St Molaug's Church, Kilmaluag, Skye
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Period Unassigned), Well (Period Unassigned), Bell
Site Name St Molaug's Church, Kilmaluag, Skye
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Period Unassigned), Well (Period Unassigned), Bell
Alternative Name(s) St Moluag's Church, Kilmaluag Bay
Canmore ID 11400
Site Number NG47SW 2
NGR NG 4356 7492
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11400
- Council Highland
- Parish Kilmuir
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG47SW 2 4356 7492.
(NG 4356 7492) Chapel (NR) (Ruin) Grave Yard (NAT)
OS 6" map, Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)
A hand bell, presumed to be Celtic is reported from Kilmaluig by Anderson.
J Anderson 1881.
The parish of Kilmuir was anciently named Kilmaluag, and the church, dedicated to St. Moluag, stood at this latter place on the NE coast of the parish. Its remains, situated in the open burying-place there, measure 40' in length internally, but only the W wall remains standing. In its immediate vicinity is a well Tobar Heibert.
The first notice of the church is given when a Master Mertyne M' Gillemertyne is listed as its rector from 1507 to 1536. Various subsequent rectors are known and the last mention of the church is in 1573. After the reformation Kilmuir Church seem to have become the parish church (Muir 1885; OPS 1854).
The RCAHMS (1928) do not list this church.
Orig Paroch Scot 1854; T S Muir 1885; RCAHMS 1928; W D Simpson 1935.
St. Moluag's Church measures internally 12.5m E-W, and 6.0m tranversely. It is set slightly into a S facing slope and its N. wall has gone, but the footings of the E and S walls remain, and the W gable end, of mortar set rubble masonry 0.9m thick, remains complete to its finial. The graveyard has now been enclosed.
The well, Tobar Heibert, is a strong spring issuing through two stone slabs right at the High Water mark (at NG 436 751, some 140m NE of the church). However, so far as can be ascertained locally, it has no religious associations.
Visited by OS (C F W) 25 April 1961.
The church is as described by Wardale except that it measures internally 6.5m by 13.0m Graveyard still in occasional use. Tobar Heibert is at NG 4365 7504.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (I S S) 9 September 1971.
Measured Survey (May 2007)
NG 4356 7492 A survey of the medieval parish church site at Kilmaluag on the northern end of the Trotternish peninsula was carried out in May 2007. A 1:50 scale plan was drawn of the church. The church is orientated E/W and measures 13 x 6.5m externally with an internal area of 52.64m2. The only wall standing is the W gable wall which stands to its entire height including the finial and is 0.90m thick. However, it appears that the W wall has been substantially rebuilt at some point. There are visible foundations on the N and S ends of the W wall. These foundations extend about 0.25m on either end of the W wall. Sections of the E and S walls are visible as grassed-over turf banks with occasional courses of walling visible. The surviving section of the east wall stands to a maximum height of 1m and at the base it is c1m wide. Subsequent research has revealed that
the W wall was rebuilt in order to house a memorial tablet to the men of Kilmaluag who died in the First World War, unveiled in July 1925.
Funder: The Hunter Archaeological Trust and the University of Glasgow's Faculty of Arts Graduate School Research Support Fund.
