Undiscovered Scotland

 

Acharacle Parish Church stands in a raised location overlooking a triangular road junction towards the northern end of the dispersed settlement of Acharacle. There is a gateway immediately below the church beside the road. This only gives access to the lower churchyard, and the panels either side of the arch are home to Acharacle's war memorial.

The church and the upper churchyard are reached by oblique paths leading up from the road in either direction at a more gentle gradient, with the one from the north apparently the more frequently used. There is parking available off the road (an important consideration as many of the roads in the area and in Acharacle itself are single track) in the triangular green area below the church.

The church itself will look a little familiar to anyone who has toured the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It was one of many "Parliamentary Churches" built in the 1820s using public money to reduce the size of parishes.

They tend to be known as Telford Churches as the renowned engineer Thomas Telford oversaw the programme and had a hand in the standard design. Most Telford Churches were built to a T-plan, but a number, presumably meant for less populous parishes, skipped the leg of the "T" and so emerged as a rectangle. Acharacle Parish Church is one of them. The design is attributed to William Thompson, who worked for Thomas Telford. It seems that in this case William Thompson was also the contractor who built the church in 1829.

The church has large windows in both side walls. The interior you see today dates back to a refurbishment in the 1930s and has plain white walls above light wood panelling that make the most of the light coming in through the windows. Most of the furnishings are also in an attractive light wood, while the ceiling is made of a much darker finished wood. We suspect that when originally built the interior would have been configured rather differently, with the pulpit placed mid way along one wall, probably the east side, and seating arranged to face in towards the minister to ensure the congregation gained maximum benefit from the minister's sermons.

The church is surrounded by a churchyard on two levels, which contains no obvious indications that there was a place of worship here before the church you see today was built. The most striking memorials are a triptych of stone crosses in a low stone enclosure in front of the church. These commemorate members of the Dunell Rudd family of Ardnamurchan. To the south-west of the church is a modern wooden building on posts that presumably serves as a church hall.

The parish of Acharacle is linked with that of Ardnamurchan, to give what is referred to as the "Aanda Parishes". Acharacle Church and Ardnamurchan Church in Kilchoan are separated by a considerable length of single track road and services alternate between the two.