- Location: Lochawe, Dalmally PA33 1AQ
- Opening times: April to September 9am – 6pm, October to March 9am – 5pm (Note: The kirk may be closed for special events so check their online calendar before going).
- Entry: Free, although donations welcome (£3 suggested)
- Access: Limited free parking onsite
I have driven along the A85 from Tyndrum to Oban (and back again) umpteen times, passing through the village of Lochawe each time. And whether going east or west, I have noticed the signs – not brown, sadly – proudly proclaiming the local church as historic, and each time I have looked at it and thought, ‘nice old church’, and driven on by, even its promise of a tearoom failing to tempt me. And each time I have been wrong on both counts. St. Conan’s Kirk is not an old building, nor is it ‘nice’. A more appropriate adjective would be ‘astounding’.
The church was the brainchild of Walter Douglas Campbell and was reputedly built as a chapel of ease for his elderly mother, who found the journey to the local parish church too fatiguing. Construction began in 1881 and lasted five years, but Campbell wanted something grander so set about extending it between 1906 and 1914. When he died that year his final vision of the church was not yet realised, so his sister Helen ensured plans were underway to finish the project by the time of her death in 1927, and the church was consecrated in 1930.
What makes it a thing of wonder was Campbell’s refusal to adhere to one architectural style, and so this one church incorporates elements of almost all previous examples of ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland. Thus, there are examples of Roman, Celtic, Saxon, Norman, Gothic, and even pagan design, making St. Conan’s look less like a mediaeval church and more like a set from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The small, delightful, and totally superfluous cloister was built purely because cloisters were a common feature in all of Scotland’s ancient abbeys. Campbell also seemed to be an early proponent of recycling. For example, the heavy oak beams in the cloister were taken from a pair of obsolete warships HMS Caledonia and HMS Duke of Wellington, some of the kirk’s stonework and some mort-safes (again, totally superfluous) were sourced from a demolished church in Inchinnan, a window in the Bruce Chapel was originally the west window from Saint Mary’s Church in South Leith, and a chair came from Greyfriars, Edinburgh.
The church has three chapels, St. Conval’s, St. Brides, and the Bruce Chapel. St. Conval’s contains the tomb of Walter Campbell and his sister Helen, and it is Walter’s effigy that lies in repose on top of the tomb. St. Brides contains another tomb, that of their relative the Fourth Lord Blythswood, who oversaw the final construction of the church following the deaths of the Campbells and is of Norman design. The Bruce Chapel contains a marvellous wood and alabaster effigy of King Robert the Bruce lying in state on a cenotaph, and the small ossuary below contains one of the king’s bones, taken from Dunfermline Abbey.
Although not obvious from the road-facing side of the church, the east-facing exterior is equally idiosyncratic, with a wonderfully eclectic collision of styles and influences, including a Saxon-styled tower, Gothic flying buttresses, stones decorated with fernlike patterns, and a statue of the saint himself. I especially liked the three gargoyles in the shape of a dog chasing two hares situated at the building’s south end. The views over Loch Awe from the sundial are stunning, and the ruin of Kilchurn Castle can be glimpsed to the north.
Note: the tearoom mentioned above is closed late autumn through to early spring. Check website for details.
Destination or Diversion?
St. Conan’s Kirk was named one of Scotland’s top ten buildings of the last 100 years in a Royal Incorporation of Architects poll in 2016, and rightly so. It is an astonishing building, well worth the four-hour round trip to visit it. The description above is merely a sketch of its features, and the next time I am on the A85 I’ll be stopping to explore more. It is a destination well worth seeking out.