Description

The monument is the remains of one of the two medieval parish churches of Morvern. The dedication of this church was to St Columba and the parsonage was in the patronage of the Lords of the Isles, one of whose principal residences was at nearby Ardtornish Castle, until their forfeiture in 1493, when it passed to the Crown.

The remaining upstanding portion of the church, situated 55m SW of the present Kiel parish church, consists of an intact pointed archway of late medieval date which led from the main body of the church into a N transept or burial aisle. The arch is built of sandstone from the nearby Inninmore Bay quarries. A recess separates the arch from the S wall of a later enclosure, the interior face of this wall contains a blocked segmental-headed doorway. The enclosure measuring c.5m square within walls 1.1m thick was evidently a burial aisle of later date. Several re-used fragments are incorporated in the enclosure walls, of particular interest is a cusp-headed opening in the E wall which is constructed out of moulded fragments of sandstone window tracery. Approximately 6m to the S of the burial aisle is a similar structure which may have been rebuilt over the site of an earlier aisle adjoining the S wall of the medieval church. A lintel that once stood above the entrance states that the aisle belonged "to the familie of Kenlochalin descended of MacLean, called anciently Milesians", and that it was rebuilt by Angus Maclean of Kinlochaline and Charles MacLean of Drimnin in ?1733. Immediately to the S of the E pillar is an upright carved slate slab.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular measuring approximately 45m WNW-ESE by approximately 35m, to include the remains of the church, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling excludes all lairs for which rights of burial still exist.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
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Source: Historic Environment Scotland