Extract from ‘The Island of Tiree’ by William Reeves, D.D.
Transcription of an extract from ‘The Island of Tiree’ by William Reeves, D.D. about the ancient chapels and graveyards on the island.
Dr Reeves’ monograph on the ecclesiastical antiquities of Tiree was published in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology in 1854. In it he lists thirteen sites at Balinoe, Cornaigmore, Balephetrish, Kirkapol, Kilkenneth, Kennavara, Kilmoluaig, Barrapol, Hynish, Heylipol and Caoles.
In the Statistical Account of the 1790s, Rev. Archibald MacColl recorded that on Tiree there were ‘15 remains of old chapels or churches, at some of which are burying grounds and crosses still to be seen.’ Esrkine Beveridge in his ‘Coll and Tiree’ proposed sites for the two chapels not identified by Dr Reeves.
The first is Caibeal Thomais (St Thomas’s Chapel) which was situated with its burial ground on the outskirts of Scarinish. The second is on Cnoc Grianal, a knoll on the north-west of Ben Hynish near to Balephuil, where there may be the remains of a building measuring some 12 by 24 feet lying on an east-west axis.