Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum in Kilmun, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, consists of St Munn's Church (a Category-A-listed building but no longer a parish church of the Church of Scotland), as well as the adjacent mausoleum of the Dukes of Argyll and a historically significant churchyard. The complex is located on the summit of a slight knoll about ten metres from the shoreline of the Holy Loch on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, Scotland. The existing church dates from 1841Historic Klmun, Visit Historic Klmun, leaflet by Argyll Mausoleum Ltd, Kilmun 2015. and occupies the site of an older, medieval church. A partly ruined tower from the medieval period still stands to the west of the present building.
St Munn's Church
History Most of St Munn's Parish Church as it appears today dates from the 19th century, although the old, ruined tower located to the west of the present building (now a scheduled monument) belongs to a much older foundation.Historic Scotland, Kilmun, St Munn's Parish Church (church of Scotland) including Argyll and Douglas Mausolea (online), access date 8 April 2015.
In the 7th century, an Irish monk, St Munn (Fintán of Taghmon), founded a monastic community at Kilmun. The remains of a 12th-century church are still visible. At the present site, a church building is recorded in the 13th century. By the 15th century, the significance of Kilmun as a local centre of Christianity was so great that the adjacent loch became known as the Holy Loch, and the powerful Clan Campbell adopted it as their spiritual home. From the 14th century, Dunoon Castle, a short distance away, was held by the Campbell family and in the 1440s Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochawe (later 1st Lord Campbell), the then chief of the clan, lived near Kilmun in a private residence named Strathechaig.Historic Kilmun, The Argyll Mausoleum: List of Burials (online), access date 9 April 2015. When his eldest son Archibald died tragically in 1442, the young man was laid to rest at Kilmun. This marked the beginning of the tradition of Kilmun as Campbell burial place.
Soon after this, the said Sir Duncan Campbell endowed Kilmun parish church as a collegiate church, ensuring continued praying there for him, his ancestors and his descendants. At that time, Kilmun was closely linked with Paisley Abbey, and St Munn was adopted as the patron saint of Clan Campbell. At the collegiate church, a provost and five chaplains were appointed. The now partly ruined tower to the west of Kilmun Parish Church was the residence for these six clergymen and a place of refuge for the local population during dangerous times. The clergymen at Kilmun were priests living as a community, not actual monks, and could have played an active part in the local community in addition to their religious duties of saying prayers and masses.Historic Klmun, Kilmun Church and Argyll Mausoleum, souvenir booklet by Argyll Mausoleum Ltd, Kilmun 2015. Duncan Campbell died in 1453 and was buried near the altar of his collegiate church. This began the tradition of burying chiefs of Clan Campbell at Kilmun.
In 1688 the choir of the collegiate church was re-built to serve as a parish church.
In 1841 the bulk of the collegiate church was demolished to make way for a new church designed by architect Thomas Burns. A new church building had become necessary to house the increasing number of summer visitors to the Holy Loch. A thorough restoration of the parish church and Argyll Mausoleum was carried out in the 1890s, led by the Marquess of Lorne, who later succeeded as 9th Duke of Argyll. Between 1898 and 1899, the architect Peter McGregor Chalmers re-arranged the interior of the church and also designed much of the carved chancel furniture and paneling.
Kilmun Parish Church became a Category-A-listed building on 20 July 1971.
Following a lengthy period of gradual degradation by water damage to the Argyll Mausoleum, which had started with the installation of the large cast iron dome in the 1890s and which had begun to affect Kilmun Parish Church during the 1970s, a charitable company (Argyll Mausoleum Ltd) was established by local activists to manage a major renovation project,Laura Maxwell, "Effort to save Campbell mausoleum", BBC Scotland news, 6 January 2010 (online), access date 9 April 2015. the first since the refurbishment of the mausoleum under the Marquess of Lorne in the 1890s. Argyll Mausoleum Ltd was given the task of managing fundraising to repair the Argyll Mausoleum and the church, to create a visitor facility and a programme of community events .Clan Campbell Society of New Zealand, Auckland, Argyll Mausoleum- Resting Place of the Campbells (online ), access date 9 April 2015. Having raised nearly £600,000 to carry out the work, conservation architects and building contractors were appointed in 2011. During the last quarter of 2012, Argyll Mausoleum Ltd focused on historical research and the archaeological study of the site. Conservation of the mausoleum and construction of the visitor centre with a series of interpretation panels began in the spring of 2013, and the refurbished site was opened to the public in April 2015. Volunteers now offer regular guided tours of both church and mausoleum on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from the beginning of April through to the end of October. The Church of Scotland are currently seeking to dispose of Kilmun Parish Church; it is no longer an active place of worship for the dwindling local community.
Architecture
Exterior St Munn's is built of snecked, squared sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. The roof is made of grey slate. The main body of the church is on a T-shaped floor plan, with the nave extending to the north.
At the head of the T-shaped building is a small, modern square bell tower with corner finials and a pierced stone parapet, over an advanced, gabled central bay. The old tower to the west of the present church, which features ashlar sandstone, seems to have been part of the medieval parish church which was endowed as a collegiate church in 1442 by Sir Duncan Campbell.
The church is lit by single lancet windows on the main southern wall and by wider traceried lancets on the eastern and western gables. The church contains a number of stained glass windows, many by Stephen Adam, including life of Christ scenes and a portrait of George Miller of Invereck as St Matthew. Adam's successor, Alfred Webster, designed a number of later windows, including a war memorial window in the northern gable. The halls in the north-western angle of the church were built in 1909–10, also by Chalmers. Piend-roofed, with mullioned and leaded windows.
Interior In 1898–99, the architect Peter McGregor Chalmers re-arranged the interior of St Munn's, forming an open choir in the place of the closed vestry on the southern wall. He introduced new arcades supporting the eastern and western galleries. Much of the intricately carved chancel furniture and panelling was also designed by McGregor Chalmers.
The church's flat ceiling is supported by decorative Tudor-arched trusses supported on stone corbels. The walls are rendered with exposed sandstone dressings and panelled to dado height.
The church contains a hydraulically powered organ by Norman & Beard of 1909,Scotland's Churches Trust: Kilmun Parish Church website (online), access date 9 April 2015. which (apart from St Mary's, Dalkeith) is probably the only water-powered organ in Scotland still in use.
Argyll Mausoleum
History The Argyll Mausoleum is separate from, but attached to, St Munn's Church. The mausoleum was commissioned in the 1790s by John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll to house the remains of the Dukes and Earls of Argyll, Chiefs of the Clan Campbell, and their families.Historic Kilmun, The Argyll Mausoleum: History Through Pictures (online), access date 8 April 2015. It is currently managed by Argyll Mausoleum Ltd, under the banner of Historic Kilmun, who also have a modern visitor centre in the vestry of Kilmun Church, open between April and October (inclusive) on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Constructed in 1795–96 to the designs of James Lowrie, the Argyll Mausoleum is the burial place of most Dukes of Argyll. It was built around an already extant Campbell vault which was originally located inside the collegiate church. Beginning with Archibald Campbell in 1442, the early burials on the site were under the floor of the medieval church, but the practice was forbidden in 1588 during the Reformation. While outlawing burials inside churches, it did not put an immediate end to the practice, and the Campbells eventually began to build a 'burial aisle', attached to the church.Argyll and the Isles’ Secrets Collection: St Munns and the Argyll Mausoleum, published by forargyll.com on 28 April 2013 (online), access date 10 April 2015. A private chapel with family vault was constructed off the nave of the church by the 9th Earl of Argyll in 1669. This vault remained in situ when the collegiate church was demolished and the present church built. When the private chapel was demolished and a separate mausoleum built in its place, some of the more important remains were moved from the private chapel into the mausoleum. These included the effigies of Duncan Campbell and his wife. When in 1841 the old collegiate church was replaced, partially on the original site, by the current larger parish church, two of the walls of the Argyll Mausoleum were integrated into the new church. The current building thus replaces an earlier chapel in the collegiate church and records indicate that Chiefs of the Clan Campbell have been buried or commemorated here since the 15th century – a total of twenty generations over 500 years.
When the Argyll Mausoleum was built in the 1790s, it first had a slate pyramid roof. The slate roof was replaced with a large cast iron dome during a thorough restoration of the mausoleum in the 1890s which was led by the Marquess of Lorne. While the installation of the large cast iron dome helped to improve lighting within the mausoleum, it was never properly sealed to the supporting walls and water began to enter the building. Water ingress seems to have been confined to the Argyll Mausoleum itself until around the 1970s. It then started to affect the adjacent parish church. St Munn's congregation were concerned and, assuming that the mausoleum was the property of the Duke of Argyll's Estates, requested that the problem be addressed. It turned out that the Dukes of Argyll did not own the mausoleum, but that it had transferred to the ownership of the Argyll and Bute Council in the 1920s. A 30-year legal wrangle ensued, before the situation was finally resolved and the Council conceded ownership of the deteriorating building. In the early 2000s, a survey described the state of the mausoleum: "It has got water coming in the roof, water coming in the walls (...) Every time I come here I see more pieces of stone dropping off. The place is desperately in need of restoration."
The necessary work was eventually carried out under the management of Argyll Mausoleum Ltd, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the mausoleum was reopened in April 2015. You can now visit the beautifully restored mausoleum, church and visitor centre from Thurs - Saturday, 10am - 4pm, between the beginning of April and the end of October.
Architecture
Exterior The Argyll Mausoleum is located at the north-east corner of the church and connected with the latter. The mausoleum is on a square-shaped floor plan with the pointed-arched entrance on the northern elevation, flanked by two blind-traceried lancets and applied pilasters.
One of the most noticeable features of the Argyll Mausoleum is the