Historic SiteArgyll and ButeHistoric Scotland4.7
Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
Historic Scotland says there is parking at the end of the road, south of Kingarth, then a short walk up the signposted track towards the trees, but publishes no charge or free statement, so the status is recorded as unknown. Reviewers describe roadside spaces rather than a formal car park and a walk of about 10 minutes uphill.
Driving pin: the parking at the end of Plan Road, 393 m south-west of Historic Scotland's own pin on the ruins. Bute is reached by CalMac ferry from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay (about 35 minutes) or from Colintraive to Rhubodach (5 minutes); buses run from Rothesay to Kilchattan Bay, the start of the West Island Way. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.
St Blane's Church lies among trees below St Blane's Hill at the south end of Bute, one of the earliest Christian sites in Scotland and the best preserved on the island. A monastery was founded here in the late 500s; tradition says by St Catan, who set his pregnant sister adrift, and her son Blane grew up in Ulster before returning to succeed him as abbot and bishop until his death about 590. Viking raids ended it about 790. A stone wall divided the secular from the spiritual, and footings of round buildings, a well and the base of a cross survive. The cemetery is in two parts, and a hogback stone of the 900s or 1000s shows that Norse settlers became Christian. In the upper cemetery stands the parish church of Kingarth of the mid-1100s, used until the Reformation, its Romanesque chancel arch exceptional. Park at the end of Plan Road and walk about ten minutes up a signposted track; the West Island Way passes by.
Historic Scotland: 'St Blane's Church is free to visit and open year-round.' No hours, closures or notices on 20 October 2026; not on Historic Scotland's closures page. Visitors can join Historic Scotland's Monument Monitor project by photographing the site.
A short uphill walk on a signposted track to the ruins in their trees, with information posts round the monastic enclosure, cemeteries and church. No toilets or other facilities.
Photo: The two gables of the roofless Romanesque church at St Blane's, with its chancel arch and round-headed windows, on grass among tall trees. DeFacto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Blane%27s_Church.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Dog access not confirmed
A waymarked, mostly off-road route of 48 km (52 km with the Balnakailly option) from Kilchattan Bay to Port Bannatyne over 2 to 4 days, past 'the medieval chapel of St Blane'; reached by CalMac ferry to Rothesay and a regular bus to Kilchattan Bay. Free.
