Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Upcoming Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates:
Thursday, 9 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 23 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 30 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
During these times, some functionality such as image purchasing may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Reference
Date 2001
Event ID 582032
Category Documentary Reference
Type Reference
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/582032
The supposed site of the chapel of Kilmachalmaig (1) is situated in a field a few metres W of East St Colmac farm, on the N side of the low-lying valley that links the E and W coasts of Bute between Kames Bay and Ettrick Bay. The name incorporates an affectionate form of the common Irish name Colman, and a cross-slab of Early Christian type stands a few metres to the SW.
The stone has a vertical W face but is D-shaped in section, tapering in thickness from 0.4m at the foot to a mere point. The W face, which is round-headed but broken at the top left, measures 1.44m in visible height and tapers from a width of 0.48m at the foot. At the top there is a circle 0.4m in diameter enclosing an equal-armed cross potent with wedge-shaped terminals. The outline of the cross is defined by a bead-moulding, and at the centre there is a roundel formed by a double moulding with three spirals emerging from the inner member. The constriction of the lower arm bears traces of ornament, identified by Allen as a square key-pattern (2), and the vertical sides of the expansion have spirals flanking a central sunk panel. This arm is continued as a simple shaft, 0.77m high and 75mm wide, which is formed by two deeply-cut grooves and is open at the foot.
Footnotes:
(1) Blaeu's Atlas (Bute) gives the form 'Kilmachalmak'. The chapel was demolished for building-material about the end of the 18th century (Hewison 1893, 1, 116-17). For the discovery of stone 'coffins' and other burials in the 19th century see Wilson, op.cit., 70-1; Name Book, Bute, No.5, p.18.
(2) Allen and Anderson 1903, 3, 412.
Muir 1861, 124; Stuart 1867, 30 and pl.56; Muir 1885, 7; Hewison 1893, 1, 116-17; Allen and Anderson 1903, 3, 411-12; Marshall 1955, 58 and pl. on p.2; Cross 1984, B43.
I Fisher 2001, 81-2.
