Bannatyne Club > Origines parochiales Scotiae > Volume 2, part 1

40 ORIGINES [north knapdale.
supposed to have been the dwelling of the priest, has a vaulted roof, and in the walls several arched
recesses, in one of which is a recumbent eflSgy, believed to be the image of Saint Cormac.^ Near
it are two ancient crosses, and a large cavity partly walled with masonry, and named M'Cormac's
Grave.- The church at Keils, and another at Kilmory near Knap Point, are exactly of the
same size, each forty-two feet by eighteen, and beside each is a cross of some antiquity.' At
Cove on Loch Killisport there is a chapel said to have been founded by Saint Columba, and in
a neighbouring cave, from which it derives its name, are an altar, a font (or piscina), and a cross,
cut in the rock.* At Drimnacreige near Inverlussay there was a' church or chapel.-^ At Kihna-
lisaig and Glennakille are the remains of burying-grounds." At Kilduslan or Kildusklan on
Lochgilp there was a chapel, which existed in 1790, and is said to have been served by the priest
who officiated at the chapel of Kilmor on the opposite shore of the loch.' At Kilmachunaig
(anciently Kilmachummag or Kilchumnack) there was a chapel, whose burying-ground still
remains.* Near it there is a conical mound called Dundonald, on which one of the Lords of
the Isles is said to have granted a charter in the following terms — ' I Donald, chieftain of the
clan Donald, sitting on Dundonald, give Mackay a right to Kilmahunaig from this day till to-
morrow, and so on for ever.'' In the year 1591 Duncan Campbell of Dannay granted to Donald
Campbell of Obe a tack of the parsonage and vicarage teinds of one-half of the chapel of Kil-
machummag in Knapdaill.'" In 1C54 Archibald Marquis of Argyle granted to Neill M'NeiU of
Ardchonnan a tack of the parsonage and vicarage teinds of M'Neill's lands of Arichonnan, Leck-
naban, Arduo, Eroorie, and Ariluge, extending to seven marks within the chapel of Kilmachum-
mag.'^^ The parish has now two churches, one at Kilmichael Inverlussay, built in 1820, and
another at Tayvallich, built in 1827.^"
The rental or fruits of the church of Kilmaharmuk, ' conforme to the chalmei-lanis comptis
giwin up to Gawin comendatour of Kilwynning, and extractit be him breiflie to be geivin in
befoir our soveraine Lady and my lordis commissaris' in 1561, and also as 'tain' by Sir William
Murray of TuUibarJan the Queen's comptroller in loGG, amounted to £16.^'
Early in the thirteenth century, most of Knapdale seems to have been possessed by Syfyn or
Swene of Argyle.^* In 1262 Walter Steward Earl of Menthet had a grant of land in Kintyre
from Dufgal the son of Syfyn with the consent of John his heir, and apparently his brother,'''
and in 1292 ' the Earl of Meneteth's lands of Knapedal' were by an ordinance of King John
Balliol included in the sheriffdom of Lorn or Argyle then erected."' King Eobert Bruce
(apparently before the year 1310) is said to have granted Knapdale to John of Mentetli."
' Forduni Scotichronicon, lib. ii. cap. 10. Extracta e * New Stat. Ace. Trans. Camb. Camd. Soc, p. llfi.
Variis Cronicis Scocie, p. 9. New Stat. Ace. Trans. ' Blaeu. Old Stat. Ace. New Stat. Ace.
Camb. Camd. Soc., p. 86. Drawings by James Skene, " Argyle Inventory. Blaeu. New Stat. Ace.
Esq. Anderson's Guide, p. 3t;7. ° New Stat. Ace. i" Argyle Inventory. " Ibid.
^ Trans. Camb. Camd. See., p. 1C8. Drawings by '^ New Stat. Ace. '^ Book of Assumptions.
James Skene, Esq. " MS. quoted in New Stat. Ace. Regist. de Passelet,
3 Trans. Camb. Camd. Soc., pp. 87, 169. Drawings pp. 120-122, 133. Kotuli Scotise, vol. i. p. 90.
by James Skene, Esq. '= Regist. de Passelet, pp. 120-122. Rotuli Scotiae,
* New Stat. Ace. Trans. Camb. Camd. Soc, p. 80. vol. i. p. 90. " Acta Pari. Scot., vol. i. p. 91.
^ New Stat. Ace. " MS. quoted in New Stat. Ace.