Strathclyde - Historic Churches

The most famous building on Islay, the Round Church was built in 1767 as part of Daniel Campbell's scheme to create the first planned village in Scotland. The unusual round shape is said to be so that the devil has no corners to hide in.
Main Street, Bowmore, Islay, Strathclyde, Scotland, PA43 7JH

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Heritage Highlight: The only round church in Scotland

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Castle Semple Collegiate Church is a late medieval building in Gothic style, founded in 1504 by John, Lord Semple. Lord John was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, and his son added a triangular apse to the church to make space for his father's elaborate memorial. The memorial is now gone and the chapel is an empty, evocative shell.
Howwood, Strathclyde, Scotland

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Cill Chaitriona is the partial remains of a chapel and burial ground, possibly early medieval, near the northern tip of Colonsay. Local tradition says that the chapel was founded by monks from Iona.
Balnahard, Isle of Colonsay, Strathclyde, Scotland

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Heritage Highlight: Chapel perhaps founded by monks from Iona.

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Cille Chattan (St Chattan's Chapel) is a ruined 14th-century church set within a burial ground at Lower Kilchattan, Colonsay. Only one wall of the chapel still stands to its full height. The ruins may stand on the site of an early Christian cell, possibly established by St Catan himself.
B8086, Lower Kilchattan, Scalasaig, Isle of Colonsay, Strathclyde, Scotland

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Heritage Highlight: Possible site of St Catan's original cell

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A collection of early medieval and West Highland grave slabs stand in the churchyard at Clachan. Many of the slabs are said to represent chiefs of Clan McAllister. Several are carved with swords, and one with an odd combination Latin and ring cross.
Clachan, Strathclyde, Scotland, PA29 6YP

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Heritage Highlight: Grave slabs of Clan McAllister chiefs

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St Brides is a 14th-century church with 16th-century clock tower housing the oldest working clock in Scotland. The mausoleum contains the grave of Sir James Douglas, known as the "Black Douglas" and also that of the 5th Earl of Angus, known as "Bell the Cat".
Douglas, Strathclyde, Scotland, ML11 0RB

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Heritage Highlight: 14th century Sir James Douglas tomb

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One of the most intriguing - and also one of the less accessible - sites in the care of Historic Scotland, Eileach an Naoimh is a tiny uninhabited island in the Garvellachs group between Jura and Mull. On the island are a series of early Christan monuments including a pair of churches, two graveyards, and domestic buildings such as a kiln, barn, and a double-beehive hut.
Garvellach Islands, Strathclyde, Scotland

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On a small island off Kilmory, on the west coast of the Knapdale peninsula, stands a small chapel associated with St Cormac. One end of the chapel stands roofless to the sky, but the east end still protects a vaulted chancel with an effigy of an ancient churchman. The figure is thought to date to the 12th century.
Kilmory, Strathclyde, Scotland

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One of the finest medieval churches in Britain, Glasgow Cathedral rises over the tomb of St Mungo, the 6th-century missionary who built a cell here and helped convert the local Picts to Christianity. Mungo's tomb is in the exquisitely vaulted 13th-century crypt.
Cathedral Square, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, G4 0QZ

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Heritage Highlight: St Mungo's tomb in the crypt

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On a small island off Balnahard, on the west coast of Mull, stands a 13th-century chapel containing medieval grave slabs of a type common throughout the West Highlands. The name translates loosely as 'the island of Cainneach', a reference to St Cannoch, or Kenneth, an Irish saint and associate of St Columba.
Inchkenneth island, Balnahard, Isle of Mull, Strathclyde, Scotland

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