Achahoish, South Knapdale Parish Church

This church, which is situated on the N bank of the Achahoish Burn, 0.65km SE of Lochead burial-ground (No.85), serves the parish of South Knapdale, which was separated from North Knapdale in 1734 (see No. 71). Although Achahoish was chosen at that date as the most central site for the church and manse, the present building and its chapel-of-ease at Inverneill (No. 43) were erected only in 1775. Part of the parish was disjoined to form the quoad sacra parish of Ardrishaig in 1860, but the two charges have been linked since 1964 (en.1*).

The original building was a plain rectangle, 12.5m from NE to SW by 7.4m within 0.8m walls of harled rubble; its roof is gabled and slated. The principal doorway, now blocked, was at the centre of the SE wall, and above and flanking it there are three tall sash-windows with glazing bars of early 19thcenturytype. A small battlemented tower at the centre of the NE end-wall was probably added in the middle of the 19thcentury, when the gallery was built (infra), although its lower stage may incorporate an earlier porch. In its NE wall there is a two-light rectangular window with chamfered drip-mould lighting the stair. The belfry, which contains a small uninscribed bell, is served by NE and SE openings with schist louvre-slabs. A small porch and session-room added to the SW wall are of more recent construction.

Forty years after the erection of the church it was stated that it 'had never been seated', and this defect was remedied 'a few years' before 1840 (en.2). This arrangement probably included a central communion-table, but the existing pews face a pulpit at the SW end and are of early 20th-century date. Two high-level windows in the NW wall suggest an original intention to build galleries, and the construction of a W gallery was recommended in 1840 (en.3), but the existing gallery is at the NE end. It incorporates a simple panelled front supported on two cast-iron pillars.

FONT. A stone basin, said to have been brought from St Columba's Cave (No. 94) has been re-erected on a modern pedestal inside the church. A circular bowl 0.28m in diameter 0.l6m in depth has been formed in a roughly shaped block of epidiorite, about 0.41m square by 0.28m in height. There is no drain-hole, and it is probable that the basin was originally designed for domestic use.

RCAHMS 1992, visited May 1985