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Ardchattan Priory
House (19th Century), Priory (Medieval)
Site Name Ardchattan Priory
Classification House (19th Century), Priory (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Ardchattan Priory Church; Ardchattan House
Canmore ID 23259
Site Number NM93SE 1
NGR NM 97099 34911
NGR Description Centred on NM 97099 34911
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23259
First 100 images shown. See the Collections panel (below) for a link to all digital images.
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Ardchattan And Muckairn (Argyll And Bute)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM93SE 1 97099 34911
(NM 97133492) Remains of (NAT)
Priory (NR) (Valliscaulian - founded 1230) (NAT)
OS 1:10000 map (1975)
The Valliscaulian priory of Ardchattan, dedicated to St May and St John the Baptist (D E Easson 1957), was founded in 1230 or 1231, and a church with associated conventional buildings was erected soon after. The church comprised a small choir and crossing, north and south transepts with double transeptal chapels, and a nave having a narrow north aisle. The conventual buildings were disposed round a cloister on the south side of the church, but the west range was represented only by a cloister walk and an outer retaining wall. Of the buildings of this period, there remains today the south transept with its two chapels and some fragments of the nave and crossing.
A major scheme of reconstruction was begun and partially completed during the 15th and early 16th centuries when a new and much larger choir with an adjacent north sacristy was erected, and parts of the crossing, north transept and nave were rebuilt. The south range of the conventual buildings was also re-modelled, a new refectory being con- structed on the site of the original one. All these buildings survive today either in whole or in part.
The priory was secularised towards the end of the 16th century and passed into the hands of the Campbells who converted the south range of the conventual buildings into a private dwelling house, and the choir and transepts of the church were used for parochial worship. The monastic church fell into disuse, except for the purpose of burial, following the erection of a new parish church in 1731-2.
The house was enlarged and re-modelled in about the middle of the 19th century and numerous minor alternations have been carried out since, but the monastic refectory still survives as the nucleus of the present mansion, whose offices and outbuildings now extend over the site of the former nave and cloister. The remaining portions of the choir and transepts of the monastic church passed into the guardianship of DoE in 1954.
Of the many funerary monuments and carved stones to be seen at Ardchattan a stone leaning against the north wall of the Campbell of Lochnell aisle is of especial interest. This is a cross-decorated stone with fine, intricate carvings of early-Christian origin. It was presumably brought to Ardchattan from some nearby early-Christian burial-ground.
RCAHMS 1975, visited 1971
Measured Survey (1960 - 1971)
Measured survey at Ardchattan Priory included the preparation of a series of pencil drawings between 1960 and 1971. Each was redrawn in ink and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1975).
(fig. 88) a phased ground plan of the priory
(fig. 89) eight detailed drawings of mason's marks (1:5)
(fig. 90) profile mouldings: A, recesses in south choir wall; B, internal choir string-course; C, sacristy doorway; D, plinth of east choir wall; E, pulpitum
(fig. 91) recesses in south choir wall
(fig. 92) detail and profile mouldings: A, respond of south transept chapel; B, south-east angle of south transept
(fig. 93) N transept window
(fig. 94) profile mouldings and details: A, vaulting-rib of refectory pulpit; B, refectory windows; C, refectory doorway; D, hood-mould of niche in refectory pulpit; E, vaulting-rib stops in refectory pulpit
(fig. 95) refectory pulpit
(fig. 96) pier of refectory pulpit: A, elevation looking west (base reconstructed); C, section X-X1; D, plan
(fig. 97) plan and elevation of niche in refectory pulpit
(fig. 98) section and details of refectory roof
(fig. 100) carved fragments
(fig. 101) fragments of window-heads
Field Visit (August 1971)
(NM 971 349) Ardchattan Priory. The priory (RCAHMS 1975 Fig. 88, Pls. 13, 14) occupies a sheltered situation on the N shore of Loch Etive about 6 km E of North Connel. The site forms part of a narrow strip of cultivable ground lying at the foot of the Benderloch Hills, overlooking the outer reaches of the loch, which until recent years comprised one of the main channels of communication between the interior of Lorn and the western seaboard.
The architectural development of the structure is not altogether clear, but the principal stages in the evolution of the fabric appear to have been as follows. A church with associated conventual buildings was erected soon after the foundation of the Valliscaulian priory in 1230 or 1231. This church comprised a small choir and crossing, N and S transepts with double transeptal chapels, and a nave having a narrow N aisle. The conventual buildings were disposed round a cloister on the S side of the church in the usual way, the W range, however, being represented only by a cloister-walk and an outer retaining-wall. Of the buildings of this period there remain today the S transept with its two chapels, and some fragments of the nave and crossing. Certain portions of the monastic buildings incorporated within the present mansion may also belong to this period, notably the W wall of the cloister.
A major scheme of reconstruction was begun and partially completed during the 15th and early 16th centuries, when a new and much larger choir with an adjacent N sacristy was erected and parts of the crossing, N transept and nave were rebuilt. The S range of the conventual buildings was also remodelled, a new refectory being constructed upon the site of the origin alone. All these buildings survive today either in whole or in part. Following the cessation of religious life towards the end of the 16th century the priory was secularized, passing into the hands of Alexander Campbell, who had formerly been its commendatory prior. The Campbell family converted the S range of the conventual buildings into a private dwelling-house, while the choir and transepts of the church were used for parochial worship during the 17th and early 18th centuries, a number of private burial-aisles being added to the church during this period. Following the erection of a new parish church in 1731-2 the monastic church fell into disuse, except for the purposes of burial, and the fabric was subsequently quarried for building-materials. The house was enlarged and remodelled in about the middle of the19th century, and numerous minor alterations have been carried out since, but the monastic refectory still survives as the nucleus of the present mansion, whose offices and outbuildings now extend over the site of the former nave and cloister. The remaining portions of the choir and transepts of the monastic church passed into the guardianship of the Department of the Environment in 1954.
The priory of Ardchattan was founded by Duncan MacDougall, lord of Lorn, in 1230 or 1231, being one of three houses of the Valliscaulian Order established in Scotland at that time. The endowments included lands and rights in Benderloch, Appin and Nether Lorn, as well as the teinds, or portions of the teinds, of the churches of Baile Mhaodain, Kilninver and Kilbrandon, in Lorn; Soroby; in Tiree; and Kilmarow, in Kintyre. The dedication was to St Mary and St John the Baptist (n.1). Little is known of the history of the monastery before the 16th century, although the names of some of the priors are recorded in documentary sources, and on stone memorials at Ardchattan. In a letter addressed to the pope by James V in 1538 on behalf of Prior Duncan MacArthur of Ardchattan, it is stated that Duncan had been promoted to this office by James IV thirty years previously, and that he had revived religious life thereby choosing the six religious that the priory could support, and restoring the church and other buildings, which had been falling into ruin (n.2). It seems likely that the existing W wall of the choir (supra, p. 103) represents one of the fruits of this building-activity. About the middle of the 16th century John Campbell, a younger son of Sir John Campbell of Cawdor and afterwards bishop of the Isles, was appointed commendator and prior of Ardchattan, and in 1602 Alexander Campbell, who had succeeded his father as commendatory prior in 1580, received a grant of the monastery as a secular tenantry (n.3). The property has since remained in the possession of Alexander Campbell's descendants, who continue to occupy the former conventual buildings as a private residence.
John Campbell, 2nd of Ardchattan, supported the Royalist cause during the Civil War. In 1644 he is said to have helped Colkitto's army to cross Connel ferry on condition that his lands were not burnt (n.4). In 1653-4 Campbell garrisoned Ardchattan on behalf of Charles II during Glencairn's rising, whereupon Captain Mutloe, the Cromwellian governor of Dunstaffnage, ‘fell uppon the house, and after some dispute having kill'd 3 of the Enemy, entred the house, and tooke a Lieutenant with some other prisoners, and store of armes and amunition’ (n.5). The laird subsequently claimed that the house had been ‘brunt, plundered & destroyed’ (n.6), but this report was probably exaggerated. Although the conventual buildings were appropriated for domestic use, part of the monastic church was utilized for parochial worship, for it was reported to the presbytery in 1678 that ‘the brethren having visited the fabrick of the old parish church of Ballevoadan (RCAHMS 1975 No.220), as also the fabrick of the kirk and Quire of Ardchattan, being the ordinar place of publick worship past memory of any at present liveing, do find both ruined, and nothing but old walles’ (n.7). No doubt th etimber galleries, of which some traces remain within the crossing (supra, p. 103), were introduced during this period of post-Reformation occupation, which evidently continued until the erection of a new church on a fresh site in 1731-2 (cf. RCAHMS 1975 No. 215). It is probable that some of the stone used in the construction of this church was obtained by dismantling the choir (n.8). The monastery also provided a convenient quarry for use in building-operations at the adjacent mansion, and in 1798 it was reported that ‘the place has been destroyed by the possessor for the sake of the stones, much to the regret of the inhabitants’ (n.9). A number of minor accounts relating to miscellaneous building-activity at Ardchattan during the late 17th and 18th centuries survive among the family papers, and it is known that the house was repaired by John Drummond, the Oban builder, in 1815 (n.10). The mansion was extended to its present size and remodelled under the direction of Charles Wilson, the Glasgow architect, between about 1847 and 1855 (n.11).
For a detailed architectural description, and a description of the funerary monuments and other carved stones, see RCAHMS 1975, 99-115, No. 217, figs.88-101.
RCAHMS 1975, visited August 1971
Field Visit (26 October 1971)
As described.
Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.
Visited by OS (DWR) 26 October 1971
Excavation (1995)
NM 971 349. Small scale excavation was carried out by Scotia Archaeology Limited in advance of the construction of a stone shelter to house several late medieval grave slabs and an early Christian cross slab. There was no evidence of any prior buildings or burials of any age within the area investigated, only a series of paths running alongside a garden wall which probably dates to the 19th century.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland.
R Murdoch 1995.
Watching Brief (23 February 1998)
NM 9713 3494. A watching brief was conducted during the excavation of a hole designed to provide a base for the Ardchattan Cross at the Valliscaulian priory, first constructed in the early 13th century. The location chosen was the upstanding arch, connecting the nave and the choir, in order to shelter the slab from the elements.
Much disarticulated skeletal material, most of it evidently human, was recovered from a general graveyard soil. At 450mm below the modern ground surface an articulated burial was found at the N end of the trench. Fragments of wood, with a corroded iron attachment, presumably part of a coffin, ran parallel to the N of the skeleton. Parts of the pelvis, with fingers resting on it, and the top of the right femur were noted, but the left (S) side appeared to have been truncated.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
D Murray 1998
Kirkdale Archaeology
Excavation (28 October 1998)
Kirkdale Archaeology were asked to supervise the excavation of a foundation trench for the Ardchattan Cross and also a strip foundation for it’s shelter. The location chosen was just to the North of the Priory where it was hoped that no inhumations would be present. No archaeology lay within the excavated trenches and no disturbance was caused.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
D Connolly 1998
Kirkdale Archaeology
Note
NMRS REFERENCE:
Robert Brydall drawings - large - 5 sheets of drawings of sculptured slabs.
Only 3 drawings by R Brydall were found at time of upgrade (1.7.1999) - AGD 94/2, 4 and 5
The NMRS also holds rubbings of the carved stones at Ardchattan Priory, that have yet to be catalogued. See Ian Fisher.
