Jura Journey - Day 4

Today we stop to explore two old chapel sites and their burial grounds. The first is Cill Chaluim Chille, St Columba's Church at Tarbert. The grass-grown foundation of the church can still be seen, and at one end of the burial ground is a 6-foot tall cross-incised standing stone. 

Cill Chaluim Chille - Tarbert

Church foundation and standing stone -  Cill Chaluim Chille

Cill Chaluim Chille

My company at Cille Chaluim Cille

To the side of the road, 1000 feet east of the site, is another, and much larger standing stone. It is easy to find, but not so easy to find is the holy well dedicated to St Columba. It is said to lie at the foot of the low cliffs east of the cemetery. I spent an hour searching in the boggy and fenced off terrain, but I could not find it.

Standing Stone at roadside - Chille Chaluim Cille

Our next stop, four miles up the road, is the burial ground of Kilchianaig at Inverlussa. No traces remain of the chapel dedicated to the mysterious St Cianag. But it is worth a visit both for its beautiful setting, and to see the tombstone of Mary MacCrain, who died in 1856 at the age of 128. Mary was descended from Gillour MacCrain, who died in 1671 and is said to have lived to the ripe old age of 180.

Kilchianaig at Inverlussa

Tombstones in Kilchianaig - Mary MacCrain's at centre

Mary MacCrain's Tombstone