Scheduled Monument
Kilchattan,old parish church,ColonsaySM5087
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 02/10/1991
- Type
- Ecclesiastical: church
- Local Authority
- Argyll And Bute
- Parish
- Colonsay And Oronsay
- NGR
- NR 36291 95026
- Coordinates
- 136291, 695026
Description
Remains of a rectangular medieval parish church, possibly of the later l4th century, measuring 8.3 by 4.5m within walls 0.85m thick, built of random rubble masonry in lime mortar. There are traces of a splayed E window, flanked by a pair of aumbries, and of another window in the S wall near the E end. The W wall and western part of the S wall, however, are not visible above ground, and what does remain of the building stands no more than 2.3m high.
The area in and around the church is disturbed by burials (the earliest dated one being l789), and a gardener's shed (timber and corrugated iron) has been constructed in the NE angle. The scheduled area includes the foundations (presumed) and standing walls of the church, the area contained by them and a zone extending lm outside them, forming a total area of 12 by 8.2m as shown in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of National Importance
The church is of national importance for the evidence that it provides about the design and construction of parish churches in the Western Isles in the later Middle Ages. Although it is at present listed as a Historic Building (Cat. CS), scheduling is felt to offer better and more appropriate protection for the remains below as well as above ground.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
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