Cladh Choinnich - South Uist

Sometimes, while reading old books on the Scottish islands, you'll come across a short, and somewhat obscure mention of an historic site; a short mention that only serves to whet your appetite for more. But in many cases that appetite goes unrequited, because you can not find any more information. One such short mention is this from DDC Pochin Mould's West Over Sea:

Above Lochboisdale, to the northward, rises Beinn Ruigh Choinnich, the mountain of Kenneth's shieling; at its foot lies Cladh Choinnich, Kenneth's Field, the site of an old chapel.

Cladh usually means burial ground, and there is a Cladh Choinnich on the west end of Tiree associated with St Kenneth. Knowing some of the fascinating history of Kenneth, a contemporary of St Columba, I was very interested in seeing the site of another chapel and burial ground that may be associated with him. But my search for any more information only turned up a frustratingly brief CANMORE reference that says nothing remains of the chapel and burial ground. But, what if they missed something?  And so I put a visit to South Uist's Cladh Choinnich on my list of things to do.

I visited Cladh Choinnich last year as part of a two-day hike around Beinn Ruigh Choinnich (see the August 24, 2016 post). But the site can be seen by doing a three-mile out and back from the road west of Lochboisdale.

The walk starts at the first bend in the minor road that heads north from the B865, a half mile west of Lochboisdale. From there you will see a path that heads north next to the house at NF 7861 2023. The narrow path can be swampy, so the going is slow. After 15 minutes of walking you'll come to an old bridge at Aurotote that crosses the outflow of Loch a' Bharp.

Bridge at Aurotote

After crossing the bridge turn right and head east along the shore of the outflow. In a half mile you'll reach a large sheepfank that looks to have originally been a substantial farm.

After another 10 minutes of walking you will come to a cluster or jumbled stone ruins, almost completely covered with vegetation. You have reached Cladh Choinnich. 

Looking to Lochboisdale from Cladh Choinnich

There are several low, circular foundations, that may have been beehive type dwellings. In a heavily brackened area I found a low, rectangular arrangement of stones that could have been a chapel, or a burial ground enclosure. Or, for that matter, an ancient livestock pen. But something important was here at one time, something that is remembered in oral history, if not in written history.

Ruins at Cladh Chonnich

Cladh Choinnich

Enclosure?  Cladh Choinnich

For a sacred, but mostly forgotten place like Cladh Choinnich, with so little remaining, you need some imagination to picture it as it was 15 centuries ago. Which makes it all the more interesting. Adding to the delight of walking in to a place like this is that it is so far off the tourist trail that, chances are, you'll have it all to yourself. When I made my two-day hike around this corner of Uist I only encountered one other person, a shepherd out gathering his flock.

Since you've come as far as Cladh Choinnich, you might as well carry on a ways and climb Beinn Ruigh Choinnich. The summit is only a half-mile away (and 900 feet up). The view over South Uist and the Sea of the Hebrides is well worth the climb. But you might want to avoid doing it the first Sunday of August, as that's when the annual Beinn Ruigh Choinnich race is held. The 2016 race was cancelled, because on the first Sunday of August a terrible storm blew through the islands. The same storm that caused an oil rig to go aground off the west side of Lewis.

The record for the run from Lochboisdale to the summit of Beinn Ruigh Choinnich and back is 30 minutes. See the Ben Kenneth Hill Race website for more information.

St Kenneth's Chapel - Mull

Since it is very much off the beaten path, I do not think that St Kenneth's Chapel, also known as Caibel Mheamhair (the Chapel of Remembrance), at Laggan on Mull sees many visitors. But it should be seen, for it lies in a beautiful spot just above Loch Buie. Portions of the building date to between the 12th and 15th centuries, and in 1864 it was converted into a mausoleum for the Maclaines of Loch Buie. 

Chapel of St Kenneth - Laggan

I wanted to see the chapel due to its association with St Kenneth; the same saint who established a monastery on the island of Inchkenneth, twelve miles to the northwest. So when the opportunity arose to go ashore at Lochbuie during a Hebridean cruise, I made a two mile round-trip walk to the chapel. The chapel/mausoleum is in very good shape, having been extensively refurbished in 1972. Interred here are several Maclaine chiefs; most commemorated with simple memorials; although the memorial for Murdoch Maclain (The 21st chief:1791-1844) is quite extensive. 

Memorial to Murdoch Maclaine (21st Chief)

A good source for stories about the Macleans and Maclaines of Mull is Thomas Hannan's The Beautiful Island of Mull (1926). In it I learned about another Murdoch Maclaine, the 22nd chief (see last photo). When he died in 1909, a steamer full of dignitaries set out from Oban to attend the funeral but, as Hannan describes below, they did not make it:

Murdoch Gillian Maclaine, who served in the Carabineers, and some experience of the Franco-German War in 1870-1871 as correspondent of The Times with the German Army. He did a great deal to develop his estate by turning it into a fine sporting estate... His funeral was a thoroughly Highland ceremony, carried out in one of those intense sea-fogs which occasionally shroud the island. A steamer had set out from Oban with a great company of Chiefs and others from the mainland, but it was not able to enter the loch (Lochbuie). Those on board were able to hear the wailing of the pipes as they played the lament, but the steamer had to return without its passengers taking part in the funeral service.

It must of been quite eerie, hearing the pipes echo across the sea from a fog shrouded chapel on a remote headland of Mull. For more info on St Kenneth's Chapel see this RCHAMS Link.

Memorial to Murdoch Maclaine (22nd Chief)