Monument record MHG463 - Keil Medieval Church

Summary

No summary available.

Location

Grid reference Centred NM 6704 4512 (9m by 11m) (Buffered by site type)
Map sheet NM64NE
Old County ARGYLL
Civil Parish MORVERN
Geographical Area LOCHABER

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

Old Parish Church and Burial-ground, Cill Choluim Chille: The scanty remains of one of the two medieval parish churches of Morvern stand within an extensive churchyard, some 55m SW of the present Keil Church (at NM 6709 4517), the third on the site, which was built in 1898 (SDD Listed: C {SDD 1960-}). The principal surviving feature of medieval date is an archway which probably led from the body of the church into a N transept or burial-aisle. This now forms part of the massive S wall of an enclosure measuring about 5m square within walls averaging 1.1m in thickness, evidently a burial-aisle of late date. The enclosure wall also incorporates numerous re-used sandstone fragments, which are of late medieval date as is the archway. About 6m to the S of the burial-aisle described above, there is a similar structure, which may replace an earlier aisle built against the S wall of the medieval church. A lintel above the entrance states that this aisle was re-built in ? 1733. Although the earliest of the visible remains are of late medieval date, evidence for a 13th-century building on the site was recorded by Dr Ross (1914) who identified two stones, wrought with dog-tooth ornament, which he ascribed to that period. These fragments could not be located at the date of visit.
The dedication was to St Columba.
(See also NM64NE 1 and 4.)
Surveyed at 1:2500.
SDD 1960-; T Ross 1914; RCAHMS 1980, visited 1980.
Visited by OS (NKB) 15 June 1970.

NMRS Notes:
For present church (NM 6709 4519) and cross (NM 6709 4512), see NM64NE 1 and 4 respectively.

(NM 6704 4512) Cill Choluimchille (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1975)

Kilcolmkill (Argyll, Morvern). Known also as the church of St Columba in Kenevaden or Morvern, it always appears to have remained a free parsonage. It lay originally within the patronage of the Lords of the Isles, on whose forfeiture it passed to the crown, with whom it continued, although as was customary, one quarter of the fruits pertained to the bishops of Argyll.
I B Cowan 1967.

The remains of the medieval church and the graveyard, including the boundary walls were listed at Category B in 1971.

The remains of the church were scheduled (including an area 45m WNW-ESE by 35m surrounding it) in 1996. The scheduling excludes all lairs for which rights of burial still exist.

See SMR NM64NE0060 (MHG31340), Graveyard
J Aitken : 05/12/02

For the Medieval Graveslabs, now housed in the Session House, see NM64NE0002. For the present church see NM64NE0003
Details updated J.Wood 19/2/02.

The listed building record and statutory address were updated by Historic Scotland in 2015. The scheduled remains of the church and the area around it, as legally described, were specifically excluded from the revised listing. <1>

Sources/Archives (9)

  • --- Image/Photograph(s): Keil Church, Lochaline.. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
  • --- Text/Publication/Monograph: Gifford, J. 1992. Highland and Islands. The Buildings of Scotland. Paper (Original). 256.
  • --- Image/Photograph(s): Highland Council Archaeology Unit. HCAU Slide Collection Sheet 11. Colour slide. . Digital (scanned). 220.
  • --- Image/Photograph(s): Highland Council Archaeology Unit. HCAU Slide Collection Sheet 12. Colour slide. . Digital (scanned). 225.
  • --- Text/Report: RCAHMS. 1980. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll (excluding the early medieval and later monuments of Iona). . 129-33, No. 267; illust.
  • --- Text/Report: Ross, T. 1914. Report on Keil Church. .
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: SDD. 1960-. List of Buildings of Architectural or Historical Interest, (Lists held in Architectural Department of RCAHMS).
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Cowan, I B. 1967. The parishes of medieval Scotland. 98.
  • <1> Text/Designation Notification/List of Buildings: Jackson, L.. 2015. Combined Statutory and Descriptive List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Highland Council, One Hundred and Ninety Ninth Amendment) 2015. Historic Scotland. 04/09/2015. Digital.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

Related Monuments/Buildings (2)

Related Events/Activities (1)

Record last edited

Oct 21 2016 2:37PM

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