Kilmartin Church & Medieval Grave Slabs

I'm finishing up the tour of Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland with a visit to Kilmartin Church which sits in Kilmartin Village beside the museum.

Kilmartin (Cille Mhrtainn) is Gaelic for ‘the church of (St.) Martin.’ The area was an important center for early Christianity. Most travel in the early days in this area was by sea and lochs. Kilmartin was on the route between the Irish coast and the important religious island of Iona. Iona was the focus of St. Columba’s mission in the 6^th century.

Kilmartin Parish Church was built in 1835 and is the latest of a series of churches built on this site. The graveyard outside is interesting because some of the graves and gravestones are from medieval times. This churchyard contains some of the oldest carved grave slabs in Scotland. It is also one of the largest collections, containing around 79 stones.

Some are outside and some are on display inside a stone mausoleum building beside the church. The earliest has been dated to about 1300. Grave slabs such as these are found throughout the Western Highlands, some carved by sculptors from Ireland and others from the Loch Awe school of sculpture.

Some of the oldest medieval grave slabs.

Some of these medieval grave slabs were moved from St. Columba’s Chapel in Poltalloch. These were carved in the late 14^th century in the Loch Awe area for the Malcoms of Poltalloch. A plaque inside the mausoleum reads: “The grave slabs would have been laid flat on the ground over the grave. After the Reformation, however, many of the stones were moved, and it is unlikely that any of these were in their original positions when they were moved into this shelter in 1956. As well as the figures, many of them armoured, the motifs include swords, grotesque animals and shears. Much of the decoration represents foliage.” And it includes a map of Argyll and the islands close by showing where each of the grave slabs was taken from.

The carved slabs were laid on the ground to mark the burial site of several generations of the same family. Names are not recorded on most of the stones so it’s unknown who they were carved for. But experts believe they were for local ruling families.

One of the later slabs

 The stones were decorated with beautiful patterns. Some contain proud warrior figures and weapons such as spears and large swords. Some show mythological animals or hunting scenes, while others show interlaced Celtic knot patterns and symbols. Although we don’t know what these symbols mean, they no doubt had significant meaning to those who had them carved.

This is a lovely view out over Kilmartin Glen from the church. Although they are somewhat difficult to see, there are two cairns in these cattle pastures surrounded by protective fencing.

Thanks for taking this virtual tour with me through Kilmartin Glen. If you missed my earlier posts, you can find them at: Temple Wood & Kilmartin Village, Carnasserie Castle, Nether Largie South Cairn and Nether Largie Standing Stones.

Thanks!!
Vonda
www.vondasinclair.com

Temple Wood & Kilmartin Village

 Here are more sites on our tour of Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland. For the past two Tuesdays, I've shown other sites here, including Nether Largie South Cairn and Standing Stones and Carnasserie Castle.

Kilmartin Glen is chock-full of ancient historical sites and monuments, one of the richest areas in Scotland. It contains standing stone circles, rock carvings, henges, burial cairns and the ancient seat of the Dalriada Kings, the first kings of Scotland. And it is believed this was one of the busiest and most inhabited places during Neolithic times, 2000 – 3000 BC and earlier.

Temple Wood

Temple Wood consists of two beautiful small stone circles, among the oldest in Britain. This is the circle of thirteen standing stones, the southern circle. It may have contained twenty-two stones at one time. In the center, you will see a burial cist. This is the younger of the two circles, and is believed to have been constructed around 3000 BC based on the burials and pottery excavated.

Closeup of the cist in the center.

I didn't get a picture of the northern circle, but it is smaller and dates from about 3500 BC. It was in use for at least 2000 years. It was discovered that the builders had placed six wooden posts here so it could have been a timber circle. The radiocarbon date from charcoal on the site was 3075 BC +- 190.

Round river rocks fill both. It is said these circles have an Irish flavor. Experts believe one of the circles aligns with the mid-day sun on the winter solstice. The name Temple Wood was given to the site in the 1800s, when the trees were planted around it. This site is just south of Nether Largie South Cairn which I showed a photo of in my post two weeks ago.

View from Temple Wood over the Glen

The stone walls that surround Temple Wood.

Occupying the center of Kilmartin Glen, Kilmartin Village is only five miles north of the ancient fortress of Dunadd, the capital of the Scots Kingdom of Dalriada prior to the year 850. Dalriada covered most of what is modern day Argyll and even extended to the north-east corner of Ulster in Ireland.

Kilmartin Village is what most Scots would call a wee village. It is beautiful and peaceful, not many people about when we were there. It is situated 30 miles south of Oban.

Reconstructed Monk's Cell or beehive hut

Click on the photo above of a plaque on site to enlarge it and read about the Monk's Cell. This sits just in front of the museum and cafe. 

We visited the Kilmartin House Museum which is in the old Manse. We ate in the café (above), probably the only time I’ve ever eaten parsnip soup. And I loved it! The cafe is said to be a refurbished old barn. This building also contains a shop with a large selection of books about Scotland and the local area.

Glebe Cairn is on the valley floor below Kilmartin Church and Kilmartin House Museum. I took this photo as we exited out the back side of the building. The cairn is the northernmost of the five cairns of the linear cemetery. It is 30 meters in diameter and 3 meters high. It was excavated in 1864 and two concentric circles of boulders and two cists were discovered. One cist contained a food vessel and jet necklace. The other contained a food vessel only. Both vessels are on display in the Kilmartain House Museum. A cist is a prehistoric tomb made of stone slabs or hollowed out rock or a box or chest containing sacred utensils. Later cultures would see these cairns as fairy-mounds or sidhe-mounds, houses of those from other-world.

Close up of Glebe Cairn

One of the ancient stone crosses in the museum.

The beautiful old stone walls here are covered in moss. This is the entrance to the museum and cafe.

Kilmartin Hotel, built in the 19th century.

I hope you enjoyed these views. Next time I'll share information about about Kilmartin Church and its medieval grave slabs.
Thanks!
Vonda
www.vondasinclair.com

Carnasserie Castle, Kilmartin Glen

Today we continue our tour of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll, Scotland, with a visit to Carnasserie Castle. We walked across sheep pastures and up a hill to visit this castle, which is a couple of miles from Kilmartin Village. It is now owned and cared for by the National Trust for Scotland.

Carnasserie Castle was built in 1565 by Bishop John Carswell who was the Rector of Kilmartin and Bishop of the Isles. He's best known for having published the first Gaelic translation of John Knox’s Liturgy.

Despite some of the design features, such as these double keyhole gunloops, it's evident the castle was not designed for defense but mainly as a home.

 View from the castle grounds of grazing sheep, trees and mountains in the distance.

Walled courtyard

A walled courtyard garden. An inscription on the archway reads: "SDC LHL 1681, for Sir Duncan Campbell, 4th Baronet and Lady Henrietta Lindsay, whose support for Argyll's uprising led to the castle's destruction."

View of the castle from the walled courtyard.

When Carswell died in 1572, the castle went to his patron, the Earl of Argyll. But Carswell’s son and grandson occupied the castle until 1643 when the 8^th Earl of Argyll sold Carnasserie to Sir Dugald Campbell, 3^rd Baronet of Auchinbreck. He had some changes and improvements made to the castle and gardens.

The cellar with a display of some broken architectural elements which fell from the castle. You also see the back side of the  double keyhole gunloop.

Fireplace

When the 9^th Earl joined the failed Monmouth Rebellion against James VII in 1685, the castle was captured and destroyed by Royalist forces.

Click on the above picture to see a larger version. You can read about the design of the castle and Carswell.

The interior with newly constructed walkways which allow you to explore various parts of the castle

 We climbed the five-storey towers to the parapet walk and took in the great views over the Glen.

The exterior door.

A spiral stairwell typical of Scottish castles.

There used to be wooden floors separating these different levels.

I hope you've enjoyed this little visit to Carnasserie Castle. If you have visited it, please let me know. What is your favorite Scottish castle?
Thanks!!
Vonda
www.vondasinclair.com