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Steve Fennell (7 years ago)
Extremely welcoming and a good cuppa to
Extremely welcoming and a good cuppa to
Cill Chriosd (Christ's Church or 'Kilchrist') is a ruined former parish church. The location is thought to have a heritage of Christian worship dating back to the 7th century, when St. Mael Ruba preached from nearby. The original Parish church for Strath was located at Ashiag, and was founded by St Mael Ruba in the 7th Century AD; the new parish church was relocated to this location in the later Middle Ages. The present ruined church probably replaced the first medieval stone church in the 16th century. Written records for the church date back to 1505.
The ruins of the church lie at the top of a small mound, surrounded by the graveyard. Records from 1913 show that there were a pair of unusual gravemarkers in the graveyard - one dedicated to Chief Lachlan Mor and carrying 'obscure hieroglyphics', the other possibly dating from the pre-Christian era. However, both have since vanished. Most graves are connected to Clan MacKinnon, and are from the 18th and 19th centuries. One memorial, in the inner wall of the burial enclosure, is for 'Charles Third', who was apparently born in Corry near Broadford as a MacKinnon but later died in Australia after emigrating. A worn medieval slab carved with an ornate cross is located in the south corner of the graveyard.
The churchyard also has an amorial stone, as well as a possible fragment of the necking and lower arms of a crude cross, with one side plane and the other side bearing two animals carved into a relief on the lower portion. The graveyard also contains a slab of slate with a foliated cross, with one side preserved but the other side worn away.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.