Fort William, Corpach, Kilmallie Old Parish Church

Former Parish Church, 16th century. Ivy-clad remains in stone-walled graveyard, later adapted as a Cameron burial enclosure. Glazing grooves are still evident in the north window and the west window has an incised medieval grave slab reused as a lintel. An earlier church on or near this site was the burial place of early Cameron chiefs.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

NN07NE 3.00 09050 76938

(NN 0905 7693) Chapel (NR) (Remains of)

OS 6"map, (1938)

NN07NE 3.01 NN 09042 76921 Burial Ground

The remains of the former parish church of Kilmallie, re-used as a family burial-place of the Camerons of Locheil, standing the the old burial ground, which was superseded by a new cemetery in 1953. Apparently a N aisle of the church, it is a small unroofed enclosure, with walls 10' high and 2' to 2'8" thick, measuring 23'3" N-S by 16'3" E-W internally. There is a deeply-splayed window opening in the N wall, a sealed window in the W wall, and a round-arched doorway in the S.

The date of this particular building is not known but the origins of Kilmallie church go back to the Early Christian period, with a dedication to Maillidh, and the presence of an Annat (NN07NE 3) nearby. There is a tradition that one of the early churches stood further up the hill than its successors. The first recorded date for the church is 1296 and there are traditional tales of rebuilding in the 15th or 16th centuries. The church was disused from the Reformation until 1661 in which year there is a record of a proposed rebuilding.

MacCulloch (1938) says that a Cameron who died in 1719 is buried within the present ruin, which would suggest that the church of which it formed part was out of use by that time; but none of the dates on the monuments is earlier than 1799.

This later date would fit better with known facts eg. that the modern church was built in 1783, the stones from the old church being used in the construction of the modern churchyard wall. Acceptance of the former date would mean that the parish was served by yet another church between the beginning of the 18th century and 1783.

H Scott et al 1915-61; W J Watson 1926; D B MacCulloch 1938; D B MacCulloch 1971.

There is no trace of any of the old churches.

Visited by OS (N K B), 15 May 1970.

Chapel (remains of)

Graveyard [NAT]

OS (GIS) MasterMap, May 2010.