Taynuilt, Old Parish Church of Muckairn, tombstones and burial ground.

Heritage listing

Date Added 01/12/1975 Last Date Amended 14/01/2002 Type Crosses and carved stones: tombstone, Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church Local Authority Argyll And Bute Parish Ardchattan And Muckairn NGR NN 00504 30984 Coordinates 200504, 730984 — The monument comprises the remains of Muckairn (also known as Kilespickeral) Old Parish Church and burial ground. The remains of the church and the burial ground were scheduled separately in 1975. The current rescheduling will combine both the church and the burial ground under one scheduling. A church at Kilespickeral was first recorded in a mid-14th century charter. A document, believed to have been compiled in the late 17th century and quoted in the New Statistical Account, states that the old parish church was constructed 'shortly before the reformation' although it was situated within an old burial ground. This same source states that Kilespickeral was an outlying mensal church of the bishopric of Dunkeld. The old parish church of Muckairn is situated immediately south of the present parish church which was built in 1829. The remains are fragmentary; parts of the north and south walls survive, together with a substantial portion of the E gable-wall, but the entire western portion has disappeared, therefore the original length cannot be determined. The building is aligned E-W and measures 5.6m in width within walls about 1m in thickness. The upper part of the E gable is intaken externally by a splayed sacrament. The inner face of the S wall has a segmental-arched recess which may have housed a tomb-chest and suggests that the church was constructed in the late medieval period. To the east of the recess was a window, and to the west of it, a high-level doorway, both of which are probably associated with a po

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.