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Iona, Iona Church

Parish Church (19th Century) (1828)

Site Name Iona, Iona Church

Classification Parish Church (19th Century) (1828)

Alternative Name(s) Iona Kirk; Telford Church; Iona Parish Church

Canmore ID 120647

Site Number NM22SE 47

NGR NM 28499 24247

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/120647

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Kilfinichen And Kilvickeon
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

NM22SE 47 28499 24247

For Iona manse (NM 2847 2420), see NM22SE 48.

Telford church.

S Hackett and N Livingston 1984.

Architecture Notes

Iona, Iona Parish Church.

Thomas Telford 1824-32.

Mr George Hay, architect.

PLANS: IG Lindsay Coll, W/63.

Activities

Construction (1828)

Built by William Thompson to a Smith/ Telford design.

Field Visit (May 1973)

Parish Church, Iona.

This church was built in 1828, being one of a series of 'Parliamentary kirks' erected in the Highlands at that time according to plans and specifications furnished by the Inverness architect James Smith and approved by Thomas Telford. The total cost, which included the adjacent manse, was £1503 4s (1).

Apart from the omission of the usual central wing at the rear, the building conforms closely to Telford's published design for a Highland church (2). The coursed rubble masonry is of pink Ross of Mull granite with dressings of buff coloured sandstone. The roof is slated, the s gable being surmounted by a bird-cage belfry capped with a pyramidal finial. The principal, or E, elevation incorporates a pair of large four-centred arch-headed windows flanked by corresponding doorways; the windows retain their original cast-iron mullions, transoms and frames, which contain small lozenge-shaped panes. In the original arrangement of the interior, which survived until 1939, the pulpit stood against the centre of the E wall, and a long Communion table was aligned along the main axis of the building; there was no gallery (3). The original pulpit, which is preserved at the Highland Folk Museum, Kingussie, has panelled sides and back and a sounding-board (4).

The church is traditionally said to occupy the site of Cill Chainnech, a burial-ground or chapel dedicated to St Cainnech (5), and an Early Christian cross-decorated stone found near the manse (No. 6, 9) was assumed by Drummond to be from this site (6). A late medieval tombstone which stands outside the E wall of the church, probably the one discovered 'behind the church' in the late 19th century (7), and a cross-shaft of the same period preserved in the vestry, are described supra (No. 6, 195 and 213).

RCAHMS 1982, visited May 1973

(1) 'Sixth Report of Commissioners for Building Churches in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland' (Parliamentary Papers,

1831, 9),4, 14-15,36-7; Telford, Life, 186-7,490-1; Maclean, A M, 'Parliamentary Churches in the Highlands and Islands', p. 89 (unpublished Edinburgh University thesis, 1972, copy in NMRS); (2) Telford, Atlas, pl. 58; (3) Hay, Post Reformation Churches, 181, fig. 55; (4) A measured survey of the pulpit is deposited in NMRS; (5) Adamnan, Columba (Reeves), 41 7; MacMillan, Iona, 35-6; Ritchie, Iona, end-map; (6) Drummond, Monuments, pl. ii , 2; (7) MacMillan, Iona, 36.

Aerial Photography (2 September 1994)

Aerial Photography (2 June 1997)

Archaeological Evaluation (July 2005)

The Glebe Field, Iona. Archaeological evaluation in Argyll and Bute by GUARD

Aerial Photography (3 May 2007)

Publication Account (2007)

Telford Churches and Manses

After the victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, Parliament responded to an appeal which said ‘Let us show our thanks by immediately dedicating to God’s honour a number of free churches and chapels . . .’. The Highlands and Islands, with their scattered communities, were seen to be in much need of churches and manses and in July 1823 an Act was passed which led to the building of 32 churches and 43 manses from 1825–30. The sites chosen were all north of a line from Aberdeen to Lochgilphead to the Oa, on Islay, and from there 300 miles northwards to Shetland (see map, which omits two sites in Orkney and two in Shetland).

Telford was given the task of approving designs, which were to cost not more than £1500, and organising the work. He asked three of his surveyors William Thomson, Crinan Canal resident engineer, James Smith, Inverness architect and Joseph Mitchell, to submit designs which heamended, eventually approving Thomson’s.

The Thomson/ Telford church was a clever design, being easily adaptable from its basic plan to increase or decrease the seating; the standard design was to seat 312. The manses came in two styles, single-storey (Smith/Telford) and two-storey (Mitchell/Telford). Both churches and manses were to be durable and sufficiently robust to keep out the worst of the Highland weather.

The churches were constructed by various contractors and generally in keeping with the approved plans. Over the years, however, changes of use, modifications and alterations have taken place, and some of the churches are barely recognisable as ‘Telford’ or ‘Parliamentary’.

R Paxton and Jim Shipway 2007b

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.

Publication Account (2007)

The churches were constructed by various contractors and generally in keeping with the approved plans. Over

the years, however, changes of use, modifications and alterations have taken place, and some of the churches

are barely recognisable as ‘Telford’ or ‘Parliamentary’.

One church in this area that is little changed is at Iona (1828) built by William Thomson for £1503. These Highland churches, so nearly identical, were the forerunners of the ‘kit’ buildings of today.

R Paxton and Jim Shipway 2007b

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.

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