Undiscovered Scotland

 

There is no settlement called Torosay on Mull today. But when the owners of what at the time was called Duart House sold the derelict Duart Castle to the Chief of the Clan Maclean for restoration to its former glory in 1911, they decided to rename their own house to avoid future confusion.

The name they chose was Torosay Castle, a name that dated back to the pre-Reformation parish covering this part of Mull, one of seven on the island until 1560. To say that Torosay is an old name for the area around Craignure is probably over-simplifying things, but it's not a bad place to start.

The attractive white-harled church that stands in the southern part of Craignure today is usually referred to as either Craignure (Torosay) Church or just Torosay Church. Parishes on Mull have come and gone over the centuries. After the Reformation the whole island (and surrounding small islands) simply became the unified Parish of Mull.

From 1688, the island was split into two parishes, covering the northern and southern halves of the island. And from 1720 the southern parish was again divided, this time into one covering the Ross of Mull and western Mull, and the other covering eastern Mull.

The newly established parish covering eastern Mull took the name, disused since 1560, of Torosay. Though to add another layer of complication to the story, the modern name properly used for the parish is Torosay and Kinlochspelve. This reflects the inclusion within it of the little known area of south-east Mull that includes Kinlochspelve, Lochbuie and Croggan. Which is a long-winded way of explaining why the church in Craignure has a sign referring to it as the Church of Scotland: Torosay and Kinlochspelve.

The church itself was built in 1783, and was the subject of renovation and repair in 1828, 1832, 1869 and 1887. Externally, its most striking features are the matching sets of steps on its southern wall which lead up to doors giving access to galleries at the church's east and west ends.

Internally, the theme of "Presbyterian preaching box" has been retained. The focus of the church is on the pulpit which backs onto the centre of the south wall, thus placing the best of the light at the minister's back. Decoration that might distract from the minister's message has been kept to a minimum, and the ground-floor stalls either face into the centre of the church from its ends, or south towards the pulpit if in the central portion of the church.