Tiree, Balephetrish
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Tiree, Balephetrish
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Cill-fhinnein
Canmore ID 21511
Site Number NM04NW 18
NGR NM 0195 4740
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/21511
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Tiree
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM04NW 18 0195 4740.
(NM 0195 4740) Cill-fhinnein (NR)
OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)
A chapel with its burial ground stood here, but it is very doubtful if it was dedicated to St Finnan (late 6th c), as the published name suggests (E Beveridge 1903).
Adamnan (c.AD 700) mentions 'Artchain' in Tiree as being the site of a monastery founded by Findchan (late 6th c). This name is supposed to have passed into Ardkirknish (Ard chircnis: NM 022 472).
"There are no satisfactory traces of the old chapel, but immediately to the north of the rocks is a comparatively level plateau with what may be the foundations of an ancient ecclesiastical building placed east and west. Or it may have been a little to the south, in a cleared space between the rocks and the road, where a few large blocks of stone stand erect as if part of a boundary of somewhat circular shape."
E Beveridge 1903.
No trace of the chapel or burial ground survives. The name Cill-fhinnein was confirmed.
Visited by OS (R D) 23 June 1972.
There are no visible remains of the ecclesiastical site that is marked on the OS map as 'Cill Fhinnein', some 0.7km E of Balephetrish farm.
The dedication was evidently to St Finnen, a 'pet' form of the name Findbarr. Because of its proximity to the place-name Ard Chircnis, the site has been mistakenly identified as that of the Early Christian monastery of 'Artchain', founded by St Findchan.
W Reeves 1854; Name Book 1878; RCAHMS 1980, visited 1973.
