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.