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Machrikil
Chapel (Early Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name Machrikil
Classification Chapel (Early Medieval)(Possible)
Canmore ID 40861
Site Number NS20SE 11
NGR NS 2924 0118
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40861
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Dailly
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NS20SE 11 2924 0118.
(NS 2924 0118) Machrikil (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map (1967)
No trace remains of the chapel known as Machar-a-chill. The name has been associated with St Machar, but the order of the words makes this unlikely; it was probably a place-name, "the field of the chapel" (C L Curle 1964). It was removed by Mr Coupar of Whitehill, in 1850. It measured 13ft N-S by 8ft, with rubble walls 1ft 6 ins thick, standing 5ft maximum height. No trace of any graves was found during the removal, and cutting of drains at the site. A massive, stepped cross base, cut from a single block of freestone, 4ft 2ins high, stood 80ft from the SW angle of the buildings; it was moved 60ft N to its present site. A cross-carved boulder, found within the building, was placed besided the cross-base noted above. Its date is unknown, but the type of simple Latin cross carved on it might well be early; possibly it was carved on the stone long before its probable use as the base of a free-standing cross.
The site was subsequently fenced in and planted.
W Galloway 1882; G Turnbull 1908
Field Visit (5 May 1954)
No foundations of this chapel are visible around the small wooded enclosure. The two stones mentioned above are:
(i) A large cross-base 1.1m high and 1.0m square, with a rectangular socket on top, 0.7m by 0.3m and 0.3m deep.
(ii) A roughly pentagonal stone 0.4m high, with a rectangular socket 0.4m by 0.2m and 0.1m deep, and a faint Latin cross, in relief on its
W side.
Visited by OS (JLD) 5 May 1954
Field Visit (18 May 1977)
The accepted local name for the chapel site is 'Machrikil' though the Celtic form of the name is not known (information from Rev R Smith, The Manse, Dailly).
No change from previous report. No further finds from the vicinity are reported locally.
Visited by OS (JRL) 18 May 1977
Field Visit (April 1982)
Machrikil NS 292 011 NS20SE 11
In 1850 the remains of a structure, said to have been a chapel dedicated to St Machar, were removed; it measured 4m by 2.7m within walls 'of rubble work' surviving to a height of up to about 1.5m. Its site lies 300m SE of Whitehill, within a fenced enclosure.
RCAHMS 1983, visited April 1982
(Galloway 1882, 99-106, 109; Chalmers 1887-1902, vi, 537; Turnbull 1908, 16-23; Curle 1962, 225-6).
