Recording Your Heritage Online
Event ID 567128
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Recording Your Heritage Online
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/567128
St. Moluag's Church (Teampall Mholuaidh) T-plan former kirk all of one build, believed to have been built under Norse patronage on an earlier Celtic site. However, the attributed date has ranged from late 12 th to early 16th century. Putlock holes suggest the earlier period; window details and a battered plinth redolent of St. Clement's, Rodel, the latter. The church takes the form of a rectangular cell, with small lean-to sacristy and chapel flanking the eastern gable; the plan bears strong similarities to the 12 th century Gardar Cathedral in Greenland. Restoration in 1911 -12 was sympathetic for its date, supervised by James S. Richardson (later Inspector of Ancient Monuments). He re-introduced ashlar dressings and used Orkney slates and flagstones, reroofing the bare interior with a simple, open timber roof. The pulpit, altar and font are 1911 ; evidence of a chancel screen is still visible. Now in the care of the Episcopal Church, St. Moluag's stands within a small walled kirkyard with a Celtic cross of revival Iona type.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
