Site Report

WoSASPIN 4116
NR 8345 9884.

NR 834 989. An early cross stands to S of the main entrance to Kilmartin graveyard. There are 2 or more early stones. At the E end of the first railed enclosure - Campbells of Kilmartin - are two later box-tombs; the E end of the second of these is formed from a cut-down slab with a wheel-headed cross on its outer face. Among medieval stones, the churchyard contains a fine crucifix, said by Drummond (1881) to have been brought from a roadside site "1/4 mile from the church" where he was told the socket remained. There is a smaller crucifix beside it, and many gravestones, some collected under a roof by the D o E in the mausoleum of the last Episcopal bishop, Neil Campbell; also many more stones in the ground, some defaced by over-cutting in the 19th c.
J R Allen 1881; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964

The cross is at NR 8347 9884 and just to the N are the two crucifix stones. Apart from the medieval gravestones in the mausoleum, there is a group from Poltalloch in a walled enclosure, and many more lying on the surface of the graveyard.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (JP) 27 April 1973

The cross and crucifix stones have been temporarily removed for repair.
Visited by OS (TRG) 14 February 1977

The crosses have been removed into the church for safe keeping on a permanent basis.
Information from OS (PJA) 9 June 1977.

The Campbell tomb, a 17th-century burial aisle, contains a collection of early Christian and Medieval carved stones. The monument is scheduled. The Kilmartin Cross is located within the church, and its former site has been descheduled.
Entered WoSAS (CF) 23/11/98

Site of medieval parish church. The cross (4) is in the present church and the other early stones are in the churchyard with many late medieval stones.
(1) Slab, 1.2m in visible height by 0.52m, damaged at top and much worn. On each face is a large outline Latin cross, that on face (a) having slightly rounded armpits and the other (b), which is open at the foot, square ones.
(2) Slab, 1.57m by 0.48m. In the upper half is an outline Latin cross with open foot and sunk rounded armpits.
(3) Slab, 1.15m by 0.41m, much worn and broken obliquely. It bears the incomplete outline of a Latin cross with square armpits.
(4) Cross with square armpits and stubby arms, 1.55m in visible height, 0.39m in width and about 0.5m in original span. The edge-moulding of face (a) returns at the armpits to surround rings with small central hollows. At the foot is an equal-armed cross with sunken circular armpits, between four small crosses of the same form. Above are panels of diagonal key-pattern and broad double-beaded interlace. The cross-head is filled with irregular spirals round a 0.16m interlaced boss, and in the upper arm is an interlaced knot. The margins of face (b) have been cut away to outline a cross with bevelled sides. Its edge-moulding encloses sunken hollows in the armpits of the sidearms. The shaft is filled with diagonal key-pattern; the cross-head with an incised saltire between pointed peltae, at the sides, and concentric ovals above and below; and the top arm contains a horizontal key-pattern. A fragmentary finial, 0.12m long and 40mm thick, is almost flush with face (a). The cross probably dates from the 10th century.
(84) The E end-slab of a reconstructed late-medieval tomb-chest bears an outline ringed cross with square armpits. An early medieval date has been suggested (MacLean 1985, p.433 and pl.85), but in its present form the incision is not of early character.
I Fisher 2001.
Entered WoSAS (MO'H) 06/04/2006

NGR 183440 698863 - A watching brief during the excavation of an electricity supply trench revealed a possible grave slab straddling a short N-S offshoot of the boundary wall between burial ground and garden of Kilmartin House. The slab remains in situ. It is of green-grey schist, flat, measuring 0.5 m wide and 0.04 m thick and its full extent was not revealed in the small trench. It lay buried at a depth of 0.63 m from current ground level.
Entered WoSAS (PR) 13/03/02

In January 2009 Kilmartin House Museum conducted a Desk Based Survey (DBA) on the church and graveyard of Kilmartin. The aim of the report was to locate and compile all known information on the church with particular reference to the ‘old’ graveyard. The collated information will to be used as a basis for the survey and recording of the gravestones within the graveyard. The project was undertaken in partnership with the Dunadd Historic Graveyard Group, Historic Scotland, the Church of Scotland and Argyll and Bute District Council. The project is part of the Dalraida Project which is the major funder.

Graveyard Description
This report will only concern itself with the ‘Old’ graveyard surrounding the parish church at the S, W and E. The ‘New’ graveyard occupies two landscaped terraces lower down the slope to the S. Other more recent burials are also to be found on the N and NW side of the church. The churchyard, which contains one of the largest collections of medieval grave slabs in the West Highlands, is roughly rectangular, as shown on an estate map of 1825, and was extended down the slope to the S in 1883-7. The old churchyard occupies an irregular rectangle measuring between 43m and 52m EW and between 47m and 70m NS. A lime mortared rubble wall surrounds the church yard on the N, E and W sides while a revetted terrace of the new graveyard delineates the S side. There are two entrances into the graveyard, the main gate at the W which is now surmounted by a stepped granite arched war memorial which was erected over the entrance in 1921. The second entrance, at the NW of the churchyard, connects the churchyard to the former manse, now Kilmartin House Museum. The gate surround on the N side is constructed from chamfred ashlared blocks that don’t sit well with the present rubble construction that surmounts the gate. It is possible that the dressed lintel bearing the initials ‘W M ML’ and the date ‘1686’ that now lies in the grounds of the former manse once surmounted the gate (likely William MacLachlan, rector of Kilmartin, see above)

Close to the SW angle of the church, a small stone mausoleum to Bishop Neil Campbell, perhaps in part C 16, but now with a glazed roof, it serves as a lapidarium. Lying in the yard, and placed within the top of a revetment wall at the E of the church is a decorated panel with incised scrolling that records the building of the 1798 church. But it is the wealth of burial stones, one of the largest collections in the West Highlands, which must command attention. Three Early Christian slabs (Nos. 1-3 below) show Latin cross outlines while a fourth, late C9 or C10, takes the same form as a freestanding cross (now in the church) carved on both sides with plaiting, knotting and diagonal key patterns. — More than eighty tapered slabs and cross fragments, daring from C13 to C16, predominantly the work of Loch Awe school sculptors, are to be found in the churchyard or lapidarium. The ‘Loch Awe school’ is one style of West Highland carving distinguished by the use of a limited repertiore of patterns, many of them bearing a characteristic miniature warrior. One stone has been identified as belonging to the Iona school (No. 83 below) while others fall outside the characteristic West Highland styles (No. 71 and 79 below). Numerous slabs and table-tombs, C17 and C18, exhibit a variety of heraldic devices. Two stones, dated 1707 and 1711, are carved with an unexpectedly primitive naivety, such as that of William MacLachlan, ‘rector of Kilmartin’, his wife, Grisel, and his children. Endearingly unsophisticated: a rubble mural panel framed by rude pilasters anti raised at the top to include an armorial shield mantled by a garland of fruit. Several monuments relate to the family of James Gow d.1855, who was largely responsible for supervising agricultural improvements on the Poltalloch estate from c. 1796. To Gow’s son James 1837, an obelisk with raised disc carved with blasted tree and broken column, the work of Glasgow sculptor Mossman. Distinct differences in height across parts of the graveyard suggest some form of terracing orpossible internal divisions within the burial ground.

Mausoleum Description
A small stone-built enclosure 7m S of the SW angle of the church was roofed by the Ministry of Works in 1956 for use as a lapidarium (infra). It measures 5.3m by 3.5m within 0.75m walls, the side-walls being crenellated with projecting coping-slabs, and each containing a slit-window, while the end-walls were originally flat, but with a raised pediment above the W doorway and a flat-topped projection containing the E window, which preserves a glazing-groove. When it was converted to a lapidarium the inner parts of the side-walls were heightened and gables were formed to carry a glass roof, but it may originally have been open. The door and windows have round-arrised schist dressings which may be of 17th-century date, but the wall-head was probably rebuilt in the late 18th or 19th century. Above the W door there is a schist panel with a relief inscription within a roughly-sunk frame, incomplete at the right and probably originally a grave slab:

1627 HEIR LYIS MR / NEIL CAMBEL AND CRISTIANE C[?ARSUEL...]

Neil Campbell, minister of Kilmartin from 1574 to 1627 and bishop of Argyll from 1580 to 1608, married Christian, daughter of Bishop John Carswell (see No. 115), and two of their sons became respectively bishops of Argyll and of the Isles, while a third succeeded his father as minister of Kilmartin. His descendants held the Kilmartin estate until about 1674 (see No. 134) and thereafter that of Auchinellan, and in 1844 it was noted that they retained ‘the ancient Caibeal or burial-place of the rectors in the churchyard’, and were ‘sometimes called by the natives Sloch an Easbuig’ (‘descendants of the bishop’).

Funerary Monuments and other Carved Stones
The churchyard contains numerous gravestones and horizontal grave slabs and many of the earlier ones were described by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland in their Inventory for Argyll (RCHAMS 1992 No. 68 pp. 127-143). In view of the exceptional numbers of monuments in the church, the churchyard, the Poltalloch enclosure and the lapidarium, the location of each one is indicated individually. The stones in the lapidarium are numbered clockwise from the doorway. The stones are carved mainly from local epidiorite.

Early Christian
(1) Churchyard. Roughly rectangular slab set upright, 1.2m in visible height by 0.52m, damaged at top and much worn. On each face there is a large outline Latin cross, that on one face has slightly rounded armpits and on the other, square ones.
(2) Churchyard. Roughly rectangular slab, 1.57m by 0.48m, damaged at the top and left edge. In the upper half there is the incised outline of a Latin cross with sunk rounded armpits. In the lower half is the added inscription KILMERTIN.
(3) Churchyard. Roughly rectangular slab, 1.15m by 0.41m, much worn and broken obliquely at the foot. It bears the incomplete outline of a Latin cross with square armpits, only traces of the right side being visible.
(4) Church; in churchyard until 1977, recumbent when seen by Graham about 1860 (Graham 1860), but set upright near entrance-gateway before 1880. Drummond reported that the cross had been brought from a roadside site "1/4 mile from the church" where he was told the socket remained (Drummond 1881, Campbell and Sandeman 1964). Free-standing cross of local epidiorite set in modern concrete base, l.55m in visible height, including a damaged finial; the shaft tapers in width from 0.39m to 0.37m below the cross-head, but it increases in thickness from 100mm at the foot to 150mm at the cross-headand 120mm at the top. One side-arm is 0.39m in height and projects about 60mm, the other being broken off, and the original span was about 0.5m. One face (a) is enclosed by a broad edge-moulding which forms a cross within the plain cruciform outline, and returns at the armpits to surround rings, varying in diameter from 50mm to 65mm, with small central hollows. At the foot of the shaft there is an equal- armed cross with edge-moulding and sunken circular armpits, set between four crosslets of the same form. Above this there are single panels of diagonal key-pattern and broad double-beaded interlace. The cross-head is filled with irregular interlocking spirals, surrounding an interlaced boss of slight projection within a 160mm-diameter moulding, and the upper arm contains an interlaced knot with parallel plaited strands. On face b the margins of the slab have been cut away to a width of 80mm and depth of 40mm outlining a cross with bevelled sides. It has an edge-moulding enclosing sunken hollows 40mm in diameter in the armpits of the side-arms, which are set in the lower part of the cruciform outline. The shaft is filled with diagonal key-pattern; the cross-head with an incised saltire separating pointed peltae with spiral terminals, at the sides, and concentric ovals above and below; and the top arm contains a horizontal key-pattern. The fragmentary finial measured 120mm in length and 40mm in thickness, and was almost flush with face a, whereas it was not closely aligned with the raised cross on face b. This discrepancy, and the inferior execution of face b, have been interpreted as showing that the latter face was a later addition, but there is unlikely to be any great difference of time between the carving of the two faces. The design on the cross has some parralels such as the thick interlocked spirals which resemble those from a slab at Ardchattan Priory (RCHAMS 1975 No.217, 1). The vertical fret-pattern is similar to those on the ‘marrigold stone’ at Carndonagh (Co. Donegal) while the interlaced design in the top arm resembles that found at a cross at Carndonagh and on Muiredach’s Cross, Monasterboice (Co. Lough). The short arms of the Kilmartin cross resemble those of the Kiells Cross, but the small hollow bosses are enclosed in tight armpits on a fashion similar to a cross removed from the isle of Vallay (North Uist) to St Margret’s Church in Lochgilphead in the 19th Century (RCHAMS 1988 No. 96).
The cross probably dates from the 9th or more probably the 10th century.

Medieval Grave slabs
(5) Lapidarium 1. Tapered slab of chlorite-schist with bevelled edges, l.89m by 0.45m. In a sunk panel at the top there is a false-relief cross composed of four penannular rings round a central quatrefoil, and with intermediate trefoil terminals. The long shaft and stepped base are incised, as is a sword with lobated pommel, short curved quillons and a central fuller, to the right. At the left there is an undulating triple-beaded plant-stem in low relief, with a ?horseshoe at the foot. There are traces of an added and subsequently effaced inscription on the cross-shaft.
13th-14th century.
(6) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.75m by 0.51m, lacking the bottom right corner. Within a plain margin, doubled at the top and right edge, there is an incised cross-shaft with angled base, and a four-ring cross-head having concentric double rings with sunken centres, and pointed terminals in the spandrels. The upper right ring is somewhat smaller, and :here is a twist of foliage in the outer spandrel. The incised letters BAR have been added left of the shaft.
14th century.
(7) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.74m by 0.45m, damaged and much worn. Within an edge-moulding, a broad flat margin encloses at the left a panel with continuous intertwined plant-stems, and at the right there are traces of the sword-hilt shown by Drummond lona school, 14th century.
(8) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.51 m by 0.36m. Much worn and resembles number 7.
Iona school 14th century.
(9) Churchyard. Tapered slab of slate, l.71m by 0.46m, badly shattered at the top. Within a triple margin whose inner member bears incised cable-ornament, there is a continuous series of plant-stems as on number 7. The top has been defaced to receive the name [IO] RN DEOR, and an adjacent slab bears the same name and the date 1777.
lona school, 14th century.
(10) Lapidarium 5. Tapered slab of chlorite-schist, I.9lm by 0.48m, much worn; bordered by nailhead between two flat mouldings. At the top is a label whose original inscription was replaced by DUNTROON / I[AIN] C[AIMBEUL] (‘John Campbell), followed by the 0.29m figure of a man armed with bascinet and aketon, holding a spear in his right hand, and the left hand on the hilt of a sword. He stands, with feet turned to his right, in a gabled and. foliated niche. The greater part of the slab is occupied by a network of intertwined plant-stems with upward-pointing paired leaves, below two opposed animals, one of them winged.
Loch Awe school, 14th century.
(11) Poltalloch enclosure. Tapered slab, l.85m by 0.57m, with triple margin as on number 10, but having continuous angular twist-pattern on the inner moulding, and three large chevrons on a bevel at the top; part of the top moulding has been cut away for the 19th-century inscription POLTALLOCH. A 0.41m armed figure stands in a niche crowned by dragon’s-head finials with large ears of palmette form, having a disc between them. The right pillar of the niche is voluted and the other is a twist which merges into the tail and limbs of one of two opposed animals above a somewhat irregular network of plant-stems with downward- pointing leaves.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(12) Lapidarium 8. Tapered slab, damaged at top left corner, l.85m by 0.52m, with triple margin as on number 10, partially effaced at the right by the name DUNTROON. A 0.44m figure, armed as in number 10 but with a shield on his right arm, stands in a niche with voluted pillars and dragon finials; the edges of the upper parts are grooved. The lower part of the slab resembles that of number 11, but one of the opposed animals has a duck-like bill.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(13) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.88m by 0.49m, damaged at the foot and much worn. It bears a 0.35m armed figure in a dragon-headed niche with voluted and foliated pillars, and the lower half appears to have resembled that of number 11.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(14) Lapidarium 6. Tapered slab with slightly pointed head, l.76m by 0.53m, with triple margin as on number 10. A 0.45m armed figure, of conventional type but with feet turned to the right, stands in a dragon-headed niche with plant-stem pillars. In the lower half there are an opposed griffon and a dragon, and then two long-eared cat-like beasts whose hind-legs are linked to plant-stems surrounding a stag and two hounds.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(15) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.88m by 0.63m, with triple margin as on number 10, and an additional row of nailhead on the bevelled edges. A 0.75m armed figure with shield stands in a dragon-headed niche with triquetra knots at the springing of the gable. In the lower half two opposed ‘cats’ surmount a network of plain stems.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(16) Lapidarium 9. Tapered slab, l.89m by 0.59m, much worn. Within a triple margin as on number 10 a 0.56m armed figure stands in a dragon-headed niche with voluted and outward-canted pillars. The lower half is filled by a network of plain stems as on number 15. Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(17) Lapidarium 7. Tapered slab, reconstructed from three pieces and lacking the top, l.66m by 0.57m; much worn. Within a triple margin as on number 10 there is a 0.52m armed figure with shield in an incomplete niche with voluted left pillar. A horizontal twist divides it from two opposed animals, one of them winged, above a network of plant-stems as on number 11.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(18) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 2.Olm by 0.61m, much worn. It is divided by a horizontal twist springing from a flat outer moulding and there are chevrons forming lugs at the angles of the slab. The upper panel has a T-fret border, with large leaves above, which encloses a dragon-headed niche with voluted pillars. The lower panel contains a network of plant-stems as on number 11, incorporating animals.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(19) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, l.97mby 0.59m, damaged at the top and much worn. Within a plain moulding there is a 0.42m armed figure in a niche, above an irregular network of plant-stems incorporating at least one animal.
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(20) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.93m by 0.72m, lacking the top edge and lower left corner, and much worn. Within a flat margin there are two panels, each enclosed by a frame of twist ornament and divided by a band of indecipherable ornament. In the top panel there is a 0.46m armed figure in a niche surrounded by plant-stems. The larger lower panel is occupied by plant-stems.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(21) Lapidarium 4. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, l.95m by 0.55m, framed by a roll-moulding between rows of nailhead on the bevel and surface. The nailhead returns horizontally to form three panels, each with its own flat margin, the upper one containing a 0.43m armed figure in a niche with plain bars intersecting in a double-triangle canopy. Each of the two lower panels contains a pair of opposed animals whose tails and hind-legs develop into intertwined plant-stems; both of the upper animals are winged, and one of the lower ones is a unicorn. Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(22) Lapidarium 3. Tapered slab, 1.88m by 0.55m, much worn. Within an outer flat moulding, doubled at the top, and an inner twist-moulding, there is a foliated lancet niche with the 0.41m figure of a priest or layman standing in an attitude of prayer. The large lower panel bears opposed animals above an irregular network of plant-stems.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(23) Lost. Tapered slab with triple margin as on number 10. At the top there were two opposed animals linked to a network of plant-stems with paired downward-pointing leaves, and in the lower half there was a central sword as on number 25, flanked by strips of three-cord plait, with shears and a small casket at the foot.
Loch Awe school, 14th-11th century.
(24) Lapidarium 19. Tapered slab, l.75m by 0.51m, much orn and flaked in places. It bears a central sword as on number 25 within intertwined stems which spring from the limbs of two opposed animals at the top and have leaves only at the flat outer margin. Part of this ornament was obliterated in the early 19th century by the name lAIN CAIMBEUL, while the sword-blade bears the somewhat earlier inscription DUNTROON: MARCH.
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(25) Lapidarium 17. Tapered slab with bevelled top, 1.64mby 0.47m, broken across and repaired. Within a triple margin as on number 10 it bears a central sword with lobated pommel and inclined quillons with slightly expanded terminals. The blade is flanked by angular plant-stems with voluted leaves, and in the upper part there are stems linked to two back-to- back animals, with a horizontal twist and triquetra at the top. The blade is inscribed A. Mc.L.
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(26) Poltalloch enclosure. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, 1.83m by 0.44m. It resembles number 25, but with linked plant-stems above the animals, paired stems with palmette leaves flanking the sword-blade and plain interlaced stems below it. An inscription has been obliterated from the blade, and the name POLTALLOCH incised in a panel cut across the top. Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(27) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.81 m by 0.61m, split longitudinally. Within a triple margin as on number 10 it bears a sword as on number 25, with the quillons entangled in the surrounding plant-stems, and shears and a casket at the foot.
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(28) Lapidarium 16. Tapered slab, 1.73m by 0.5lm, with triple margin as on number 10. At the top there are confronted animals, one a unicorn, linked to plant-stems which incorporate detached pellets, interlaced knots and demi-palmette leaves, surrounding a central sword as on number 25.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(29) Churchyard. Lower part of tapered slab with bevelled edges, 1.llm by 0.44m. Within a plain margin there is a sword with inclined quillons surrounded by plant-stems with large demi-palmette leaves, and a casket at the foot.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(30) Poltalloch enclosure. Tapered slab, 1.82m by 0.49m, much worn, reconstructed from three fragments and lacking the top left corner. Within a flat moulding and inner tressure, there is a sword with short slightly-curved quillons. The hilt is flanked by two animals whose tails produce undulating plant-stems, and at the foot there are a casket, shears, and an elongated ?comb. The blade and top of the slab have been inscribed as on number 26, and the upper POLTALLOCH has almost obliterated foliage at the top of the slab.
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(31) Lapidarium 15. Tapered slab, l.77m by 0.52m, with flat margin. It bears a large central sword as on number 25, with a scabbard-chape, surrounded by intertwined pairs of plant-stems with downward-pointing leaves. The stems are attached to two stylised dragons’ heads at the foot, and two interlinked triquetra knots at the top.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(32) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, about 1.9m by 0.6m, broken across and lacking the top left corner. Within an edge-moulding flanked by nailhead on the bevel and top, there is in the lower half a sword as on number 25, surrounded by a network of plant-stems enclosing leaves on curved stalks, and with a ?casket at the foot.
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(33) Lapidarium 18. Tapered slab, l.93m by 0.49m, broken across and repaired. The bevelled top edge bears continuous large chevron-ornament and the surface has a flat moulding enclosing nailhead, which in part of the left edge is left incomplete as a narrow roll. This inner moulding returns as a horizontal twist forming two unequal panels, the larger top one bearing, within a flat margin, a sword as on number 25 between undulating plant-stems incorporating triquetra knots at the top and a dragon’s head at the bottom of the left stem. The lower panel is filled by a network of plain stems.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(34) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, l.91m by 0.47m. Within a triple margin as on number 10, with additional nailhead on the bevel, there is a sword as on number 25, surrounded by plant-stems resembling those on number 33. Below the cross-guard there is a horizontal twist which overlies the sword-blade and is linked to the angle- moulding, and this is repeated towards the foot of the blade, forming three equal panels.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(35) Lapidarium 2. Tapered slab, 1.76m by 0.41m, much worn, with plain margin and continuous chevron-ornament on bevelled top edge. A central sword is surrounded by plant- stems resembling those on number 33, but with paired dragons’ heads at the foot, and linked at the top to aninterlaced cross of arcs with pellets in the interspaces.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(36) Lapidarium 12. Rectangular slab, 2.03m by 0.59m, restored from several fragments, lacking two corners, and much worn. A triple margin as on number 10 is filled by intertwined plant-scrolls incorporating a short sword below dragons’ heads at the top, and two animals, one a unicorn, at the foot.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(37) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.66m by 0.46m, lacking the top left corner and much worn. Within a triple margin as on number 10 there are traces of a sword with lobated pommel and inclined quillons, and foliage-ornament. Probably
Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(38) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, 1.98m by 0.58m, much worn and flaked in parts. Within a triple margin as on number 10, with an additional narrow moulding on the bevel, there are traces of a sword-hilt and plant-stems.
Probably Loch Awe school, l4th-l5th century.
(39) Churchyard. Upper part of tapered slab with bevelled edges, l.21m by 046m, much worn. A central sword with lobated pommel and inclined quillc,ns is flanked by intertwined plant-stems. Probably Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(40) Churchyard, Tapered slab of slate, very badly flaked, 1 .83m by 0.56m. It has had a margin of continuous chevron- ornament on a slight bevel, and the only surviving ornament on the surface is the tip of a sword-blade with intertwined plant-stems below it.
Probably Loch Awe school, 14th-l5th century.
(41) Lost. Tapered slab, probably of slate, flaked in lower part. It bore three chevrons on the bevelled top edge, and a triple margin as on number 10, whose inner moulding merged at the top with a label bearing an inscription. Below this there was an opposed pair of long-eared animals with foliated tails, above a network of intertwined stems with no foliate elements. The three-line Lombardic inscription, whose final words were carved on the inner moulding at the right, is clearly shown in Mackenzie’s photograph:

+SVB ISTO LAPIDE / JACET PATRICIVS / MAC GILLACRIST / MEC ELAIR

‘Under this stone lies Patrick, son of Gilchrist MacKellar’.

The most prominent local family of MacKellars was that of Ardary in Glassary parish, among whom ‘Patrick’ was a favoured name while ‘Gilchrist’ is recorded in 1470 and 1496, but a Patrick MacKellar, of unknown family, witnessed a charter at Carnassarie in 1436.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(42) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.81m by 0.48m, much worn. Within a triple margin as on number 10 there is a network of intertwined plain stems as on number 41, with a plain rectangle, perhaps a casket, at the foot.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(43) Lapidarium 11. Upper part of tapered slab with gabled top marked at the base by rounded lugs, l.48m by 0.49m in width below the lugs; much worn. Within a flat margin, defaced at the right by the inscription JOHN LAMONT, there is an irregular network of stems with downward-pointing paired leaves, and loosely intertwined stems in the gable.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(44) Churchyard, erected on 19th-century tomb-chestmarking burials of the MacTavish family of Dunardry, partly concealed by adjacent cross. Tapered slab with flat margin enclosing nailhead which returns to form three panels with inner margins, as on number 21. The surface-decoration, much worn, appears to have been composed entirely of intertwined plant-stems.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(45) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, 1.91m by 0.58m, much worn and bearing the added date 1777. It bears an edge-moulding between nailhead on the bevel and top and is divided into three panels as on number 21. The two lower panels bear intertwined plant-stems, but the ornament of the top one is obliterated.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(46) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.91m by 0.55m, much worn. It bears a central sword as on number 25, surrounded by intertwined plant-stems with opposed animals at the top.
14th-early 16th century.
(47) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, 1.84m by 0.56m, broken across and much flaked. Within a flat margin there is a sword as on number 25, surrounded by intertwined plant-stems.
14th-early 16th century.
(48) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.84m by 0.53m, much worn and cut back at the top for the initials D McD. The ornament resembles that on number 47.
14th-early 16th century.
(49) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.88m by 0.56m, much worn. Within a double margin there is a central sword as on number 25, flanked at the right by encircled plant-stems and at the left by a ?mirror and ?casket.
14th-early 16th century.
(50) Churchyard. Fragment of slab, 0.47m by 0.33m, bearing angular intertwined plant-stems between a flat margin and a ?sword-blade.
14th-early 16th century.
(51) Churchyard. Tapered slab with hollow-chamfered bevel, l.92m by 0.52m; much worn. At the right there is a sword as on number 25, and on the left a series of foliage- medallions and rosettes. The sword-blade bears the inscription AR[CHIBALD] GILLIS.
14th-early 16th century.
(52) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.91m by 0.52m, much worn. Within a flat edge-moulding it resembles number 51. The upper part is defaced by the inscriptions DUNTROON and lAIN CAIMBEUL.
14th-early 16th century.
(53) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.82m by 0.48m, much worn. It resembles number 52 but has larger medallions.
14th-early 16th century.
(54) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.83m by 0.56m, much worn. It bears a central sword with traces of plant-stems overlying the inclined quillons.
14th-early 16th century.
(55) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.97m by 0.55m, much
worn. The only visible ornament is a central sword, perhaps originally surrounded by plant-stems. 14th-early 16th century.
(56) Churchyard. Rectangular slab, 1.54m by 0.4lm, much worn. Within a cable-moulding enclosing a flat margin there is an incised central sword with lobated pommel and inclined quillons. A pair of shears is carved at the foot in false relief.
14th-early 16th century.
(57) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.54m by 0.42m, re-used in 1777 to mark the burial-place of Malcolm Blair. The only surviving medieval ornament is the tip of a central sword-blade and a pair of shears at the foot.
14th-early 16th century.
(58) Churchyard. Upper part of tapered slab, 1.03m by 0.51m, bearing an incised sword with lobated pommel and short curved quillons, and a comb at the lower right.
14th- early 16th century.
(59) Churchyard. Tapered slab with pointed foot and slightly pointed top, l.91m by 0.53m, much worn. Within an edge-roll and inner moulding bearing nailhead which returns horizontally across the head and foot of the slab, the only visible ornament is a sword with inclined quillons. The name JOHN BLEW was added in 1777.
14th-early 16th century.
(60) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.84m by 0.61m, much worn and bearing a central sword with inclined quillons.
14th-early 16th century.
(61) Churchyard. Miniature tapered slab with bevelled edges, 0.65m by 0.28m, much worn. A raised edge-moulding encloses a panel with traces of a sword at the right.
14th-early 16th century.
(62) Lapidarium 13. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, lacking the foot, l.39m by 0.53m. Within an incised margin there is an incised sword as on number 25, but with a langet and a central fuller having an inverted-thistle-shaped terminal.
Local, 14th-l5th century.
(63) Lapidarium 14. Tapered slab, 1.67m by 0.51m. Within an irregular margin there is an incised sword having a lobated or diamond pommel with tang-button and short curved quillons. Local, 14th-15th century.
(64) Churchyard. Roughly tapered slab, l.68m by 0.63m, much worn. At the left there is an incised sword with lobated pommel and curved quillons, and at the centre the blade of a second sword whose hilt has been higher than the other but is completed effaced.
Local, 14th-15th century.
(65) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.71m by 0.56m, much worn. It bears the pecked outline of a sword with lobated pommel and inclined quillons.
Local, 14th-15th century.
(66) Churchyard. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, 1.73m by 0.47m, worn and flaked at the foot. It bears an incised sword with lobatecl pommel and curved quillons, and the inverted, and probably secondary, outlines of an axe and ?hammer.
Local, 14th-15th century.
(67) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.72m by 0.55m, much worn. The only ornament is a sword with ?round pommel and inclined quillons, and the added inscription POLTALLOCH MARCH. Local, 14th-l6th century.
(68) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.83m by 0.56m, much worn. It bears an incised sword with ?round pommel, probably with a tang-button, and inclined quillons.
Local, 14th-16th century.
(69) Churchyard. Upper part of tapered slab of slate, 1 .36m by 0.55m, badly flaked. Within a border of dogtooth there is a claymore with incomplete quillons, the hilt flanked by animals as on slabs at Kilmichael Glassary (No.69,25 and 27) and the blade by plant-stems.
Early 16th century.
(70) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.77m by 0.51m. The only ornament is a central claymore with round pommel and tang- button, and straight quillons.
Local, 16th century.
(71) Churchyard. Tapered slab, l.66m by 0.56m, much worn. There are traces of a double margin and a central ?claymore, and at the foot, in false relief, an equal-armed ringed cross with square armpits, whose axis is not exactly aligned with the swordblade. This may be the slab shown by Drummond, but the detail at the foot appears to be different and Drummonds slab is probably a lost one.
Local, 16th century.
(72) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.71m by 0.46m. Within a plain margin there are incised a claymore at the left and shears at the bottom right, with the name BL [AIR] added at the top. Local, 16th century.
(73) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.64m by 0.42m, much worn. Within a bold semicircular moulding set in 20mm from the bevelled edge, it bears the blade of a central sword.
Local, probably 16th century.
(74) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.62m by 0. 57m. It bears the recut outline of a sword with inclined quillons and a round pommel which may not produce the original medieval form, with the name ‘A McA(RTHUR)’ added.
(75) Churchyard. Miniature tapered slab, 1.llm by 0.37m, much worn. Within a crude incised margin there are two panels containing intertwined plant-stems, the upper one having a flat inner margin and the other having opposed beasts above the plant-stems.
Local, 14th-early 16th century.
(76) Lapidarium 20. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, l.44m by about 0.47m, lacking the top right corner. The surface, enclosed by a cable-moulding and flat inner moulding, is uncarved except for a comb and shears at the foot.
Local, 14th-early 16th century.
(77) Churchyard. Tapered slab, 1.42m by 0.43m, split diagonally at bottom left. It bears an edge-toll within square nailhead set on the bevelled edges, but the only identifiable ornament is a pair of shears set vertically in the lower half. At the top the incised name JOHN / BRODIE may commemorate the gardener of that name who was employed at Duntrune from about 1798. Local, 14th-early 16th century.
(78) Lost, recorded in churchyard in 1962. Rectangular slab, l.15m by 0.31m. Within a margin with inward-pointing sawtooth ornament there is a ring-headed cross with squarehollowed armpits and concave hollowed terminals at the sidearms, and having a long incised shaft with simple rectangular base.
Local, probably 15th-16th century.
(79) Churchyard. Rectangular slab, about l.7m by 0.5m, much worn and damaged at the edges. Within a double moulding there is, towards the right, a large sword or claymore with round pommel and tang-button, and almost straight quillons, flanked on the right by a plant-scroll. To the left of the sword-hilt there is a two-legged ?human figure, and below the hilt there is a cross with incised shaft and rectangular base, and a ringed cross-head with sunk square armpits and short side-arms, in false relief. At the foot there is a casket with binding-strips, and a ?mirror and ?comb. The later inscriptions PETER CAMPBELL and DUNTROON are cut across the slab. Local, probably 15th-16th century.
(80) Poltalloch enclosure. Slab of quartzose schist, probably tapered but damaged along the ?left edge, l.84m by 0.37m; much worn. The surviving edges bear three-cord plait, T-fret and voluted ornament, but the ends appear to be truncated. The surface is divided into three panels crudely carved in false relief, the ?top one showing two human figures, one with arms raised and both with short block-like bodies; there may have been a third figure at the left. The large central panel contains a cross with wedge-shaped arms, and two animals, with three irregular interlaced space-fillers, and the bottom panel is filled with interlace. The name POLTALLOCH is incised on a recessed panel at the foot. This slab is a crude local product, probably of late medieval or post-Reformation date.

Effigies
(81) Lapidarium 10. Slab of chlorite-schist, l.94m by 0.58m at the head and 0.63m in the lower half, much worn. It bears in relief the full-length effigy of a man wearing bascinet, aventail and aketon. His left hand grasps the blade of a large sword suspended from a waist-belt whose free end is held in his right hand. The feet rest on a plain ledge, and there is no surviving evidence of carving on the base-slab. A thin scroll and the name McTAVISH have been incised across the aventail.
Probably lona school, 14th-15th century.
This is possibly the stone believed to be of Iver Crom ‘the conqueror of Cowal’ who was supposedly buried next to his brother Tamhais Corr, the progenitor of the MacTavishes of Dunardry. The grave slab also became the centre of a dispute between the MacIvers and the MacTavishes when ‘one of that family (a MacTavish) was interred under the tombstone not of his progenitor but of Iver or, as some say, Iver’s stone, a larger and finer one than that of Tavish was placed over him by the McTavishes. Resistance was offered by some MacIvers present, and the stone was somewhat injured in the struggle. But the stronger party on the spot prevailed, and, to secure their triumph, inscribed in modern capitals and the name McTavish over the breast of the knightly figure on the tombstone of Iver’.
(82) Poltalloch enclosure. Tapered slab, 1.84m by 0.58m, with chamfered edges- It is carved in relief with a strip of continuous chevron-ornament at the foot, on which there stands a full-length figure in bascinet, aventail and quilted aketon with skirt split at the front. The right hand holds a long spear with diamond-shaped head, and the left hand grasps the hilt of a sword with round pommel and tang- button, and short slightly-curved quillons with slightly expanded terminals, whose tip extends onto the chamfered edge of the slab. The name POLTALLOCH is carved at the top of the plain base-slab.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(83) Poltalloch enclosure. Tapered slab, 1.85m by 0.59m, with chamfered edges. It bears an armed figure somewhat smaller than that on number 82, and at the foot, in low relief within a margin, there is a large ring-knot having iu the interspaces triquetra knots which form an equal-armed cross. At the top there are the added names POLTALLOCH and CA(?MPBELL).
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.

Tomb-chests
(84) Churchyard. Tomb-chest, possibly reconstructed and lacking the N side-slab (see number 85). The S side-slab is 2.08m long by 80mm thick, and has a decorated zone 0.43m high above an earth-fast base. It bears three paired stalks which form asymmetrical arches enclosing large rounded leaves, with trefoils in the upper spandrels. The F end-slab, 0.6m long by 80mm thick, of which only the upper 0.3m is exposed, bears an incised ringed cross with sunken square armpits, which in its present form appears to be of post- medieval date, although it may have been re-cut from an Early Christian fragment. The plain rectangular top-slab, 2.13m by 0.77m, bears the name INVERL(?IEVER).
Early 16th century.
(85) Lapidarium, above door Side-slab of tomb-chest, 2.08m long by 0.61m high including a 0.22m plain base which is 100mm thick. The left edge is flaked, probably when the slab was being quarried or carved since the damaged area bears shallow foliage-ornament. This belongs to a series of arched stems as on number 84, but having smaller leaves and with additional foliage at the right end. The lower right corner is roughly rebated, possibly to fit over a step. The identity of length suggests that this may have been part of number 84. Since the rebate shows that this slab was intended to be viewed from the south, this implies that the south side-slab of number 84 has been moved.
Early 16th century.
(86) Churchyard. Reconstructed tomb-chest. The much- worn side-slab measures 2.22m long by 70mm thick and bears arched foliated stems as on numbers 84 and 85. The W end-slab, 0.71m long by 90mm thick, and damaged at the top right, bears four cusped niches with moulded bases and capitals, grouped in two pairs under ogival arch-heads with pinnacles, foliated finials, and quatrefoils in the upper spandrels. The plain top slab is inscribed DUNTROON. (Drummond, Monuments, pl.zlS,l; end-slab only). This may be the slab on which Herbert Campbell in 1894 recorded the Duntrune Crest of two arms drawing a bow.
Early 16th century.

Crosses
(87) Church, formerly in churchyard. Head and upper part of small free-standing cross, lacking the top arm. It is 0.61m in surviving height by 0.45m across the arms, the tapered shaft is 0. 27m wide below the cross-head, and the thickness is 80mm. The angles of the shaft bear roll-mouldings separated by nailhead-ornament on the edges, which are continued by triple-beaded concave brackets having discs at both ends and supporting the cross-arms. Within these mouldings there is a plain cross with square armpits, outlined on both faces by a continuous incised margin; the surviving lower armpits are sunk, within the brackets, but the piercing of the left one appears to be accidental. On one face there is the figure of the Crucified Saviour, complete except for part of the head but much worn, with straight arms slightly raised and head inclined to His right. The posture of the figure resembles that on the cross formerly at Kilmichael Glassary, and traces of one upper bracket indicate that the cross-head was a simpler version of the one at Kilfinan.
Loch Awe school, 14th-15th century.
(88) Churchyard. Cross-shaft fragment, 1.34m long, tapering from 0,28m to 0.21m in width and from 105mm to 75mm in thickness. On both faces there is a simple pecked 50mm margin, terminating 0.2m above the broken foot, and at one edge there is the fragmentary projection of the cross- head, It has been inverted and re-used as a gravemarker with the added name POLTALLOCH.
Local, 14th-early 16th century.
(89) Church, reconstructed in 1977. Free-standing ringed
cross whose shaft, with incomplete head, was recorded lying in the churchyard about 1860, and subsequently set in a plain socket-stone near the entrance-gate, along with the detached left arm. The top arm was recovered in 1973 from a culvert some 400m from the church, and has been attached to the cross-head, while the left arm has been fixed it position by metal rods. The cross is 2.07m in visible height, a further 0.25m of the broken foot being concealed in a modern concrete base; it tapers in width from 0.45m to 0.35m and in thickness from 160mm to 130mm, and the original span was about 1 3m. The pierced armpits were probably semicircular and the broken junctions of the ring-quadrants are visible on the edges of the shaft and top arm, while a fragment about95mm thick is preserved on the under-side of the left arm. The ring appears to have continued the treatment of the angles of the cross, which are wrought on the front with a hollow chamfer enclosing a roll-moulding, and on the hack with plain 45mm chamfers, and a roll-moulding in the cross- head only. The upper edge of the top arm has an additional thick roll at the front, and slopes down with a rough 65mm bevel to the back, while the arms are not evenly drafted from front to back and parts of the ornament appear to be unfinished. On the front (a) the cross-head and upper part of the shaft contain the figure of the Crucified Saviour, 0.84m high, against a plain background and with no indication of the rood. The upper part of the figure is enclosed in a cable moulded ring, which meets the torso in line with the upper edge of the short loin-cloth. The head, which is tilted to His right, is fully modelled and the background has been hollowed out to emphasise this, while the torso is also well defined, but the crossed legs are less strongly indicated and the right hand is only roughly shaped. In the left arm there is a winged quadruped with head turned hack to face the Saviour, carrying a ?book and probably representing the lion symbol of the evangelist Mark, while in the top arm there is an angel with one arm extended, probably symbolising St Matthew. At the base of the shaft, now partly concealed, there are two thick undulating plant-stems enclosing a quatrefoil, and above them a further winged and ?horned beast with head turned upwards, probably the bull of St. Luke. The back bears in the cross-head the seated and draped figure of Christ in majesty, with arms raised to display His wounds, within an oval mandorla which meets the base of the hollowed-out halo. The top arm of the cross contains an angel similar to that on the front, but the shaft is plain and the side-arm is also plain within the edge-roll. Despite its incomplete character this cross shows an ambitious treatment of the human figure, perhaps based on metalwork models, and a simple but coherent iconographic scheme not matched elsewhere in the West Highlands, and it may be attributed to the first half of the 16th century.

Post-Reformation
The following monuments are in the churchyard, except where specified.
(90) Tapered slab, l.86m by 0.55m, bordered by a broad roll-moulding within a rebated margin. At each end there is incised an equal-armed outline cross with ridged surface- ornament, encircled by a triple-beaded ring. These roundels are linked by two sinuous lines forming three ‘medallions’, with an outline cross in the centre one. Along one edge there is the added name ELANRIE. This appears to be a late imitation, probably of late 16th- or 17th-century date, of the plant-stems shown on late medieval grave slabs.
(91) Poltalloch enclosure. Large rectangular slab, evidently from a table-tomb, with an edge-roll which does not return at the foot, and mouldings below the edge. In the lower half there is a large relief armorial with elaborately foliated mantling, the shield charged: on a saltire, between four stags’ heads ?couped, five mullets (These appear to be couped, rather than erased as in the 1818 metriculation of the arms of Malcolm of Poltalloch). Above the helm there is a thin tower for crest, with the motto AD ARDVA TENDIT (‘He strives for the heights’) and the lower part of the shield isflanked by skulls and angels’ heads, with an hourglass and a heart, and at the foot an open book and an oval boss with the initials M/AM IM. At the top there is inscribed in incised capitals:

QUICQUID MR ARCHIBALDUS MALCOL/UMBUS CELLAE
MICHAELIS PASTOR MORTI / OBNOXIUM HABUIT SUB
HOC SAXO JACIT / OBIIT AN(NO) DOM(lNI) 1685
AETATIS SUAE 80
NUMEROSUS INOPES CELUM DUXIT STABILI /
FIRMO ALTO PICTORE VOCE FIDE /
VITAM OBITUS COELUM FUSIT / CELEBRAT RESERAVIT /
GRATIA VITA OBITUS FIRMA BEATA / SILENS

‘The mortal remains of Mr Archibald Malcolm, minister of Kilmichael, lie beneath this stone. He died in 1685 aged 80. Many were the poor he led to Heaven, with steadfast heart, with steady voice and profound faith. He poured forth his life, made glorious death, and unlocked the gates of Paradise. He displayed unwavering grace, enjoyed a blessed life and met a peaceful end’:

Archibald Malcolm or MacCallum of Poltalloch was minister of Glassary parish from 1639 until his death. The initial IM are presumably those of his second wife, Janet MacLachlan. This monument is probably the source of the statement that he was buried at Kilmartin.
(92-3) Recumbent slab (92) inscribed 1685 / D McBEN. An adjacent slab (93) bears the same initials, and a headstone of 1841 commemorates members of the MacVean family.
(94) Mural monument, about 4m wide and up to 3m high, built into E wall of churchyard. It comprises rubble walling incorporating schist panels and framed by schist pilasters of rectangular section, with moulded bases, mid-mouldings and cornice, broken at the centre by a tall projection with later sandstone jambs and a schist cornice. This contains an armorial panel of schist with a shield set on stylised mantling and framed by clusters of ?fruit with a central face-mask having simplified wings. The shield is parted per pale: dexter, quarterly; 1st, a lion rampant; 2nd, a dexter hand couped holding a cross with expanded upper terminal; 3rd, a galley, pennon flying; 4th, a salmon naiant; sinister, a lion rampant within an engrailed border. On a separate panel below, in thin incised letters, is the inscription:

QUICQUID MORTALE HABENT MR GULIELMUS /
M(AC)LAUCHLANE CELLAE MARTINENSIS RECTOR /
AC GRISELLA McGILCHRIST EIUS UXOR EORUM/QUE
LIBERI UTPOTE MORTIS EXUVIAE IN HOC DIVERSOR1O
LATERE OPTAT / 1686

‘Mr William MacLachlan, rector of Kilmartin, desires that his mortal remains, and those of his wife Grisel MacGilchrist and their children, should lie in this resting- place as spoils of Death, 1686’.

Below there are three detached relief panels bearing emblems of mortality. William MacLachlan became minister of Kilmartin in 1669, and died in Ireland in or after 1690, having been deprived of his charge for not conforming to Presbyterianism.
(95) Churchyard, in railed Campbell of Kilmartin enclosure. Table-tomb, with central part of head curved. At the top there is a winged angel’s head in high relief, then emblems of mortality including a coffin and crossed spade and shovel, under a horseshoe label with tasselled ends. A shield, within serpentine mantling, bears quarterly, for Campbell: 1st and 4th, gyronny of eight; 2nd and 73rd, a galley, ?a salmon naiant in base. At the foot there is the incised date 1686. There is no visible inscription and the tomb may have been erected during the lifetime of Alexander Campbell, first laird of the second Campbell family of Kilmartin (see No.134), whose date of death is unknown. The monument may be attributed to the same carver as the MacLachlan slab of 1685 at Kilbrandon (Lorn).
(96) Tapered slab bearing the date 1704 and, the initials D McR and M McM, within the following marginal inscription:

HERE LYES / THE CORPS OF DANIEL McRIVER [. ] WHO DIED / THE 9 DAY OF AGUST [ ] THE 57 YEAR OF HIS AGE

The name MacRiver or Mac inRiver is recorded in various forms in Kilmartin and Craignish parishes in the late 17th century.
(97) Tapered slab, adjoining number 96, with the incised date 1704 and initials D McR and emblems of mortality in low relief, within a damaged marginal inscription:

HERE LYES THE / CORPS OF DUNCAN McPIVER (sic) SON TO DAN[.../. J

(98) Lapidarium 22. Tapered slab, 0.92m by 0.63m In the upper part is the incised inscription AC / KMcC/ 1707, with the added inscription ELANRIE along the top edge, and then a sunk panel containing, in bold false relief, chevron- ornament at the sides and a large encircled hexafoil above a short pedestal. In the lower half there is a central false-relief saltire flanked by pellets and lozenges, and then a shield, quarterly: 1st and 4th, gyronny of eight; 2nd, a galley, a salmon naiant in base; 3rd, checky, flanked by the initials NC and MC. This slab probably commemorates Angus Campbell of Eilean Righ (a cadet branch of Duntrune), who is recorded in 1701, and the lower initials maybe those of his younger son Neil. Despite its primitive character, the ornament of this slab is clearly contemporary with the initials.
(99) Lapidarium 21. Tapered slab with bevelled edges, I .95m by 0.59m. In the same bold style as number 98 it bears motifs of varying size, including four hexafoils; two sets of concentric rings, one enclosing a crosslet; two other small crosslets, and a sunk lozenge. At the top, below the added ELANRIE, there is incised DC / 1712, for Donald Campbell of Eilean Righ, elder son of Angus Campbell (supra).
(100) Table-tomb of early 18th century type with illegible inscription in the upper part, and below it a relief armorial bearing a shield, quarterly: 1st, a stag’s head cabossed; 2nd, gyronny of eight; 3rd, a galley; 4th, on a fess three buckles. These arms were used by the Campbells of Cawdor and the crest is a bird, probably the Cawdor swan. Below a straight label there are emblems of mortality.
(101) Table-tomb with added inscription KILMERTIN, carved in relief with an elaborate shield bearing an inescutcheon gyronny of eight between four salmon naiant, an illegible charge in base. The crest is a stag’s head couped. This slab and numbers 102-4 evidently commemorate 18th-century members of the second Campbell family of Kilmartin, cadets of Inverawe.
(102) Table-tomb, much worn, bearing a shield within mantling: an inescutcheon gyronny of eight between six salmon naiant. In the lower part there are large emblems of mortality below a curved label.
(103-4) Two almost identical table-tombs, resembling number 102 but with more florid mantling nnd each having a stag’s head for crest.
(105) Table-tomb, similar to numbers 102-4 but with mantling spiralling more freely, and bearing a shield quarterly: 1st and 4th, gyronny of eight; 2nd, a boar’s head couped; 3rd, a galley, oars in action. These arms suggest a connection with the Campbells of Lochnell, but there is no legible inscription.
(106) Table-tomb, with the dare 1736 and an almost illegible inscription, recorded as commemorating ‘Duncan Campbell of the family of Duntroon and Katherine Campbell his spouse’. At the centre is the added inscription IAIN CAIMBEUL, and then emblems of mortality as on numbers 102-5.
(107) Churchyard, in railed Campbell of Ormaig enclosure. Large slab bearing at the top a raised blank panel, and then a Latin inscription commemorating Archibald Campbell of Ormaig, ‘gentleman’ (armiger), who died in 1743 aged 75, and his descendants.
(108) Churchyard, adjoining number 107. Headstone with shaped head, bearing inscription commemorating Isabella Campbell, wife of Archibald Lambie, formerly minister of Kilmartin. The date of death is given as 1764, but is recorded elsewhere as 1752, and it is possible that this headstone, like an adjacent one of similar style, was erected shortly before 1816. Archibald Lambie was minister of Kilmartin from 1738 until his death in 1767, and his first wife was a daughter of Archibald Campbell of Ormaig.
(109) Mural monument in church, erected in 1819 by his sons to commemorate Neil Campbell of Duntroon and Oib (1736-91), who ‘served as Captain at the taking of the Havnnnah in 1762, and afterwards in ... the American War’, and in 1786 went to the East Indies, ‘hoping by this honourable exertion to retrieve his paternal inheritance from debt incurred by the failure of the Ayr Bank, and by liberal pecuniary engagements for others’. He died at Madras as ‘High Sheriff. . . and aide de camp to the Nabob of Arcot’. His eldest son James (1773-99) was killed in action with the 79th Regiment in Holland, after military service in India and South Africa. The marble tablet is surmounted by a segmental pediment with the family crest, two arms drawing a bow, and the motto AGITE PRO VIRIBUS (‘Do your best’), between two flaming urns.
(110) Large table tomb erected, probably about 1800, by John Smith, tacksman of Stroneskar, to his son Alexander, doctor of medicine, who died aged 36. In the upper part is a dolphin crest on a wreath, then an elaborate angel holding a chalice, and bluebell swags flanking a label with the motto MEDIIS TRANQUILLUS IN UNDIS (‘calm in the midst of the waves’). An adjacent slab commemorates Janet Campbell, wife of John Smith, who died in 1816 aged 75.
(111-12) Headstone with shaped bead (111) erected in 1809 by Donald McNicoII to his wife Elizabeth McFarlane and their children Archibald and Helen, with the verse:

IT IS GOD THAT LIFTS OUR COMFORTS / HIGH
OR SINKS THEM IN THE GRAVE /
HE GIVES AND THEN HE TAKES AWAY /
HE TAKES BUT WHAT HE GAVE

The adjacent table-tomb (112) commemorates Elizabeth McFarlane, wife of Donald McNicoll ‘of the Excise’, who died in 1807 aged 26.
(113) Churchyard, in the stone-built W reredos-wall of the iron-railed Campbell of Kilmartin burial-enclosure, which has sandstone quoins and base-course, and a gabled pediment with ball-finial. Mural tablet of white marble, erected in 1827 by his widow, Mrs Helen Lamont Campbell, to Dugald Campbell of Kilmartin who died in 1825 aged 46.
(114-16) Group of monuments to the family of James Gow, the farm manager who was brought from Perthshire about 1796 to supervise agricultural improvement on the Poltalloch estate. A headstone (114) with curved pediment and a crest and motto as on number 110 was erected by ‘James Gow at Experiment’ (Barsloisnach, No.214) to his wife, Catherine Romance, who died in 1828 aged 60. An obelisk 3.5m high (115) was erected in 1840 to their son, James Gow, junior, who died in 1837 aged 33, by ‘the work people on the estate of Poltalloch who were usually employed under his charge’. It was carved by a young Glasgow sculptor named Mossman and the shaft bears a medallion with a blasted tree and a broken column. A table-tomb (116) commemorates James Gow himself, who died at ‘Rudale’ (Rhudil) in 1855 aged 88.
(117-118) Mural monuments in church commemorating the sons of Neil Campbell of Duntroon and Oib and resembling that of their father (number 109). That of Major-General Sir Neil Campbell, C.B., governor of Sierra Leone, who ‘fell a sacrifice to the baneful climate of Africa’ in 1827 aged 51 years, bears a second crest, a lion rampant with the motto FERE CHAMPENOISE, the name of a battle of 1814 which, with others including Waterloo, is listed at the foot of thetablet. It was erected in 1835 by his brother, later General Patrick Campbell (1779-1857), whose military service with British and Spanish forces, and subsequent diplomatic career, are recorded on his own tablet (118).
(119) Mural marble tablet in church, in form of a sarcophagus gable with fluted angles, anthemion finials, and a gabled pediment hearing a rose-spray in relief. It commemorates Reginald Neill (1833-5) and Isabella Lucy (1834-5), children of Neill Malcolm the younger of Poltalloch.
(120) Monument similar to number 119 but with clawed feet, commemorating Neill Malcolm of Poltalloch(1769-1837), who was buried at Bexley (Kent) alongside his wife Mary Ann Orme, It was erected ‘as a tribute to his unremitting exertions to advance the welfare and improvement of the land of his fathers’, and the pediment contains an armorial achievement supported by two stags bearing the Malcolm arms, as on number 91, with a central inescutcheon charged for Orme, and below the shield the additional motto DEUS REFUGIUM NOSTRUM (‘God is our refuge’).
(121) Table-tomb erected by Margaret Cummings to her husband John Buchannan, ‘lately Piper Major in the 42nd Royal Highlanders’, who died at Lochgilphead in 1845 aged 75. John Buchanan was noted as an ‘excellent piper’ who won the Highland Society’s competition before serving with his regiment in the Peninsular war from 1803-31
Kilmartin House Museum, 'Kilmartin Graveyard: Desk Based Assessment', January 2009

Dated 1627. Rubble; gabled; modern glass roof: stone over entrance in inscribed "1627. Heir lyis Sir Neil Campbell and Christiane C". Interior: now lined with ancient grave slabs. Neil Campbell (d. 1627) Rector of Kilmartin 1574-1627. Bishop of Argyll 1580-160<> Scheduled Ancient Monument No90182. Scheduled Area 30 July 1998.
Derived from Historic Scotland Listed Building data. Formerly category B listed, de-listed during a review of sites that were both listed and scheduled.
Entered WoSAS (MO'H) 05/03/2013