Skye, Kyleakin, Church

Kyleakin (Caol Acain) (Norse:Haakon's Sound or Narrows) Former ferry village, the lifeblood of which has been ebbing away beneath a parade of heritage lamposts since the Skye Bridge effectively cut it off. Not that it ever amounted to much more than a pleasant settlement around a pier, with a couple of churches and a handful of houses and hotels. Certainly, Kyleakin is a far cry from Lord Macdonald's grand vision for a metropolis here, for which he proposed the name New Liverpool. James Gillespie Graham, commissioned in 1811 , designed a crescent-shaped town of elegant spires and terraces embracing a port 'for the convenience of vessels frequenting this great thoroughfare of navigation'. But building work reached a standstill, and by 1829 only four principal houses had been constructed, leaving their builders bankrupt; '' few persons of capital or respectability'' declared a Report on the Macdonald Estate in 1830, 'could think of building in so remote a place as Kyleakin either for business or pleasure ''. By 1845 the best Kyleakin could boast was a dozen good slated houses, a few shops and a well-kept inn. Later, plans for a Skye railhead here also proved abortive. The Free Church, J. Pond Macdonald, 1896-7, is cottagey gothic with red ridge tiles, now shorn of its timber bellcote. The Kings Arms Hotel has J. Gillespie Graham's inn of c.1812 -20 at its core - visible today from the rear, where part of a terrace is reminiscent of those at Stein and Dornie.

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