Kintail
Associated Chapels: Cille Fearchair {NGR NG 939188}; Kilillan {NGR NG 947301.
Parish Church: OS Ref: NGR NG946210 H.E.S. No: NG92SW 3 Dedication: St Duthac
The parish of Kintail (Kilduich) is bounded on the south by Glenelg parish, runs northward along the boundary between Invernesshire and Rosshire as far as Loch Monar, and has on the north west the water of Long and the salt-water lochs Lochlong and Lochalsh. The church stood at Kilduich at the head of Loch Duich.
The former parish church of Kintail was dedicated to St. Duthac or Dubhthach, who is thought to have died about 1065 at Tain on the east coast of Rosshire where his shrine was (and still is) venerated as a place of pilgrimage.
Although the church of Kintail has a venerable heritage there is, within the parish, a much older establishment at Kilillan which dates to the 9th-century.
The building at Kilduich was used in 1719 as a hospital for the Jacobite wounded after the Battle of Glenshiel and, in retribution, was burnt by the Government forces. It was later repaired and was certainly still in use in 1836; and probably remained so until the present church {NGR NG 929212} was built in 1856.
The four walls of this church still stand to roof height. They are 1.0m thick and show indications of recent repair work. The area inside the church walls is the ancestral burial ground of the chiefs of the Clan Macrae, known since ancient times as Clachan Duich. However, since there is, at the time of writing, no Chief of Macrae recognized by the Lord Lyon, the previous Chieftains can rest in undisturbed peace. The graveyard around the church is still in use by the local people and has been extended to the west.
This church, both parsonage and vicarage, became a common church of the cathedral of Ross shortly after 1255/6, when it was one of the churches of 'North Argyll' which were granted at that time to the diocese. It remained so annexed up to the time of the Reformation.
The ancient parish lands of Kintail were divided, in later times, into two parishes - Kintail and Glenshiel.
The church for the new parish of Glensheil was built in 1758 on the estate of Letterfearn {NGR NG 900215}
Above: Clachan Duich and the old Parish Church of Kintail.
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