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Kiel Church, Cross
Cross (Medieval)
Site Name Kiel Church, Cross
Classification Cross (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Keil, Cill Choluimchille, Cross; Lochaline, Kiel Church
Canmore ID 22433
Site Number NM64NE 4
NGR NM 6709 4512
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22433
- Council Highland
- Parish Morvern
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Argyll
Keil Church, Peter MacGregor Chalmers, 1898 Simple white-harled kirk with red sandstone frogging and some decent turn-of-thecentury stained glass (memorial window by Stephen Adam, 1899). It was built on the site of the former parish church of 1799, which in turn replaced the pre-Reformation Cill Choluimchille, of 13 th century origin. Session House, 1774, formerly a school (until 1833 ); restored as a museum, 1997. From the large surrounding graveyard comes a highly important collection of medieval gravestones (now on display in the Session House). These are mostly tapered slabs, probably of the 14 th/15th century Iona School, carved with figures, animals, galleys, swords, and floriated and scrolled ornamentation. South of the church, a tapering, disc-headed medieval cross of greenish schist marks the boundary of the religious sanctuary, its intact shaft ornamented with intertwined plantscrolls, a pair of dragons' heads at its base. Among various good 18th-century headstones and table tombs, significant remnants of the medieval church stand in the kirkyard. Two ruinous Maclean burial aisles occupy the probable site of its transepts. One incorporates into its thick walls moulded and carved fragments of late medieval masonry of Iona school, notably an archway (which probably opened from the main body of the church) and part of a traceried window.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NM64NE 4 6709 4512
For present (NM 6709 4519) and old (NM 6704 4512) churches, see NM64NE 1 and NM64NE 2 respectively.
(NM 6709 4512) Cross (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)
This free-standing disc-headed cross now stands 50m S of Keil Church (NM64NE 1). It measures 2.45m high, 0.28m wide by 0.14m thick at the base of the shaft, and 0.22m wide by 0.11m thick at the neck. It is not in its original position, and may originally have stood in the adjacent churchyard. Unusually, the arms splay outwards in profile and their ends are keeled. On the S face a small boss in the centre of the disc is surrounded by plaitwork with linking leaf-sprays in the arms, while the shaft is ornamented with two intertwined plant-scrolls which terminate at the base in a pair of opposed dragons' heads. The decoration on the N face is similar except that two types of plant-scroll are employed and there is only one dragon's head. The style of sculpture is of the Iona school, dateable to the 14th-15th century.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
K A Steer and J W M Bannerman 1977; RCAHMS 1980.
Visited by OS (NKB) 11 June 1970.
The monument consists of a free-standing late-medieval disc-headed cross, set into a socket stone, standing 50m S of the 19th-century Keil Church. The cross stands approximately 50m due E of the remains of the medieval church, and approximately 20m E of the present boundary wall of the burial ground. The cross appears to be of the Iona school, and can be dated to the 14th-15th centuries.
It has been suggested that the burial ground may originally have extended as far as the site of the cross, but there are no visible traces of this.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated February 1996.
Field Visit (6 July 1943)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Emergency Survey (1942-3), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, vary from short notes to lengthy and full descriptions and are available to view online with contemporary sketches and photographs. The original typescripts, manuscripts, notebooks and photographs can also be consulted in the RCAHMS Search Room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 10 December 2014.
Project (23 January 2017 - 25 January 2017)
NM 67694 45473 A desk-based assessment, watching brief and walkover survey was carried out during the construction of new waste water treatment works at Lochaline. Three small pits with charcoal and possible iron slag were identified and excavated. A walkover survey was conducted of the surrounding area, including the route of a proposed new pipeline. Twelve sites associated with the post-medieval Knock Township were recorded, including the remains of several turf and stone structures and dykes. Many of these correlate with structures shown on the 1st Edition OS map.
Information from L Stirling – West Coast Archaeological Services
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
OASIS ID: westcoas1-279261
Desk Based Assessment (23 January 2017 - 25 January 2017)
NM 6709 4512 The monument consists of a free-standing late-medieval disc-headed cross, set into a socket stone, standing 50m S of the 19th-century Keil Church. The cross stands approximately 50m due E of the remains of the medieval church, and approximately 20m E of the present boundary wall of the burial ground. It faces N and S, although originally it is likely to have faced E and W, suggesting it and its socket stone have been re-erected at some time in its history. Its location out-with the burial ground is not necessarily significant, as similar crosses survive from contexts both within and out-with burial grounds.
The cross measures 2.45m high, 0.28m wide by 0.14m thick at the base of the shaft, and 0.22 m wide by 0.11m thick at the neck. The arms splay outwards in profile and their ends are keeled. The disc head on both sides is filled with plait-work surrounding a small boss, with sprays of foliage in each arm. The S face of the shaft is carved with a double scroll of foliage, terminating at the base in a pair of opposed dragons' heads. The N face bears a single scroll of foliage (springing at the base from a single dragon's head) which divides into a double scroll about two-thirds of the way up. The cross appears to be of the Iona school, and can be dated to the 14th-15th centuries. It bears a strong resemblance to 3 crosses on Islay (those at Kildalton, Keills and Finlaggan) and may even be from the same workshop. The socket stone is rectangular and itself rests on the ground. It has been suggested that the burial ground may originally have extended as far as the site of the cross, but there are no visible traces of this.
Information from L Stirling – West Coast Archaeological Services
OASIS ID: westcoas1-279261
