This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.
We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 56.2782 / 56°16'41"N
Longitude: -5.6164 / 5°36'58"W
OS Eastings: 176225
OS Northings: 715401
OS Grid: NM762154
Mapcode National: GBR DDJ3.S75
Mapcode Global: WH0H2.PGQF
Entry Name: Ballachuan, chapel and burial ground 255m ESE of Braefoot
Scheduled Date: 7 December 1978
Last Amended: 15 March 2013
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM4143
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard
Location: Kilbrandon and Kilchattan
County: Argyll and Bute
Electoral Ward: Oban North and Lorn
Traditional County: Argyllshire
The monument comprises the remains of a medieval chapel, enclosure and burial ground. The site dates probably to sometime between the 10th-16th centuries, but may have earlier origins. The chapel is visible as the turf-covered foundations of a clay-bonded stone-built rectangular building, measuring 5.7m NE-SW by 3.1m transversely. Its walls are approximately 1m thick and stand up to 0.7m high. To the NE of the chapel is a sub-rectangular enclosure measuring 11m NE-SW by 5.5m transversely, defined by a low turf bank. The site occupies a low rocky ridge that overlooks Ballachuan Loch to the S. The monument is at sea level, within rough grassland on ground sloping to the S toward the loch. The monument was first scheduled in 1978, but the documentation does not meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.
The area to be scheduled is rectangular in plan, measuring 30m NNE-SSW by 20m WNW-ESE, to include the remains of the chapel, the enclosure and the burial ground, as shown in red on the accompanying map.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
National Importance
The monument is of national importance as the remains of an early ecclesiastical site. Important archaeological remains relating to the origins, use and development of the site in the medieval period, and possibly earlier, are expected to survive, including burials and possibly carved stones. Its significance is enhanced by its capacity to be compared with similar sites in the region. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our ability to understand and appreciate the origins and nature of secular worship and the development of Christian sites in Seil and more widely across the west of Scotland.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS record the site as NM71NE 18. The West of Scotland Archaeology Service SMR reference is WoSASPIN 836.
References:
RCAHMS 1975, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 2: Lorn, Edinburgh, p. 26-29.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments