Locations by Appin Historical society
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Dear Kathleen, Your request for information about St. Columba has been forwarded to me by the Appin Historical Society. In Duror, Appin, Argyll there is a ruined late mediaeval chapel dedicated to St. Columba. The adjacent house is called Keil. Early maps (e.g. Pont's of circa 1595 showing "Kilcholmkill") show this to be dedicated to St. Columba. In and around the church are numerous gravestones from the late 18th to mid 19th century some of which have interesting carvings on them. On one of the walls in a memorial to James Stewart of Acharn better known as Seumas a Ghlinne or James of the Glen (not Glens as Robert Louis Stevenson would have it in his book Kidnapped) who was hanged for the part (which he didn't really play) in the Appin murder of 1752. His bones are supposed to be interred there. Unfortunately the church is in a sorry state. It was part of a local tourist trail but people have been banned from the site partly because of the safety of the plavcce and also because people left farm gates open and stock got onto the main road! An full list of who is mentioned on the gravestones has been published but I am not sure if anyone has carried out a full photographic record of them. When it fell into disuse I am not sure. The local Church of Scotland was built to a design of Thomas telford in 1828. In 1848 an Episcopal Church dedicated to St. Adamnan was built. As I am sure you know, S\t. Adamnan was Columba's biographer. This church contains what is probably the oldest pipe organ in Scotland having been built by Bernard Smith, organ maker to Charles II, in about 1680. It has been much altered over the years. It also contains an East Window in the formof a thistle with stained glass designed by Sir Ninian Comber whose work can be found in other places such as Westminster Abbey. The parish church on the island of Lismore is dedicated to St. Moluag who founded the religious establishment there about the same time as St. Columba. It used to be the Cathedral of the Isles. His crozier is till in extistance and is looked after by a family called Livingstone of Bachuil. A mid 19th century chapel for the Ardsheal estate at Kentallen is also dedicated to St. Moluag. You may be able to find more about the ruined church on the internet. There is, somewhere, a couple of aerial photos which don't show much. It has been documented in several archaeological and historical books but I cannot remember which they are! Sorry! I hope this information will be of use to you. I'll discuss this at the AHS annual meeting on Saturday and see what else other members may be able to come up with. Kind regards, Neill Malcolm.

Web Site: http://www.appinhistoricalsociety.co.uk/

Added by: Kathanna @ 16/12/2009 21:25:36