Kilmartin Church and Graveyard

One of the very early Christian stones

Our last stop of the day was Kilmartin Church. The church itself was built in the 19th century, there are stones in the graveyard that date from the early Christian period - possibly over 1,000 years old. So there has been a church there of some sort, possibly for over a thousand years.

The focal point in the graveyard are the Poltalloch stones. The figural stones date somewhere between the 15th and 16th Centuries. The ones with just designs are a little earlier, dating from the 14th century. They were probably the gravestones of Campbell's, as we were in Campbell country. Another prominent name in the graveyard was MacCallum. But it was a family in the 17th or 18th century grown rich on colonial (slave?) trade which gathered up these old Medieval stones and had their name carved into them, to substantiate their standing in the community.

Don't you love the detail? I love the face with wings