Kilchoman was once a thriving community on Islay – today, only the eerie graveyard, the ruined church and the old stone cross remain to remind us of the people who once lived here. That alone makes it worth a visit – that, and of course the distillery and the glorious beach nearby.
Kilchoman’s handful of buildings are dominated by the grey, unadorned, faintly ominous-looking church. It’s no beauty, and it’s not especially old either: built in 1827, it was apparently still in use until 1977. Once the congregation abandoned it, though, the roof collapsed. What remains today is a ruin with an angular tower, home to a good number of crows.
Around the church stretches a graveyard many centuries old. The gravestones are in places cracked and heavily weathered, but many of the inscriptions can still be read. Visitors often come from overseas to trace their Scottish roots and former relatives here.
Also in the graveyard stands the old Celtic cross, though it doesn’t mark a grave. At 2.57 metres tall, it’s almost as large as Kildalton Cross, though considerably flatter. It also dates from “only” the 14th century. Even so, it’s a masterpiece, and beautiful to look at.
The fine engravings depict scenes from the Crucifixion of Christ, a number of angels and saints, and, most likely, images of the cross’s donor and his father. On the other side of the Kilchoman Cross, by contrast, you’ll find typically Celtic patterns.
Personal notes: the ghost of the Clearances
You can feel the abandonment here quite clearly. Seeing how many people are buried here, you get a real sense of how many people must once have lived in this area. Compare that to today… the Highland Clearances did some terrible damage.
Did you know: what’s behind the “Old Parish Church”
Locals call the building in Kilchoman the “old parish church”. A parish is simply a congregation, and Kilchoman was once a large parish with a long tradition, serving the north-west of the island as its catchment area. But as across the whole island, the population declined rapidly from the mid-19th century onward: where there were once around 15,000 residents, there are barely 3,000 today – and most of those now live in the larger centres like Bowmore.
The word “old” doesn’t really fit Kilchoman Church, though, as mentioned above – the current building replaced a 14th-century church, which in turn had replaced an early-Christian chapel dating all the way back to the 6th century! That alone gives a sense of just how much tradition this site carries.
Incidentally, Kilchoman is pronounced roughly “kil-HO-man”. “Kil” comes from the Gaelic for church, and you’ll come across this syllable often on Islay – in Kildalton and Kilchiaran, for instance. Kilchoman means “church of the holy Comman”. Comman was a 7th-century Irish saint, from the early days of Christianisation.
Tip: the second stone cross in the field, and the military cemetery
A short walk is well worth it. In the nearby field, about 300 metres to the south-west, a second, smaller cross is hidden, believed to date back as far as the 9th century.
Towards the beach, you’ll also find a military cemetery. Buried here are 71 sailors who died in a shipwreck in nearby Machir Bay in 1918.
Getting there:
Coming from Port Ellen, take the main A847 towards Bruichladdich, but turn right beforehand towards Sanaigmore and Kilchoman. Follow the B8018, but instead of continuing to Sanaigmore, go straight on to Kilchoman. Soon you’ll see the grey church on your left. Drive up to it – the road ends in a turning circle, where you can park.
