Clachan, Kilmorich, Old Parish Kirk
Burial Ground (Medieval), Chapel (Medieval), Grave Slab(S) (Medieval), Gravestone(S) (18th Century)
Site Name Clachan, Kilmorich, Old Parish Kirk
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval), Chapel (Medieval), Grave Slab(S) (Medieval), Gravestone(S) (18th Century)
Canmore ID 23629
Site Number NN11SE 3
NGR NN 18900 12855
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23629
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Lochgoilhead And Kilmorich
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NN11SE 3 18900 12855
(NN 1889 1284) Chapel (NR) (Site of). Burial Ground (NR)
OS 6" map, Argyll, 2nd ed., (1900)
Kilmorich, Loch Fyne: This chapel was situated at Clachan at the head of Loch Fyne. Only the burial ground can now be seen, 300 yds W of the main road. The chapel is said to have been associated with the MacNaughtons, and was founded in the early 13th century. Watson (1926) equates Kilmorich with Cill Mhuirich, stating that St Muireadhach (died 1011) was the saint of this district. Scott gives the dedication to St Muireach (an eastern saint), the chapel being given to Inchaffray Abbey c. 1246.
H Scott et al 1915-61; W J Watson 1926; M Paterson 1970.
Field Visit (7 March 1973)
A level area of ground near the centre of the burial ground indicates the site of the chapel. Unable to verify the dedication.
Visited by OS (D W R) 7 March 1973.
Field Visit (June 1988)
The medieval church of Kilmorich parish was situated in this burial-ground on the NW slope of Glen Fyne, 200m NE of Clachan farmhouse and about 250m from the head of Loch Fyne. A drystone wall encloses a D-shaped area about 42mby 50m. The most probable site for the church is a terrace at the centre of the burial-ground, where a turf mound about12m long may mark a side-wall, but there are no clear remains. A 19th-century burial-enclosure attached to the NW wall of the burial-ground incorporates several worn blocks of buff sandstone, including one with an 80mm chamfer and a rebate, which are probably from the medieval building.
The church is first recorded in two charters of about 1246-7, by which Gilchrist, son of Malcolm MacNaughton, granted the church of St Mordac of 'Kellemurthe' (or'Kelmurkhe') to the Augustinian abbey of Inchaffray; one charter stipulates that the grant was to become effective after the death of Maurice the clerk (en.1). The dedication was probably to a saint bearing the Irish name Muireadhach (en.2). The patronage and teinds were held by Inchaffray abbey until the Reformation and thereafter by its lay commendators, who in the 17th century leased the teinds to the MacNaughtons of Dunderave (en.3).
The parish comprises the upper part of Loch Fyne, with Glen Fyne and Glen Kinglas, and originally it also included the fertile area of Glen Shira, which was added to Glenaray parish in 1650. At the same time an attempt was made to rescind the union of Kilmorich with Lochgoilhead, which may have taken place in 1618, but the separation of the parishes was not effective after the Restoration (en.4). Although the Revd Hugh Brown (1692-1718) protested that the Synodof Argyll was withholding 400 merks for building the kirk of Kilmorich until the parishes were disjoined, this was never achieved (en.5*). It is not clear whether the proposed building was to be at Clachan, but Roy's Map shows that by 1750 the church had been moved to a site a short distance N of the present church at Cairndow (No. 73).
RCAHMS 1992, visited June 1988
External Reference (12 March 2003)
INVENTORY OF GRAVEYARD AND CEMETERY SITES IN SCOTLAND REFERENCE:
Address: Old Parish Kirk Burial Ground, Clachan, Cairndow
Postcode: PA26 8BL
Status: In current use for burials
Size: 0.16 hectares, 0.39 acres
TOIDs:
Number of gravestones: 34
Earliest gravestone: 1749
Most recent gravestone: 2002
Description: Burial ground associated with a (no longer extant) church
Data Sources: OS MasterMap checked 21 September 2005; Graveyard Recording Form dated 12 March 2003
