Field Visit
Date August 1988
Event ID 1082840
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1082840
This much-altered medieval church stands 1.2km from the shore of Kilfinan Bay, in a churchyard which on the Sand W falls steeply towards two small tributaries of the Kilfinan Burn. The E side of the churchyard was truncated by the construction of the present road, probably in the early 19th century, and soil up to 1.5m deep is believed to have been imported to increase the space for burials (en.1). The former manse, rebuilt about 1850 but with older structures in its S steading-wing, stands 110m to the E, and immediately N of the churchyard the Kilfinan Hotel preserves a vaulted cellar and a S range with a door-lintel dated 1760 and a sandstone chimney piece of the same period. The church is first recorded in the second quarter of the 13th century, and its proportions suggest that the outline of the original building is preserved, with the addition of the Lamont N aisle of 1633, which may itself incorporate late medieval work. However it was extensively rebuilt in 1759, and owes its present appearance to a restoration by the Glasgow architect, John Honeyman, in 1881-2. It measures18.9m from E to W by 5.3m within 0.85m walls, and the Lamont aisle extends a further 6.1m to the N and is 5.6m wide. The walls are harled externally and no early masonry is visible, with the possible exception of a rough plinth along the E wall and the E parts of the side walls.
RCAHMS 1992, visited August 1988
[see RCAHMS 1992, No. 61, for a full architectural description, and detailed notes on 23 funerary monuments and carved stones]
