Archaeology Notes

Event ID 658065

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/658065

NG32NE 1.00 37580 25992

NG32NE 1.01 3757 2599 Churchyard; Cross-shaft

NG32NE 1.02 3757 2599 St Michael's Font

(NG 3759 2599) Church (In Ruins) (NAT).

OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)

At Kilmoruy, Borline, are two roofless churches, the larger probably of the 18th century, and the smaller earlier.

The latter is an oblong structure, orientated E-W, 26ft 5ins in length and 15ft 8ins in breadth externally. The walls, 2ft 5ins thick, still stand 7ft 6ins high above the present level of the interior. The wall-head is angled to conform with the slope of the thatch (RCAHMS 1928). This church seems to have been rebuilt after the Reformation and in 1792 was ruinous (OPS 1854). In all probability it occupies the site of the ancient church of St. Maelrubha (T S Muir 1885).

The later church lies a short distance to the W. The churchyard contains a fragment of a cross-shaft 4'9" long, and fine decorated grave-slabs. A 15th - 16th century font was removed to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS), Edinburgh.

Orig Paroch Scot 1854; T S Muir 1885; J R Walker 1887; RCAHMS 1928; W D Simpson 1935.

The earlier of these two ruined churches is as described by RCAHMS. The later church, which is roofless, measures 14.3m long and 7.5m wide externally, with walls 0.8m thick. The S wall contains a door and two windows and the W gable end also has a window.

The cross-shaft described and illustrated by RCAHMS is recumbent and serves as a gravestone. The graveyard is disused.

Visited by OS (C F W) 7 June 1961.