Mull, Lochbuie, Caibeal Mheamhair

Caibeal Mhomhair, one mile SE of Lochbuy House, an old chapel standing in a Burial Ground, has been converted into a burial-vault for the lairds. The narrow window slits in the N and S walls near the E end and the window in the W end have been blocked up with masonry and the door in the N wall near the W end barred with an iron grill. It has been reroofed with slates, but the roof is no longer watertight, and a tablet ‘Consercrated 1500’ inserted over the door. The freestone mouldings outside the side window slits are still visible outside recent blocking, though much weathered. The window openings were 6” wide. (Photographed). Inside a broken stone font is visible. None of the slabs exposed in the churchyard bear early figural carvings.

Visited by RCAHMS, 23 July 1942.

Caibeal Mheamhair, Laggan, Mull. NM 626 236

This building (Pl. 20A), whose Gaelic name may be translated 'chapel of remembrance', stands close to the E shore of Loch Buie and 1.5 km SE of Moy Castle (RCAHMS 1980, No. 346). The present appearance of the building owes much to a thorough going restoration carried out in 1864, when the structure was converted into a mausoleum for the MacLeans of Lochbuie, while a further programme of renovation was completed in 1972. The main core of the building, however, appears to be of late medieval date, while some of the dressings may derive from an earlier chapel in the same neighbourhood.

The chapel is oblong on plan (plan, Fig. 153), measuring 10.7 m from W to E by 4.6 m transversely within walls some 0.7 m in thickness. The masonry is of random rubble with quoins and dressings of buff-coloured sandstone probably quarried at Carsaig (RCAHMS 1980, No. 380). The entrance-doorway (Fig. 154A), situated towards the W end of the N wall, comprises a segmental-arched opening wrought on the arris with a plain 55mm chamfer. Three blocked windows are now visible, situated respectively in the N, Wand S walls, and there may originally have been a fourth window, in the E wall, which was almost completely rebuilt in 1864. The three existing windows are all of narrow single-light form, but they vary considerably in detail. The N window (Fig.154B) is a chamfer-arrised lancet bearing traces of a glazing-groove, while its neighbour in the W gable seems to be similar, apart from the fact that it incorporates a square hood-mould. The S window (Fig. 154c) is round headed and the head and jambs are rebated; there is also a glazing-groove. This window has the appearance of 12th-century work and may be in secondary use (en.1).

The interior of the building (PI. 20B) now retains no early features, and the whole of the E end, which serves as a mausoleum, is sealed off behind a Gothic-arched screen-wall erected in 1864 to commemorate Donald MacLaine, 22nd of Lochbuie. The roof evidently belongs to the same period.

Nothing is known of the early history of this chapel, which had presumably fallen into disuse by 1701, when the first recorded burial within it took place.

FUNERARY MONUMENTS AND OTHER CARVED STONES

Medieval

(1) Preserved within the chapel there is a block of Carsaig sandstone wrought in the form of an octagonal basin set upon a square base (Fig. 155). The block has a height of 0.28m and is 0.45m square at base. The interior of the basin is circular, having a diameter of 0.35m and a depth of 0.20m; there is a central drain hole. This stone appears to be a font of late medieval date; it may originally have stood upon a pedestal.

Post-Reformation

All the stones described in this section are preserved within the chapel except (7), which is in the burial ground.

(2) A recumbent slab of sandstone, incomplete and broken into two fragments. It bears a crudely incised inscription, now almost illegible, in which only the words HEIR [L]YS ANE [H]ONNORAB[LE] MAN ... [L]OCHBOVIE ...can be distinguished. The upper part of the slab incorporates a shield carved in relief and bearing: quarterly, 1st and 4th, a galley, sail furled; 2nd and 3rd, gyronny of eight. The stone is probably of 17th century date and if, as the inscription seems to indicate, it commemorates a member of the Lochbuie family, the most likely candidate would appear to be either Murdoch, loth of Lochbuie, who died c. 1662, or his nephew of the same name, both of whom made a Campbell marriage. But although this would perhaps explain the presence of the Campbell gyrons in the shield, the coat of arms is markedly different from that adopted by the MacLeans of Lochbuie during the 18th century (infra).

(3) A table-tomb (Pl. 20C) bearing the inscription:

HERE LYETH THE BODY OF BARR[ON] /

LAUCHLEN MCLEAN OF LOCH/BUIE /

WHO DIED ANNO 1701 AGED [?8]7 /

AND WAS FIRST OFE THE LARDS (lairds) /

OF LOCHBUY THAT WAS /BURIED IN THIS CHEPL (chapel) & /

ERECTED BY HIS ELDEST SON /

BARRON HECTOR MCLEAN OF / LOCHBUY

ANNO / DOMINI 1717

Beneath the inscription there is a sunk panel containing a relief carving of the armorial achievement of the deceased, the shield being charged: quarterly, 1st, a lion rampant; 2nd, a dexter hand holding a cross; 3rd, a galley, sail furled, pennon flying; 4th, a triple-towered castle. For crest there is a grimacing human head, affronte, while the motto, now greatly worn, appears to be VINCERE VEL MORI (‘Conquer or die’).

(4) A table-tomb bearing the inscription:

THIS LAIR IS ERECTED BY /

[BA]RRON MURDOCH MCLEAN / [OF] LOCHBUIE

AT THE DESI[RE] / [OF] MR (Mistress)

ANNA CAMPBEL / DAUGHTER TO SIR HUGH / CAMPBEL

OF CALDER HIS / LADY TO BE FOR THER USE /

AND THER AIRS (heirs) IN ALL TIME /

COMING ERECTED IN ANNO / DOMINI 1717

The upper part of the stone incorporates an armorial achievement similar to that on (3). Murdoch, 13th of Lochbuie, married in 1705 and died before 1729 (en.2).

(5) A table-tomb bearing the inscription:

HERE LYES THE BODIE OF / MARGARET CAMPBEL

LADY / LOCHBUY WHO DEPARTED / THIS LIFE

APRILE THE 9 1717 / AGED 61

ERECTED AT THE / DESIRE & EXPENCE OF

BARRON / HECTOR MCLAIN OF LOCHBUY /

HER HUSBAND ANNO 1717

The upper part of the stone bears a relief carving of a canopied tabernacle flanked by palm trees (Pl. 20D). Above the canopy there is carved a female head possibly intended as a portrait of the deceased. The marriage of Hector, 12th of Lochbuie, to Margaret, daughter of Colin Campbell, 5th of Lochnell, took place in 1669 (en.3).

(6) A mural monument of white marble commemorating Murdoch MacLaine, 20th of Lochbuie, who died in 1844. The inscription panel is flanked by scrolled consoles supporting a pediment which incorporates the armorial achievement of the deceased, carved in high relief.

(7) A headstone erected in 1777 by Donald McDonald in Taynafeigh and his wife Katharin McLean to commemorate their sons Alen and Archibald. The back of the stone incorporates a panel carved in relief with the emblems of mortality and an assortment of armorial charges arranged without regard to the rules of heraldry.

RCAHMS 1980, visited August 1973

En.1 Cf. the re-use of early windows in late medieval work at Iona Abbey and Iona Nunnery.

En.2 Burke's Landed Gentry (18th ed., 1965-72), iii, 583.

En.3 Ibid.

RCAHMS undertook measured survey at Caibeal Mheamhair in 1973, drawing a phased plan of the chapel, details of the N doorway, N and S windows, and a perspective of the font (AGD 114/1). Separate inked versions (AGD 114/2-4) of the survey drawings were published at a reduced size (1980 figs. 153-5) to illustrate the Inventory article.