Alternative Names Kilchattan Chapel; Old Parish Church; Former Parish Church Of Gigha And Cara
Site type BURIAL GROUND, CHURCH, CHURCHYARD, WELL
Canmore ID 38518
Site Number NR64NW 1.00
NGR NR 64319 48096
Council ARGYLL AND BUTE
Parish GIGHA AND CARA
Former Region STRATHCLYDE
Former District ARGYLL AND BUTE
Former County ARGYLL

Canmore Mapping
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Archaeological Notes

NR64NW 1.00 64319 48096

(NR 6432 4810) Chapel (NR) (Ruins of)
OS 6" map, (1924)

NR64NW 1.01 NR 64326 48081 Boundary Wall and Gateways
NR64NW 1.02 NR 6431 4809 Cross

These are the remains of the former parish-church of Gigha and Cara, which was dedicated to St Cathan and probably dates from the 13th century. The structure appears still to have been in use about the year 1695, but some time during the early 18th century it was replaced by another building standing upon a different site. (NR 648 487) The church stands within a burial-ground and although roofless, the structure is fairly well-preserved the N and E walls standing to their original heights, and the W and S walls to an average height of about 1.5m. Some of the masonry has been restored or consolidated at a comparatively recent period. The church, which is unicameral, is of simple rectangular plan and measures 11.6m from W to E by 6.1m transversely over walls some 0.8m in thickness. The masonry is of random rubble laid in lime mortar with window dressings of dark red and coarse-grained yellow sandstone. An opening towards the W end of the S wall marks the position of the original entrance-doorway, of which nothing now remains. The font, an irregularly octagonal basin of schist, has been set up at NR 647 489. A broken, Early Christian cross illustrated by White in 1875 and described by Muir in 1885 as being 1.5m long, has now disappeared from the burial-ground. The earliest tombstones remaining are 14th to 15th century. A spring situated on the east side of the roadway a few metres to the south of the burial-ground is said to have been known as St Cathan's Well (Anderson 1939).
T P White 1875; T S Muir 1885; R S G Anderson 1939; RCAHMS 1971, visited 1966.

St Cathan's Church is as described and illustrated by RCAHMS. The font, as described and illustrated by RCAHMS, now lies in the present church at NR 6472 4898.
No further information was found concerning the Early Christian cross. The location of St Cathan's Well cannot be given with certainty. From Anderson's description the spring shown on the OS 6"map, (1924) at NR 6435 4806 would seem the likely site, but this spring is in fact a slight issue of water into a ditch. The nearby well shown on OS 6" map (1924) at NR 6432 4807 is now completely covered over. It is reported (information from Betty McNeill, Keil Cottage, Gigha) to have been a well built structure with steps leading down into it, and was probably St Cathan's Well though that name is not known locally.
Visited by OS (J B) 18 January 1978.

Architectural Notes

Anderson, R S G (1939) The antiquities of Gigha: a survey and guide, Newton Stewart
Page(s): 72 Held at RCAHMS D.11.13.GIG

Fisher, I (2001) Early Medieval sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands, RCAHMS/SocAntScot Monograph series 1 Edinburgh
Page(s): 117 Held at RCAHMS A.1.6.SCU

Hood, F (1994a) 'Survey of Gigha', Glasgow Archaeol Soc Bull, vol.33 (Autumn 1994)
Page(s): 6, No. 16