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| April 14, 2019 Campbeltown Market Cross (back face) |
The Kilchoman Cross on Islay (at just over 8 feet in height) is so similar to the Campbeltown Market Cross (See: January 19, 2019 Whitley's World blog post "Intricacies of a Gaelic Cross") many believe they were both created by the same craftsman. In fact, the Illeach (proud natives of Islay) claim the Campbeltown Cross originally stood at Kilchoman and was removed (or purloined) from Islay and re-erected on Kintyre some time after 1608, when Campbeltown became a royal burgh.
A historian described the Campbeltown Market Cross, as "a 14th-century ecclesiastical memorial subsequently appropriated to municipal use." The Market Cross was certainly standing at Campbletown by 1680 A.D. For their part, Kintyre natives claim the Market Cross once stood at the parish church Kilkivan (or Kilkavan), near Machrihanish west of Campbeltown.
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| Kilvivan chapel near Trodigal Cottages on B843 |
Ancient Kilkivan is seldom on travel itineraries. Most visitors to this part of South Kintyre are bound for Machrihanish Dunes, its famous golf course and resort.
The ruin of Kilvivan chapel and burial ground, just south of the B843 Machrihanish Road which runs westward from Campbeltown, is worth the visit. It is not for difficulty to reach it that Kilkivan is off the typical tourist grid. Rather, it is for the lack of knowledge of its existence, that or a general lack of interest in such sites altogether.
The ruin of Kilkivan Church can be spotted from the road, below the hill line south of B843 near Trodigal Cottages...if one is looking for them. A road sign marks it simply: "Cemetery".
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| Sign marking Kilkivan church ruin and burial ground at Trodigal Cottages |
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| April 15, 2019 A windy day at Southend, Kintyre |
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| April 15, 2019 Our stout VW rental at Southend's Dunaverty Golf Club |
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| April 15, 2019 Rocks below Dunaverty; where 300 MacDonalds were murdered in 1647 |
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| April 15, 2019 The Mull of Kintyre, at Southend |
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| April 15, 2019 Kilkivan Church ruins and cemetery; Jura sound in background |
Like so many early Christian sites in Argyll, Kilkivan was founded near a prehistoric site. Interestingly, it may be that prehistoric practices found their way into Kilkivan's liturgical traditions.
At Kilvivan are three unusual prehistoric "cairns" (assuming these are in fact cairns--which remains unknown). A knoll at Kilkivan named Cnocan a' Chluig (Gaelic: "Hill of the Bell") has a pair of ring bank enclosures (or saucer cairns) that are currently attributed to the Bronze Age.
A slightly higher hillock also has a concentric ringed turf construction that is associated with a standing stone.
It should be noted that, being situated on working farms under cultivation, the plow has obliterated substantial portions of these constructions. That said, the Kilkivan constructions are protected historical monuments today. But the damage has been done.
The Kilkivan prehistoric earthworks are circular or oval concentric turf rings that "may" be built from a rock core covered by turf, are about 25 to 35 feet in diameter, and are little more than one foot in height. The concentric turf banks are perhaps five feet in width. In rough grassland, these low banks (little more than a foot in height) are somewhat imperceptible.
A Bronze Age dating for these constructions is far from certain, however. They have not been excavated...at least not scientifically. As early as the 19th century, surveys noted that square holes had been dug into the center of these ring bank enclosures at some point in antiquity. Whatever may have been there was either removed or so disturbed that archaeological context cannot be determined.
While a few graves are known to subsequently have been added to other similar ring "cairns" elsewhere in the U.K. (doubtless the assumption of the early looters), that does not seem to be their original purpose. Current thought is that these were not funerary monuments. And the purpose of these features remains unknown.
Similar low profile ring constructions are unusual in Argyll. And the small "saucer barrow" is not known elsewhere in Argyll. In that sense, the Kilkivan constructions--whatever they are--are somewhat "unique". Concentric ring enclosures are more commonly located in Wales and Cornwall. Thus, it may be that these Kilkivan works were built by a new group of people who moved into lower Kintrye.
As for possible prehistoric practices that found their way into Christian rites, Cnocan a' Chluig became associated with Christian services at Kilkivan. For some centuries before being recorded in Pennant's 1772 guide book "Voyage to the Hebrides," parishioners were called to devotions by ringing a hand bell from atop Cnocan a' Chluig.
This hand bell itself was actually consecrated, and was named "ceolan naomha"--meaning: the holy music. Following the Reformation, this bell was also "appropriated" for municipal use and was incorporated into everyday life in the burgh of Campbeltown. The town crier (the "news anchor" back in the day) used Kilkivan's "ceolan naomha" to make announcements to the town folk. The bell was in use at least as late as the mid 1700s, according to Cuthbert Bede's geography on Kintyre (published in 1861 as "Glencreggan"). The location of the bell is now unknown.
Bede also described a most unusual practice at Kilkivan, a matrimonial blind man's bluff of sorts and one that has long been attributed in local lore to St. Kevin (or Coivin) directly. The medieval ruin of Kilkivan is thought to have been constructed in the 1200s, at or near the chapel established in early 7th century by St. Kevin. With little doubt, the church at Kilkivan is ancient.
It is said that St. Kevin originally called the people to devotions on the hillock of the standing stone and "ring cairn" at Kilkivan. Eventually, the congregation grew in number, and a proper building was required. The peculiar procedure of divorce carried on at Kilkivan is therefore older than the existing ruin, and is possibly older than the original chapel itself. If so, the rite must have derived from the prehistoric practices of the former pagan population.
A solemn rite of divorce was apparently instituted once a year at Kilkivan. Unhappy couples were invited to Kilkivan late at night. At midnight, St. Kevin and his assistants would blindfold the unhappy couples and stampede them in a pell-mell race around the chapel three times in the dark...which is curiously a number suggestive of the prehistorical concentric turf rings there.
Immediately upon the race being completed in confusion, Kevin is said to have shouted: "Cabhag! (meaning "Seize quickly!) Every man would then lay hold of the first female near him, and that would be his wife--young, old, pretty or not--at least until the next year's blind race.
Of architectural interest, the remaining gable wall of Kilkivan Church looks like it supported a double gable roof. If this was the building's roof configuration, it would have been fairly unique in its day. Possibly, the double gable resulted from a subsequent addition being shouldered against an earlier, more typical, narrow rectangular single gable medieval chapel. In any case, the ruins show several additions were made to the chapel prior to 1772, when Pennent described Kilkivan as a ruin.
In Kilkivan cemetery itself, a generally unheralded group of medieval grave slabs can still be seen in place. This is somewhat surprising. Normally such a collection of medieval slabs would, by now, have been removed and displayed ex situ in a museum somewhere for their protection.
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| May 12, 1930 Proceedings, Kintyre Hist. Soc. |
At Kilvivan are three unusual prehistoric "cairns" (assuming these are in fact cairns--which remains unknown). A knoll at Kilkivan named Cnocan a' Chluig (Gaelic: "Hill of the Bell") has a pair of ring bank enclosures (or saucer cairns) that are currently attributed to the Bronze Age.
A slightly higher hillock also has a concentric ringed turf construction that is associated with a standing stone.
It should be noted that, being situated on working farms under cultivation, the plow has obliterated substantial portions of these constructions. That said, the Kilkivan constructions are protected historical monuments today. But the damage has been done.
The Kilkivan prehistoric earthworks are circular or oval concentric turf rings that "may" be built from a rock core covered by turf, are about 25 to 35 feet in diameter, and are little more than one foot in height. The concentric turf banks are perhaps five feet in width. In rough grassland, these low banks (little more than a foot in height) are somewhat imperceptible.
A Bronze Age dating for these constructions is far from certain, however. They have not been excavated...at least not scientifically. As early as the 19th century, surveys noted that square holes had been dug into the center of these ring bank enclosures at some point in antiquity. Whatever may have been there was either removed or so disturbed that archaeological context cannot be determined.
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| May 12, 1930 Proceedings, Kintyre Hist. Soc. |
While a few graves are known to subsequently have been added to other similar ring "cairns" elsewhere in the U.K. (doubtless the assumption of the early looters), that does not seem to be their original purpose. Current thought is that these were not funerary monuments. And the purpose of these features remains unknown.
Similar low profile ring constructions are unusual in Argyll. And the small "saucer barrow" is not known elsewhere in Argyll. In that sense, the Kilkivan constructions--whatever they are--are somewhat "unique". Concentric ring enclosures are more commonly located in Wales and Cornwall. Thus, it may be that these Kilkivan works were built by a new group of people who moved into lower Kintrye.
As for possible prehistoric practices that found their way into Christian rites, Cnocan a' Chluig became associated with Christian services at Kilkivan. For some centuries before being recorded in Pennant's 1772 guide book "Voyage to the Hebrides," parishioners were called to devotions by ringing a hand bell from atop Cnocan a' Chluig.
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| April 15, 2019 Hills at Kilkivan; unknown stone feature with turf rings (?) |
Bede also described a most unusual practice at Kilkivan, a matrimonial blind man's bluff of sorts and one that has long been attributed in local lore to St. Kevin (or Coivin) directly. The medieval ruin of Kilkivan is thought to have been constructed in the 1200s, at or near the chapel established in early 7th century by St. Kevin. With little doubt, the church at Kilkivan is ancient.
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| April 15, 2019 Old road into Kilkivan church grounds |
A solemn rite of divorce was apparently instituted once a year at Kilkivan. Unhappy couples were invited to Kilkivan late at night. At midnight, St. Kevin and his assistants would blindfold the unhappy couples and stampede them in a pell-mell race around the chapel three times in the dark...which is curiously a number suggestive of the prehistorical concentric turf rings there.
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| April 15, 2019 Interior of Kilkivan Church ruin; (double gable) |
Of architectural interest, the remaining gable wall of Kilkivan Church looks like it supported a double gable roof. If this was the building's roof configuration, it would have been fairly unique in its day. Possibly, the double gable resulted from a subsequent addition being shouldered against an earlier, more typical, narrow rectangular single gable medieval chapel. In any case, the ruins show several additions were made to the chapel prior to 1772, when Pennent described Kilkivan as a ruin.
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| April 15, 2019 Medieval grave slabs at Kilkivan Church, Kintyre |
As would also more normally be the case, such an exquisite large group of medieval slabs would be more prominently featured in various travel guides. Perhaps it is a blessing that it has not been.
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| April 15, 2019 A row of ruined dwellings at Kilkivan |
Lastly, on the upper "kit" of Kilkivan, we inspected what looked like a group of row houses. Whether this was the parsonage of the church, or part of the old settlement of Kilkivan, was uncertain. Interpretive signage was not present on the site. If these were row houses and part of Kilkivan settlement, then these ruins probably resulted from the Highland Clearances.
By the 1740s, only 30 years before Pennent's 1772 description of Kilkivan as a ruin, a large number of lower Kintyre's people had migrated to the Cape Fear Settlements in North Carolina. The emptying of the Highlands would continue for another 150 years.
Ancient Kilkivan, now empty and silent except for the wind once had a relatively significant population, was a parish of considerable importance...over no inconsiderable length of time.
