Undiscovered Scotland

 

Craignish Parish Church stands close to the shore of Loch Craignish at the south-western end of the village of Ardfern and close to the Galley of Lorne Inn. From the road, its proximity to the loch is hidden by the screen of trees which press closely round the south and east sides of the church.

The church was built in 1826-7 by the architect David McDougall. It is a plain oblong in shape and attractively Georgian in style. The outer walls are harled in white, with sandstone dressings on the corners and surrounding the round arched windows. The front of the church faces north and is topped off by a pediment supporting a bellcote. The whole effect is pleasingly symmetrical. The original door in the centre of the north wall has been blocked off, and entry is now via a door on the west side wall.

Internally, the church has an intimate feel. The high pulpit is placed centrally in the south wall, flanked by more arched windows. The pews on the ground floor of the church all face towards the pulpit, and much of the woodwork has been painted cream. Iron pillars support a gallery which extends over much of the north side and east and west ends of the church, leaving only a relatively small area around the pulpit and communion table which is open from floor to ceiling.

The church you see today stands on the site of a "preaching house" built to serve the Craignish Peninsula in 1692, when the Old Parish Church further down the peninsula, which dated back to the early 1200s, was abandoned. The preaching house was replaced by a church in 1730s, which in turn was replaced by the building you see today a little under a century later.