Following the launch of trove.scot in February 2025 we are now planning the retiral of some of our webservices. Canmore will be switched off on 24th June 2025. Information about the closure can be found on the HES website: Retiral of HES web services | Historic Environment Scotland
Archaeology Notes
Event ID 782975
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/782975
NG20NE 23 27693 05380
For discovery of Viking bronze pin, see NG20NE 12.
Church of Scotland, by P MacGregor Chalmers, 1912-14. Beautifully simple lancet-windowed rubble rectangle. Pencil-like W tower of Brechin Cathedral tower type. Inside, a pointed tunnel-vault.
J Gifford 1992.
This small rectangular church was built as a memorial to Robert Thom by his son Allan G Thom between the years 1912 and 1914 and was designed by P MacGregor Chalmers; it lies above the track leading to the pier and overlooks Canna Harbour. The church is oriented from ENE to WSW and is built of random rubble with pinnings; its roof is of stone, rendered externally, but visible internally as a pointed tunnel-vault. It is entered by a door at the SW end of the S wall, and has narrow pointed leaded windows, three in each side and two in either gable end. A round tower lies central to the W gable end, and is vented by similar pointed openings with slate louvres.
The church lies within a stone-walled burial-ground, which contains only one granite headstone, dedicated to Allan Gilmour Thom and his wife Mary Cameron.
A fine ornamental wrought-iron gate in the W wall provides access to the burial-ground. It has a central oval panel containing the outline of a cross, which, below its arms, is flanked by two smaller infilled panels, one with three birds, the other with three fishes. The gate was presented by Wallace Menzies and was dedicated at a service held in August 1969.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 13 August 1996
J L Campbell 1984.
