History

The current church building was built in 1783 on the site of an older church, thought to be to a Celtic saint. The contractor was Archibald McPhail, Oban, with work carried out at a cost of £440.

William Kilgour, in “Lochaber in War and Peace” claims that the first church was erected in the vicinity by a Columban monk in the 6th century. According to WJ Watson, the church at Kilmallie may also have been named after a saint called Màilidh, thus Cill Mhàilidh.

Historical Environment Scotland lists buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest and Kilmallie Church was given a Category C Listing in 1971. The full details can be read here: https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB7094

The Highland Regional Council’s descriptive note can be downloaded here.

In the nearby burial ground to the south-west, there stand the ruins of what is thought to be one of the six chapels built by Lochiel around 1460.

Although now based at Achnacarry, the Camerons of Lochiel are understood to have lived from 1335 on Eilean nan Craobh (Island of Trees) in Loch Eil which can be seen from the Church.

Perhaps the grandest memorial in the burial ground is the Celtic cross erected in memory of Mary Mackellar, a Lochaber bard, who lived from 1834 to 1890.

She was the daughter of baker Ailean Camshron whose gravestone can be seen alongside hers. He died when she was a teenager and she took over the shop.

Mary met Iain MacKellar, skipper of “The Glencoe”, that siled to the Western Isles and on the Leith to Baltic run. She accompanied him often.

She became Bard of the Gaelic Society of Inverness and of Clan Cameron, publishing poems and songs in 1881.

She supported Prof Blackie in his campaign to get a Chair of Celtic Studies at Edinburgh University.

The first verse of Am Mairiche ‘s a Leannan appears here.

Am Maraiche ‘s a Leannan

O ‘s mairg tha ‘n diugh feadh garbhlaich

‘S ri falbh am measg fraoich;

Us gathan grèin gu h-òrbhuidh

A’ dòrtadh air gach taobh.

Gum b’ fheàrr a bhi air bàrr nan tonn

Air long nan cranna caol;

‘S a’ faicinn nan seòl ùra

Ri sùgradh anns a’ ghaoith.

The Mariner and his Lover

Today is miserable in the mountains and amongst the heather, with the golden rays of the sun pouring down.

I’d much rather be on the crest of the waves in a boat with a thin mast seeing a new sail playing in the wind.

There are many early Christian sites around Lochaber associated with Columba (Calum Cille) and this map, produced in 1997 for the 1400th anniversary of the death of St Columba shows the extent of these.

We are researching the ministers in Kilmallie from the Reformation in 1560 and, as the list builds it will be available here.

Kilmallie Parish originally extended from Loch Arkaig to Kinlochleven and was understood to be the largest geographical parish in Scotland.(sixty miles in length and thirty miles in extreme breadth), partly in the County of Inverness and county of Argyll.

In 1861? the quoad sacra parish of Duncansburgh, in Fort William, was created.

In 1894 the Argyllshire part of the parish was removed to form the separate ecclesiastical parish of Ardgour.