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Argyllshire Places Of Interest
The ruined church of Keills is found some 12 miles south west of
Crinan standing on the slope above the north Shore of Loch Keills.
It was a13th-cent
chapel dedicated to St Charmaig; its church yard contains many
interesting and beautiful sculptured
grave slabs, and a notable cross7 ft 4 in. in
height. Keills was a landing place for cattle
brought from Lagg in Jura across the Sound of Jura and
once a ferry crossed here.
Tradition has it that at Kilberry, to the south west
end of Knapdale and 12 miles from Tarbert, is the site of an early
monastery; certainly there was here an
ancient burial ground, which was cleared in the 17th or 18th cent.
Early medieval
gravestones from it have been collected into a shelter. Kilberry Castle, built
in 1497, was burned by an English pirate about 1513 and was not
rebuilt until 1844.Some 12 miles north west
of Kilberry. On the west shore of Loch Killisport, near Hilary, is St Columba's cave at Cove, which
has an altar and two crosses on a shelf of rock. Outside the cave is the ruin of a 13th-cent. chapel.
The Castle of Kilchurn stands at the north east end
of Loch
Awe, on a rock that was once an
island but is now surrounded by marsh. It
was a stronghold of the Campbells, and the keep was built by Sir Colin Campbell
of Glenorchy, founder of the Breadalbane family about 1440.
The north and south sides were built in the 17th and 16th cents, respectively. The Campbells, who
were anti-Jacobite in the 18th cent.,
offered the Castle as a garrison for
Hanoverian troops in 1746. The great
gale of 1879 which caused the Tay
railway bridge disaster also blew down one of the tower tops, but the Castle is
still one of the finest baronial ruins in Scotland, in a wonderful
setting between Loch Awe and
Ben Cruachan, at the mouth of Glenorchy.
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