Arran, Kilpatrick, St Patrick's Chapel

NR92NW 6 9032 2685 and 9035 2686

(NR 9032 2685) Site of Chapel (NR)

OS 6" map, (1924)

The foundations of Kilpatrick Chapel were dug up about 50 years ago by the present tenant of Kilpatrick, Mr J McKelvie, when forming his garden. He found the font among the rubbish. It is still to be seen, built in the garden wall (ONB 1864).

All that now remains is a small fragment of masonry near the modern entrance to the enclosure. Human bones have frequently been dug up in the enclosure, and the farmer pointed out a corner that was never dug, because of the great number of bones in it. The font is an ordinary sea- worn stone, with an oblong depression chiselled out of it (Balfour 1910).

Sources: Name Book 1864; J A Balfour 1910.

There are no visible remains of the chapel in the vicinity of the published siting, and the present tenant Mr McKelvie could add no further information on its existence.

The stone described as a font is located in the garden at NR 9032 2683, but it is portable and has been moved several times. It is very worn, measuring 0.5m by 0.4m by 0.1m, and is totally unsuitable as a font; it is more probably a grinding mortar. On its reverse is a smooth shallow depression indicating re-use, possibly as a pivot stone.

Mr McKelvie, however, indicated a portable carved stone column, resting in the garden at NR 9035 2686, that has the appearance of a font or piscina. He states it was dug up in the front lawn in the late 1950s and that nothing was found in association with it. It is of a roughly hewn hexagonal shape, with a chamfered top. It measures 0.5m high, 0.4m wide and has a carved basin 0.3m deep.

Visited by OS (B S), 19 October 1977.