Kilmory Knap Chapel

Kilmory Knap Chapel stands in the hamlet of Kilmory at the end of the single-track road down the east side of Loch Sween, near a sandy beach: a simple rectangular Highland church of the early 1200s, now roofed to protect the carved stones inside. Seven early Christian cross-marked stones show a much older church and a long tradition of burial here. Nearly 40 carved stones from then to the 1500s are gathered in the chapel, most of them West Highland grave slabs of the 1300s to 1500s, many for the MacMillans, carved with swords, ships, animals, monsters, combs and tools, with effigies of armed warriors and praying clerics; some even carry the carvers' names. The great disc-headed MacMillan's Cross of the 1400s, almost three metres tall, was raised for Alexander MacMillan, keeper of Castle Sween, and shows a huntsman and hounds attacking a stag on one face and the crucified Christ on the other. The key hangs on a chain at the door: let yourself in during opening hours.