St Kilda, Hirta, Village Bay, Christ Church

(NF 10009939) Christ Church (NR) (Site of) Graveyard (NAT)

OS 6" map, annotated by J Mathieson (1928)

Christ Church, or chapel, was described by Martin, in 1698, as a thatched building with graveyard attached (100 paces in diameter) fenced in by a stone wall (M Martin 1934). According to Macaulay, in 1764, it was a drystone building (24ft x 14ft), the largest of the three island chapels (K Macaulay 1764). It was in ruins when seen by Wilson (J Wilson 1842) in 1842, who refers to it as the 'chapel of St Mary', which was apparently the same as the 'Christ's Chapel' of Macaulay & Martin. Nothing remained when Mathieson (J Mathieson 1928) surveyed the island in the early 1920's. Sands (J Sands 1878) states that the ruins stood in the churchyard. He also remarks that a stone (incised with a cross) (NF19NW 1.01), from the church, was built into a nearby cottage, and in 1956 (K Williamson and J M Boyd 1963) a stone-slab of this description was found by R Ritchie of the MoW (Ancient Monuments) built into the wall of cottage No.16 (NF 0989 9929) immediately next to the E window. The stone probably dates back to the 7th or 8th centuries.

Information from OS (BRS) 14 April 1966

K Macaulay 1764; J Wilson 1842; J Sands 1878; J Mathieson 1928; M Martin 1934; K Williamson and J M Boyd 1963.

No traces remain. The incised cross stone is still where described in the wall of cottage No. 16.

Position of church re-sited to NF 1004 9937 on the evidence of J Sands 1878.

Visited by OS (J L D) 7 August 1967.

J Sands 1878

Until the 18th century there were remains of chapels dedicated to St Brendan and St Columba to the W of the bay, and Christ Chapel (NF19NW 1), near the village, survived as a thatched drystone building measuring about 7.3m by 4.3m (i). This probably stood in the present burial-ground, an oval revetted enclosure situated 220m N of the innermost point of Village Bay and a few metres N of the village street (ii). Two cross-marked stones re-used in nearby buildings probably came from the chapel-site.

(1) Slab re-used in the surround of the E window of house 16, which was built in 1860-1 (NF 0990 9930). It stands 160m WSW of the burial-ground and Sands, who saw the stone in re-use in 1875, recorded that it came from there (iii). It measures 0.61m in length and tapers from 0.42m near the top to 0.24m above the foot. It bears an incised Latin cross, 0.29m by 0.19m, with an expanded foot to the shaft. An incised frame, 0.38m by 0.27m, gives the effect of an outline cross with hollow centre.

(K Williamson and J M Boyd 1963, 144 and fig.; M Harman 1979, 254-8; G P Stell and M Harman 1988, fig.19A(b); M Buchanan 1995, fig.12a on p.2; Harman 1997, fig.30 on p.68).

Footnotes:

(i) M Martin 1934, 443-5; K Macaulay 1764, 70-1; M Harman 1979, 254-8; G P Stell and M Harman 1988, 17; Harman 1997, 66-9.

(ii) The burial-ground, whose wall dates from the second quarter of the 19th century, measures 25m from E to W by 16m (plan in Harman 1997, fig.29 on p.67), and its perimeter of about 70m is comparable with the 'hundred paces' given for the circumference of the churchyard by Macaulay (loc.cit.).

(iii) J Sands 1878, 82.

M Harman 1979, 254-8; G P Stell and M Harman 1988, fig.19A(a); Buchanan 1995, fig.12a on p.2; Harman 1997, fig.30 on p.68; I Fisher 2001.