Description

The monument consists of the remains of a pre-Reformation chapel and its surrounding burial ground. The dedication is to St Fintan, the gaelic being "Cill Fhionntain". All that survives of the building are the well defined, turf-covered foundations which measure 7.6m E-W by 3m transversely within walls 0.8m thick and 0.8m in maximum height. A gap at the centre of the S wall marks the original position of the entrance.

The footings stand in the NW angle of a small D-shaped burial ground, defined on the N and W by sloping ground, and on the S and E by a curving stony bank. Although the elongated proportions of the chapel suggest a medieval date the discovery of two early Christian gravemarkers in the burial ground suggest the site was utilised at an earlier date. The area to be scheduled is rectangular, measuring a maximum of 24m E-W by 17m N-S, and bounded to the S by a modern track, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as an example, albeit fragmentary, of a medieval chapel that is likely to overlie an earlier building and its associated burial ground which originate in the early Christian period. As such it has the potential to provide information, through excavation and analysis, which may contribute to our understanding of the spread of the celtic church, non-scriptural dedications, ecclesiastical architecture, burial practices and material culture in Scotland from the Early Medieval to the late Medieval periods.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NM 54 NE 1.

Reference:

RCAHMS 1980, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll (excluding the early medieval and later monuments of Iona), Edinburgh, 149-50, No. 303.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland