Kilmartins Tombs

The village of Kilmartin in Western Scotland….just 30 minutes south of Oban, is one of the most spectacular and historic villages in Scotland. The first time I arrived, I saw the church with the small car park in front, and the village pub, sitting drearily on the opposite side of the road. The bus stop and shelter were nestled into a lay-by in which I parked the car.

I was here to find some interesting tomb stones and perhaps some standing stones in the valley/Glen beneath the village.

The tomb stones were going to be found inside the churchyard and the church itself, so in I went.

The existing church is completely unremarkable and was built in the 1800s, but inside its hallowed halls I found what I was looking for. 3 ancient crosses that smack of a much earlier period. One of them dates back to the 1400s and the other two to the Dark Ages…the 900s.

This was wonderful… early Christian crosses in situ !

However there was more. In the cemetery outside were an array of tombstones indicating that they commemorated knights from the Middle Ages… Templar Knights and Lords of the Isles. Lords of the Isles was a title given to minor kings who claimed ascendancy over the Scottish Isles.

So…. Remarkable history already!

But that’s not all. Next to the church is a cafe and a small museum…. Nay, a tiny museum….. but the village is very proud of it. It shows the history of the village… before the Christians came to town. It shows how the village sits on a hill which is partly made up of a vast ‘midden’ heap ( refuse) which was created long before the Romans came to Britain ( although they never found their way up here). So if there’s a refuse heap, there were people!….. lots of them.

I walked down into the valley to find some of them.

The valley floor is littered with great neolithic burial mounds and stone circles, a couple of which you climb down into…. One of which still has the grave ‘cut’ lying on the interior floor.

Needless to say, I spent the day walking and thinking….. researching and contemplating….. contemplating how these people lived and died, here in the far Western reaches of what is now Scotland.

It’s a magical place and one which is an important part of my Scottish Highlands tour in 2022….. it’s a chance to open your mind and a chance to understand where you came from…. We all have forefathers !

Contact me if you’re interested in a small group tour the Scottish Highlands.