Colintraive’s Heritage Booklet

Christian Settlements in Colintraive

The Columban Chapel

Christianity came to the Scottish island of Iona in 563 CED when Columba founded a monastic school. By 1,000 AD the Christian faith had spread throughout the west coast, particularly in Cowal, with itinerant monks founding small chapels or kils. Many of these chapels were later rebuilt as churches for example at Kilmodan, the chapel of Aedin, in Glendaruel.

You can see the foundations of a small chapel and its surrounding walls just over the small hill to the south of the lay-by on the road leading from Colintraive. A typical Columban site, it is set in a sheltered dell on the edge of oak woods looking out to the Kyles of Bute. To the south of this chapel is a small pool, which was used as a tober a bhaistidh or christening well.

Figure 1: – The Columban Chapel at Fearnoch near Colintraive
(Source :-photographer at the Colintraive Heritage Centre).
Figure 2: – A Plan of the ruins of the Columban Chapel
(Source:- Rennie, E. used with permission)