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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 694607

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/694607

NR39NE 7 36290 95026.

(NR 3630 9501) Chapel (NR) (In Ruins)

OS 6" map (1900)

The remains of the pre-Reformation chapel, Cille Chatan, or Kilchattan - St Cathan's Chapel - standing on the site of its predecessor in its graveyard which was enclosed only a few years before 1880 and which is still in use.

The chapel measures 31' x 21' over rubble and lime walls which stand to a maximum height of 8', on the N side, which is complete. The whole of the W side, and half the S side have gone, so there is no trace of an entrance but it is said to have been in the W gable. The E end has an irregular gap which may have been a window.

In the graveyard are small cairns with headstones and footstones - the accepted method of covering a grave to protect it before the enclosing of the area.

What is believed to have been the holy water stoup was found near the E end of the church, and is now used as a baptismal font in the parish church at Scalasaig (NR 38 94).

The holy well 'Tobar Chattan' is situated on the croft of Druim Clach (NR 364 948) in the face of the bank opposite Kilchattan Church. The parish of Kilchattan in Colonsay is mentioned in 1632 (Orig Paroch Scot 1854). The dedication is to Catan (fl. c.600).

W Stevenson 1881; S Grieve 1923; J de V Loder 1935; W J Watson 1926

NR 3629 9502: The remains of the chapel are as described. There is no trace of the earlier chapel or the cairns which have been obliterated by later burials in the still used burial ground. A dry hollow at NR 3637 9497 probably represents the site of the well.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (DWR) 16 April 1974

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