Kilcolmkill and Kilblaan toform the new parish of Southend. Reverting, however. to independence again in 1636, itwas, in turn, added to the parish of Campbeltown in 1772, not, as is frequently stated, in1671.

The ruins of the church, with its surrounding burial ground; lie just beyond the oldfarmhouse of High Kilkivan, about 4 miles from Campbeltown. Its situation, looking downon the long low loom of Islay, and the wide sweep of Machrihanish Bay, furnishes anotherexample of that penchant for the picturesque, which was characteristic of the mediaevalchurch builders, while, as is customary, a little stream flanks its northern side, and of twoancient lo^siii^ welh near, that just behind the graveyard may, I think, be regarded asKilkivan's "Holy Well."

Like Kilchousland, it too is in tolerable preservation, the western gable being nearly entire,although all the east and part of the north wall have disappeared. No windows are now tobe seen, but the door, which is about 6 feet high and 3 feet broad, and is placed in thenorth wall near the west angle, has a handsome arch of Gothic design.

On the inside of the west gable wall, about 7 feet above ground level, is a projecting corbelstone, possibly for the support of a shaft or image, but the various other details describedby Captain White in his "Sketches" projecting stone at the side of the door for the stoup,

and the recesses in the south wall, supposed to have been for the piscina and ambry have all disappeared, in the course of some restoration of the building.

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The foundations of Killellan Chapel can still be recognised in a little wood near the roadside,a short distance beyond the mansion house of Killellan. The dimensions given by CaptainWhite are 31 feet by 15 feet, and a few grave mounds are yet to be seen.

The chapel was dedicated to one of the early Celtic saints named Fillan, possibly he whosesupposed arm, in its silver case, was used by the Bruce as a talisman at the Battle ofBannockburn, contributing in the eyes of the credulous to that great victory.

2 KILWHIPNACH

The meaning and origin .of this name has hitherto been, to myself and others, to whom Ihave spoken about it, a puzzle that could not be solved. Dr Frank Knight has, however,apparently solved the enigma, when, quoting from the "Martyrology of Donegal," heinforms us, in his recently published volumes, that, "in 705 there passed away another IrishSaint who has left a solitary place name in Scottish soil"Coibhdenach, a Bishop, whocrossing over to Kintyre, built a chapel at Kilwhipnach.

Situated beyond Auchehcorvie, the chapel and associated burial ground were described in1838, as lying at the foot of a hill beside a rivulet in a place famed for its limestone. The

houses and garden of the present farm would seem to have been built .on the site of theold chapel and graveyard, some of the walls being still recognisable.

Kilwhipnach beyond Auchencorvie, is accordingly a dedication to this early Irish SaintCoibhdenach the only one in Scotland.

3 KILCHRIST

Believed to have been of very ancient date, this was situated 10 to 50 yards from the rightbank of the Chiskan Water, a short distance upstream from the farmhouse of Knocknaha.

In his account of the last struggle of the Clan Donald largely a history of the "Life of Sir

James McDonald of Smerby", the unfilial desperado, who burned his father and mother outof Askomil House, and then incarcerated the former in Smerby old Castle on the "Isle ofMiller the author of "Argyll's Highlands" describes "The Raid of Kilchrist" in 1603, which,to all appearance, he associated with this church or chapel of Kilchrist.

This is entirely misleading, for, as pointed out to me by Sheriff Macmaster Campbell, the"Raid of Kilchrist" does not refer to Kilchrist in Kintyre, but to the church of Kilchrist or"Gillechroist," which lay a little to the north of Beauly, in Ross-shire.

The story is, that, on a certain Sunday morning in 1603, while service was being held, andthe church was filled with a crowd of the McKenzies of the district, the building was set onfire by a party of the McDonalds of Glengarry (not of Islay or Kintyre) and all within wereburned to death or killed in attempting to escape.

While the church was burning, the piper of the McDonald Chief, marched round the building,mocking the cries of the victims with that pibroch, which, ever since, under the name of'Kilchrist, has formed the family tune of the clan. Kilchrist in English means Christ-church orSt. Saviour.

[Mention is also made of an ancient chapel at Uigle. This was situated about half a milebeyond Kilchriest Chapel, on the opposite side of the water. A Lachlan McNeill of Laggsrecollected seeing a font lying on some ruins here on a field which was known as "Achadhan t-sagairt" the priest's field. (From Lord Archibald Campbell's manuscripts].

4 KILLEONAN

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wide, it is very similar to the other old Kintyre Churches already described, particularly tothat of Kilcolmkill in Southend, although Mr Muir thinks it a little earlier than this.

The gable walls are nearly intact, but there are large gaps in the side walls towards the eastend. In the east gable wall is a lancet window, some 5 feet long and 11 feet broad, splayedto 6 feet by 4 feet interally, and about the centre of the south wall is another small windowwith rounded arch at the top. The door was in the south side near its west end.

Somewhat carelessly collected in the west end of the interior of the church, are a number ofancient sculptured stones, in fair preservation. One is dedicated to a lady "Hic jacetKatherina Filia Neill" and others are decorared with the customary sword, shears, galley,etc., as is described by Captain White. He, however, does not mention the effigy of a knightin armour which also has been placed within this railed off enclosure.

More interesting, perhaps, than all these was a rough, oblong stone, about 4 feet in length,which Captain White saw with a rude form of wheel cross, which is regarded as evidence ofgreat antiquity.

The church is dedicated to St Kenneth, Cainech or Kenn, who, like Ciaran, was a close friend

and associate of Columba.

Born about 517 and dying in 600, he is frequently referred to in Adamnan's "Life of StColumba," and is reputed to be buried in Inch Kenneth, a little island off the west coast ofMull.

Of the parsonage of the church, two-thirds of which once belonged to the Monks of Iona,and one-third to the Bishopof The Isles, the whole passed to the Bishop as Commendator of Iona, in 1561, and in 1695the tithes of Kilkenzie and Killarow came into the possession of The Duke of Argyll. Theancient burial giound surrounding the church is still in use.

KILMAROW OR KILARROW

This is the name of the old Parish Church united to Kilkenzie in Reformation times, and thefarm above Tangy village is named so still. Here, Captain White says, "there is no vestige ortradition of a religious site," but, according to the late Rev. D. J. Macdonald of Killean, thelate Mr Lachlan Clark of Tangy, found quite distinct evidences of this "in a field behind thevillage of Tangy," when it was being ploughed, and this we may, I think accept as thesituation of the church.

It was dedicated to Mael-Rubha or Malruve (meaning red priest maol ruadh) the Apostleof North-West Scotland, who, for many years, was the head of the conventual establishmentof Apurcrossan (Applecross) where he died in 772, a rude cross like tne older one in Sandamarking his grave. The variety of his dedicatory names White mentions Marow, Morry,Arrow, Olrow, and Frank Knight says there are some 39 of them has resulted in someconfusion and some difficulty in recognising his dedications.

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Killean - Sculptured Stones

KILLEAN

The old Parish Church of Killean, surrounded by its still used and lately extended graveyard,lies to the west of the main road between Campbeltown and Tarbert, opposite the farmsteading of Killean, and immediately to the south of Killean Burn.

Its state of preservation does not differ materially from that of the church of Kilkenzie,although its eastern portion has obviously been repaired in comparatively recent times, butits architectural features are of a distinctly higher order, and the church itself was one ofthe superior churches of the district. It is possessed of a north wing or transept, which, withthe exception of Saddell Abbey, of which it is sometimes called a "chapel church," is a

unique feature in the ancient churches of Kintyre.

The main building is about 74 feet by 17 feet, the wing on the north side, which wasapparently added at a later date being about 16 feet square, and, while the main building isroofless, this northern addition is roofed over, being also mantled with ivy.

The walls, with the exception of the west. which is wanting, are in good preservation. In theeast gable are two large handsome windows parallel to one another, and now built up.Above them is an ornamental moulding, which, fulling in three steps on either side, endsnear the sable on the south, but, on the north is continued round for about five feet on thenorth wall.

Most of the other windows have also been built up. and a transverse partition in stone hasbeen built across the main building, in line with the west wall of the noith transept. In themore dilapidated west portion of the church beyond the partition, a small opeu Normanleaded window is found on either side wall.

The main doorway, also of Norman architecture is found in the south wall near its east end,while a smaller square headed one also appears near its western one. The wing building onthe north side, occupying the position of a north transept, is entered from the main buildingby a low round-headed doorway 5 feet high. Above this is a small circular loop hole, andthis annex is dimly lighted by two small lancet shaped windows, each 4 feet long by 8inches wide, one in the north and the other in the east wall. Whatever its original purpose,

the building was for long used as the family buried vault of the Macdonalds of Largie, aninscription above the doorway reading "Here lie the bones of the House of Largie."

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[Mention is made of a little inland in Tangy Loch, on which tradition says there was a smallchapel, in which delinquents who had incurred the displeasure of the priest wereimprisoned or fined. The Loch was thus called "Loch-na-Cain," the Loch of Pennance.

Talking of this loch and its beauties the writer, whose initials, N. M. K. R., at once reveal hisidentity waxes eloquent when he declares "Kintyre abounds witli many other lakes ofgreat beauty high up among the liills, reflecting in their waters the rocks and ferns on theirbanks, and in the autumn the bloom of the heather on the slopes of the hills.

These lakes are never seen by the general public and, indeed, are little known of save bygentlemen who come to the country towards the beginning of autumn and who eitheramuse themselves by fishing in them for trout, or by grouse shooting in the hills and vales,and who commit follies of many kinds, such as assuming the garb of our clans, with kilt.sporran, skean, Highland bonnet, drink, drive about in light carriages over peat roads, andpractice all the devices which youth and wealth, stimulated by pride and indolence, cansuggest among the solitudes our Gaels have left desolate by emigration. (From LordArchibald Campbell's manuscripts) ].

PARISH OF KILCALMONELL AND KILBERRY

KILCALMONELL

Kilcalmonell is a parochial sub-division of the combined parish of Kilcalmonell and Kilberry,the latter being, however, of the nature of a chapel of ease, with a separate minister.

In 1753 the eastern half of the old parish was lopped off, and, with a similar slice from theold parish of Killean, now forms the united parish of Saddell aud Skipness.

Modern Kilcalmonell is formed by a long strip of the land along the east side of West LochTarbert, beginning a little to the north of Rhunahaorine Point, and including a small portionof Kintyre south of East Loch Tarbert, which ends at "Camus na Ban-tighearna," (Lady's Bay)

on the shores of Loch Fyne.

Nothing now remains of the original church of the parish, which in the 17th century, stoodat Clachan, nor of a still earlier one at Balnakeill, marked on some old maps as"Balnaheglish," (Baile na h-eaglaise) meaning Kirkton or Clachan. The present church wasnot erected till 1760.

In the churchyard around this modern building, a number of the usual mediaeval sculpturedslabs are found, some of them appropriated as memorials of more modern descendants.

They display the familiar sword, shears, and foliated ornamentation, which is conventionalon such stones.

The church is dedicated to Colman Elo or Ela, also called Columbanus, a descendant, likeColumba himself, of the famous Royal Irish race of Niall of the Seven Hostages. Born at

Tyrone in 555, he died at Lynally in 611, and the church of Colmonell, in Ayrshire, is alsodedicated to him.

The earliest record of tlie church dates from the 13th century. In the year 1247 somearrangement was made between the Rector of Kilcalmonell and "Dufgal the Son of Syfyn,"Laird of Schypinche (Skipness) concerning a grant of land, and in 1261 the same Lairddonated to the Monks of Paisley Abbey, the avowsons to this church of St Colmonell andone of its dependences, the chapel of St Columba at Skipness, a matter to be referred towhen dealing with that chapel.

A deed is also recorded in 1455, in which "Joannis de Yle, Comes Rossie et DaminusInsularum," gives to Paisley Abbey, the rectories "Ecclesiarum Sancti Kylkerran et

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Saddell Abbey - Sculptured Stones

PARISH OF SADDELL AND SKIPNESS

SADDELL ABBEY

The principal ancient ecclesiastical building in the now combined Parish of Saddell and

Skipness, united in 1753, is the venerable Monastery of Saddell, than whicli, with the singleexception of Iona Cathedral, no ecclesiastical seat in the West Highlands was held in higherreverence, or enjoyed greater esteem. Built on an exceptionally well-chosen site of peacefulcalm and picturesque beauty, in a well wooded vale, through which gently meandered thesoftly purling waters of the "Allt nam Manach" the Monk's Burn the Monastery musthave been one of dignity and importance.

Of the church walls only a few fragments now remain standing to any height, but the tracksor mounds left in continuation of them indicate that this conformed to the general designupon which the Cistercian Order of Monks, towhom the Abbey belonged, were wont to build their churches.

According to The New Statistical Account of the Parish, Reginald, son of Somerled, first Lordof the Isles, after his fathers death, sent to Rome for a quantity of consecrated dust (uirnaomhichte na Roinihe), and made the building commensurate with the extent to which itcould be scattered. In any case, the fabric was large and capacious, so large indeed that,according to an ancient traditional manner of describing it, "they would be preaching at oneend of the church, and singing at the other, and one party would never ken what the otherwas doing.""It was in the form of a cross, which lay in an exact position towards the four cardinalpoints." The length from east to west was about 136 feet, the breadth 24 feet, while thetransept from north to south was 78 feet by 24 feet. The south end of the transept wasextended from the gable to a distance of 58 feet, and from this projected another building,

running parallel to the body of the church, which was crossed in turn at its termination byanother erection, running westwards at right angles, leaving a square or quadrangle withinthese buildings. The body of the church itself, from east to west, measured 60 feet, and theheight of the side walls 24 feet. The Cloisters, which were in the centre of this square,measured, it is said, 25 yards from east to west, and 17 yards from north to south, notforming a true square, and the Refectory, which lay to the south of this, is said to lie in anunusual position, this being caused by the adjacent stream unduly curtailing the groundavailable for building.

In 1861, the Hev. J. M. Gresley found portions of the north and south walls of The Refectory,about 9 yards long and 8to 10 feet high, still standing, as well as portions of the Choir, 8 yards from east to west,

and 6 yards from noth to south, as also about 7 square yards of the North Transept, in thegable of which way the aperture for a window, and this is very much the present state ofaffairs.

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Quite recently great masses of ivy, which almost hid the details of the ruins still standinghave been removed, so that these are now much better seen.

The measurements given by Captain White, practically agree with those given in TheStatistical Account. In a ground plan of the Abbey, drawn up by Mr J. S. Richardson, of TheScottish Board of Works, the extent of the Choir does not, however, correspond with thedescription given of it in The New Statistical Account, and I am disposed to think that this iscorrect, as it agrees with its present appearance, and the nature of the ground, which here

slopes sharply down to the east, would render any extension in that direction very difficult.

In rendering the cloister garth square, instead of oblong, Mr Richardson's ground plan, onthe other hand, probably requires emendation.

As regards the shape of the church, this, in Mr Richardson's ground plan, instead of beingcruciform, as The Statistical Account says, and as is usual, is altogether wanting in a south

Transept, giving the church a curious lopsided appearance, very much like Killean Church,and the remaining ruins seem to support such a conception.

Two tall slender poplar trees, planted there many years ago, by the late Colonel MacLeod of

Saddell, mark the north and south boundaries of the west gable the naive of SaddellMonastery.

So far back, however, as 1839 - 43, Dean Howson wrote of Saddell Abbey, "the demolitionof the building is so great, that it is utterly impossible to ascertain the architecturalcharacter of any portion of the Monastery. The apertures of the windows are narrow, andappear to denote an early English character; but the hewn stones were taken away by anancient proprietor of the estate to build the house of Saddell.

Captain White gives numerous examples of this wholesale spoliation, in which the mouldedstones of the venerable Abbey, and even the grave-stones from the cemetery around, havebeen appropriated for the building of the walls of Saddell House, and the masonry of the

stables; and the writer of The New Statistical Account, referring to this celebrated Monasticinstitution, impressively declares that, "after it had for centuries withstood the violence ofthe solstitial rains and equinoxial gales, the hands of a modern Goth converted it into aquarry out of which he took materials to build dykes and offices, paving some of the latterwith the very grave-stones. He did not, however, long survive the sacrilegious deed, as hesoon afterwards lost his life by a trifling accident, which the country people consider arighteous retribution, and the estate passed into other hands."

Another version of the story runs, that Campbell of Saddell, and later of Newfield, in theParish of Dundonald, Ayrshire, removed stones from the Abbey for building houses andenclosures, and made kailyards of the Abbey Cemetery. He sold the property to ColonelDonald Campbell of Skye, for 27,000. After the sale, Newfield met with an accident adeep wound of the knee-pan which never healed, leaving him a cripple for life, which wasconsidered a judgment. He died in poverty.

In the once extensive graveyard around the Abbey, which is bounded by the little "Allt nanManach," and upon part of which the present village of Saddell now stands, there formerlylay scattered about a large number of ancient monumental slabs, but, about 40 or 50 yearsago, the late Colonel MacLeod of Saddell had the most valuable of these collected andplaced side by side in the Choir, where they still lie. Among them are

1 The partially reconstructed fragments of a cross.2 Lying on the wall of the Choir, at its extreme .south, is the effigy of a knight, carved in

high relief, "one of the most highly finished in The West Highlands." The knight isrepresented with conical bassinet or long pointed helmet, a tippet or gorget of chain mailover the shoulders, a jupon or surcoat, reaching beyond the knees, while the right hand,raised to the shoulder, is grasping a spear, and the left is holding a sword. According to the

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Mary, to whom their churches were, as a rule, dedicated, and hence they are known asWhite or Grey Monks.

The successive Lords of The Isles endowed the Abbey with valuable gifts of lands andspecial privileges, the Charters for which were duly endorsed by successive Scottish Kings.After three centuries of organised devotional activities, James IV, in 1507, granted a royalcharter recognising the claims of Saddell Abbey to certain landed bequests from formerLords of The Isles, but, formally making over all these to The Bishopric of Argyll, on the

union of the latter with the Abbacy.

From that date [The Monks would seem to have left the Abbey for a few years before it washanded over to tlie Bishop of Argyll] Saddell Abbey became virtually noil-existent. No longerdid its pious Grey Monks engage in their manifold works of demotion. The untenantedbuildings were neglected, they were even used for purely secular if not profane ends, andnow, in this lovely sheltered dell where ten generations of saintly monks were wontsolemnly to intone their long Latin prayers, and fervently chant their lusty anthems, andtheir loud amens, are only to be heard the softer and less articulate, but it may be none theless expressive .voices of all nature harmoniously blending together in adoring paeons oftheir Creator's praise, the sweet singing of the birds, the soft sighing of the trees, the

sombre soughing of the winds, and the mellow and musical wimpling and purling of thatdainty little brook, by whose side this old Monastery of Saddell Abbey once seemed soenduring and so secure.

Kilbrannan Chapel - Main Door

KILBRANNAN OR ST. COLUMBA'S CHAPEL, SKIPNESS

About 18 or 19 miles north of Saddell, the point of Skipness (or Schypinche) Ship Point, inNorse projects into the estuary of The Firth of Clyde, dividing what is specifically LochFyne from the Sound of Kilbrannan. Near the extremity of this point stands the wellpreserved ruins of Skipness Castle, and adjoining it, are the remains of the Chapel ofKilbrannan or St. Columba. Captain White remarking that it bears the latter name in onlyone ancient document.

The Chapel was the principal appanage of its parent establishment at Kilcalmonell, and, asis usual, is situated in an environment of exceptional beauty, near a long stretch of white

shingly beach, on the western fringe of the blue expanse of Kilbrannan Sound, beyondwhich the jagged peaks of Arran rise in imposing array, while, further to the north, beyondthe wider waters of the Sound of Bute, the verdant shores of that island delight the eye.

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The Chapel is, apart from Saddell Abbey, not only the largest in Kintyre, but, Mr Muir says,apart from Iona, the largest probably also in all Argyll. It is besides the most handsome indesign, and, thanks to the care of the Skipness lairds, the best preserved.

Of similar elongated design to the other old Kintyre churches, it measures 75 feet by 19feet internally, and 82 feet by 27 feet externally, the walls being between 4 feet and 5 feetin thickness.

As is by no means unusual, the windows are arranged somewhat irregularly, 4 in the southwall and 2 in the north. The west gable window, centrally placed, has, above it, a secondsmall window with square top, a quite unique feature in the Kintyre series of old churches.Immediately beneath the sill of this is a small perforation, which was used for a bell rope.

The west gable indeed is carried up to the bell-cot, as was frequent in the early Englishstyle of church, as this chapel is. All those windows, with the exception of the little westsquare headed one, are pointed lancets, deeply splayed in their recesses, and headed withthe common form of Gothic arch.

The greater part of the east end of the south wall has had a number of modernmausoleums, built up against its outside,

among them that of the old Campbells of Skipncss, much marring the external appearanceof this part of the Chapel, and blocking up three windows and a door, as is best seen fromthe interior. But the crowning glory of this old Chapel of Skipness is its east gable window.Captain White describing it as "quite a little gem of harmonious effect," whether viewedfrom the outside or from within. It is of slender sharply pointed type, with a single mulliondividing it into two similarly pointed lights, and leaving a third very small opening at theirhead, while the interior arch of the recess is nearly semi-circular.

Of three doors, that near the chancel has, as already said, been built up. The other two,situated near the west ends of the north and south walls, have pointed Gothic heads, thesouth-west one being particularly ornate. The blending of the bright red sandstone, whichforms the linings of all the openings doors and windows as well as of the corners of the

building, with the bluish-grey stone, of which the bulk of the edific is constructed, forms aparticularly happy and striking combination of colour, and adds very materially to theeffectiveness of the whole design.

In the interior of the south wall, near its east angle, is a large square-shaped recess orniche, where, doubtless, the piscina was placed to receive the water fouled by the cleansingof the sacred vessels, etc., and, what is not mentioned in any of the authorities I have beenable to consult, and what is not now found in any other of the old churches of Kintyre,although there is a very perfect one in the Chapel of Keils, Knapdale, in a correspondingposition in the north wall, its most common site, is a similar but smaller niche, which,doubtless, formed the ambry or aumbry, a kind of press, in which the sacred vessels of thechurch were stored.

The removal of the piscina and ambry, as well as ot the altar, which would be placed underthe beautiful east window,is, doubtless, to be attributed to the fanatical zeal of post Reformation iconoclasts.

Of monumental sculptured slabs, Captain White, in his "Sketches," gives illustrations offive, but, although I found a few of such flat slabs lying within the chapel, I was unable todecipher many details he mentions. The interior of this chapel differs from most of theothers in Kintyre, in not having been used for sepulture, and it is devoid of the commontype of tombstone frequently found in them.

The association of the Chapel with Columba is mentioned in a very ancient document inwhich "Dugfal the son of Syfyn" gives for the welfare of his own soul, and those of others,"to God, St. James and St Mirinus of Passelet (Paisley) and the Monks at that place, thepatronage of the Church of Colmanell in Kintyre, together with the Chapel of St. Columba,

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which is situated close by his Castle of Schephinche" (Skipness). This document is datedPalm Sunday, 1261.

Dr Frank Knight indeed makes the very pertinent suggestion, that Columba, who wasvirtually expelled or expatriated from Ireland in 563 (or as he maintains 562) beingpassionately devoted to the sea, frequently, before that date, sailed over to Scotland thesouthern parts of it and founded as already referred to, among others, possibly also thisChapel of Kilcolmkill or Columba at Skipness.

The other and perhaps more common dedication of the Chapel is to St Brandan or Brendan,one of two saints associated respectively with Clonfert and with Birr, in Ireland. They werecontemporaries and both wore favoured with the friendship of Columba.

[Dr Archibald B. Scott very confidently maintains that Kilhrannan is named after St. Brendanof Ardfert, which is in Kerry, and from one of the Tralee Havens near, he sailed on hisvoyages. He was an entirely different person from either St. Brendan of Clonfert or St.Brendan of Birr, which are situated in the centre of Ireland. He also declares that theassociation of the chapel with St. Columba, was effected by the clergy for the deliberatepurpose of fraudulently having the revenues transferred to themselves. Kilbrannan Chapel

was never, he says, dedicated to St. Columba].

ANCIENT MONASTERY AT CROSSAIG, KINTYRE

In "The March of Man," a Chronological Record of Peoples and Events from Prehistoric Timesto the Present Day," recently (1935) published by The Encyclopaedia Britannica Co., Ltd.,there is included a "Historical Atlas" in Map 33 (b) of which is shown an Ancient Monasteryat Crossaig, in Kintyre.

Although I have never heard a whisper as to the existence of such an interesting relic in thisneighbourhood, and it is not shown in any of the maps available for examination here, I atonce discovered, when some little time later I visited Crossaig, what would appear to be the

ruins of such a building, ideally situated in Crossaig Glen, some 30 yards to the north ofCrossaig Water, and not far from where this Water enters the Sound of Kilbrannan.

The ruins lie to the south of the farm steading of North Crossaig, and consist of a largecollection of dark ancient looking stones, which rise to the height of a few feet, and form anelevated plateau, the south and east portions of which are particularly distinct, and my visitquite convinced me that the old map was correct, and that an old Monastery did once existhere, some of the modern farm buildings, doubtless, now occupying part of its former site.

In the neighbourhood I observed an unusually large number of stone dykes, built ofunmortared ancient looking stones which, I have little doubt, were also derived from theruins.

In addition to local researches, and enquiries, in which I was much aided by Mr James H.Mackenzie, of our local Library, quite a number of likely authorities on Scottish Monasteriesfurther afield were communicated with, in order to verify, if possible, the existence of sucha Monastery, but, for long, in vain.

At length, however, the publishers of "The March of Man" were able to inform me that theMonastery of Crossaig was marked on Map XI. of the "Historical Church Atlas" by EdmundMcClure, published in 1897 by "The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge," (SPCK)butthey were unable to find a copy of this in London, even in The British Museum.

On reporting this to Dr Annie I. Cameron, of H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh, towhom I had already written with negative result, that lady discovered a copy of this Atlas in

The .National Library, Edinburgh, and, on consulting it, found that the name of the monasticfoundation there given was "Crusay," instead of Crossaig.

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This payed the way for the further discovery by herself and the Curator of The RegisterHouse, that, in "Geographical Illustrations of Scottish History," 1796, David McPhersonwrote "Crusay Monastery in the Western Isles (Keith'Scottish Bishops,' page 239). Q. ifnot rather in Kintire, frequently reckoned an island, where there is now a small hayen calledCrusay. N.B. In An. UI. there is a foundation of a church apud Croosan."

The reference to Kintyre being an island Magnus Barefoot's somewhat crude stratagem

by which he claimed to make it one is well-known is most illuminating, and unequivocallyverifies the existence of the Monastery of Crusay in Kintyre, but the last reference is quitewrong, the words in the original being "ecclesiam Apurcroosan" St. Maelrubha's famousWester Ross Monastery of Applecross.

The Rev. D. E. Easson, Ph.D., of Mauchline, who it at present investigating Benedictine andAllied Monasteries in Scotland, writes me that he too is most interested. He points out thatin "Spottiswood's Religious Houses" 'Crusay' is referred to as an Augustinian House, in theWestern Isles, founded by St. Columba. He has further ascertained that in a 17th centuryMS. in the Library of The University of Edinburgh, entitled "Nomina Monasteriorum" there isthe following entry, viz "Crusai" In Ins. occid. Urdo. S. Augustini. Pundator. S. Columba.

Dr Easson explains that the Augustinians probably replaced, as very frequently happened,an earlier company of Celtic Monks, and a Celtic Monastery, which had previously stood onthe same ground.

Dr Easson also suggested that I might communicate with the Reiv. Archibald B. Scott, D.D.,Helmsdale, Sutherland, the learned writer on the Pictish Nation, who, he said, was "the manwho knew all about these things," and this suggestion proved most successful. I do notsuppose, indeed, there is a single person alive who knows more about the Monastery ofCrusay than Dr Scott; he is the first, and as y

Documents

Ancient Churches and Chapels of Kintyre - T. Harvey Thomson