Archaeology Notes

Event ID 674608

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/674608

NM62SW 2 62661 23616.

(NM 6265 2361) Caibeal Mheomhair (NR)

OS 1:10000 map (1976)

St Kenneth's Chapel at Laggan is mentioned by Hannan and Scott.

T Hannan 1926; H Scott 1950

Caibeal Mheamhair, Laggan: This building, whose Gaelic name may be translated 'chapel of remembrance' stands close to the E shore of Loch Buie and 1.5 km SE of Moy Castle. The present appearance of the building owes much to a thoroughgoing restoration carried out in 1864, when the structure was converted into a mausoleum for the MacLeans of Lochbuie, while a further programme of renovation was completed in 1972. The main core of the building, however, appears to be of late medieval date, while some of the dressings may derive from an earlier chapel in the same neighbourhood.

The chapel is oblong on plan, measuring 10.7m from E to W by 4.6m transversely within walls some 0.7m in thickness. The masonry is of random rubble with sandstone dressings. The entrance-doorway is situated towards the W end of the N wall. Three blocked windows are now visible, situated respectively in the N, W and S walls, and there may originally have been a fourth window, in the E wall, which was almost completely rebuilt in 1864. The three existing windows are all of narrow single-light form, but they vary considerably in detail. The S window (C) has the appearance of 12th-century work and may be in secondary use. The interior now retains no early features, and the whole of the E end, which serves as a mausoleum, is sealed off behind a screen-wall erected in 1864.

Nothing is known of the early history of this chapel, which had presumably fallen into disuse by 1701, when the first recorded burial within it took place.

Within the chapel is a sandstone font of late medieval date. There are also a number of 18th-century funerary monuments (described by RCAHMS).

Visited by OS (DWR) 22 May 1972.

RCAHMS 1980 (visited 1973).