CHURCHES

PARISH CHURCH OF KILNINIAN

Built in 1755 - ten years after the Jacobite Rising - this church is one of the oldest, and until very recently, still used for worship.   Possibly standing on the site of an earlier medieval church, it first appears in the records of 1561, where it is stated that the parsonage of 'Keilnoening' had formerly belonged to the Abbot of Iona, one-third of the revenues going to the Bishop of the Isles as was customary in the diocese.  Iona Abbey would have appointed a minister for the church at a stipend lower than the tithes.

It is uncertain whether the church was dedicated to St Ninian, the apostle of Galloway, or to a local saint of the Early Christian period'.   It is also believed to have been once known as the Chapel of the Nine Maidens and in Gaelic  'Cill Naoi Nighean', although another possible name was The Church of the Holy Maidens - 'Cill Naoimh Nighean.

The most well known minister of the Kilninian parish, which included Kilmore Church, was John Beaton, a member of the famous Mull family from Pennycross.   He was minister from 1679-1701.   See Kilmore Church

The church, measuring 15.2m by 6.4m, is built of harled masonry, has an 18th century bell-cot on the east gable and is of unpretentious construction.  The interior has been almost completely refurbished, so the original fabric is not apparent.   However the seating is believed to have been made of pine from a shipwreck and the west gallery is approached by an external stair which is probably 19th century and  a long communion-table is also of the same period.  The latter can be seen at the Museum of Country Life at Kitlochside East Kilbride and the communion cup is on display in Mull Museum, Tobermory.

There are eight interesting medieval slabs mostly of the Iona school 14th-15th century.   Unfortunately the names of the people they commemorate are unknown.  One is a full-length effigy 'of a warrior in armour 'with pointed basinet, an aventail and a knee-length aketon and carries a claymore'.  He has a tasselled cushion under his head and a hound at his feet.   On another slab can be seen a mirror and a pair of shears.   These grave slabs are now found in the vestry at the back of the church, moved there for protection.

There is also a late medieval dial or 'mass-clock' carved on the smoothest face of an irregular lava boulder some 0.65 m in length.   It is similar to one carved on a cross-base at Iona being divided into twenty-four segments by lines radiating from a small central socket.   Some of the lines are repeated, possibly as a result of re-cutting.   There are two outer circles with five small crosses carved outside the perimeter of the dial.  

A late 16th-17th century tapered slab shows a crude full-length effigy of a man, believed to be a smith.   He is wearing a conical helmet which does not cover his ears and a knee-length tunic and is holding the hilt of a claymore and between his feet is an anvil.  

There are also several 18th century monuments to the Macleans of Torloisk and a modern one to the 18th MacLean of Ardgour.

The chapel is now privately owned, but there is access to the vestry to see the above grave slabs.

For further information see:  Hilary M. Peel A History of Kilmore Church  (Brown & Whittaker 2004) ISBN 1 904353 07 X and www.brown-whittaker.co.uk
RCAHMS  Argyll Volume 3  (Her Majesty's Stationery Office Edinburgh 1980) ISBN 0 11 491591 1