Cill Chrisosd, Strath Suardal, Isle of Skye
The church is located in the broad valley of Strath Suardal, a route that runs south west from Broadford all the way to Torrin on Loch Slapin. Today the valley is a quiet place, with only a few cottages and farms very thinly scattered along it. For several centuries this area was a hive of activity. Skye marble was being extracted from the south side of the valley as early as 1703. In 1907 a railway was built for the 3½ miles from the old pier at Broadford along Strath Suardal to a factory in which high quality marble was dressed and polished. In 1914 the onset of war led to the demise of the operation The church's location suggests a heritage of Christian worship that is thought to date back to the 600s, when St Maelrubha preached from the top of a nearby rocky knoll, still called Cnoc na-Aifhreann, or "hill of the mass". The first stone church to appear here probably did so in medieval times, the church whose ruins stand here today probably replaced that earlier church some time in the 1500s. The first written records relating to the church date back to 1505, though little is known beyond a basic list of the names of the ministers here. In 1627, one Neil MacKinnon was appointed to the post. He is remembered primarily for his meanness and his greed. This was the man who went on record as vowing to report the names of "all the Papists he knew within the Isles“ to the authorities. He also achieved fame for allowing his workmen only one meal a day on Sundays (compared with two on other days) because they were resting. They retaliated by working on a Sunday. Cill Chriosd continued in use until 1840, when it was replaced by a new parish church in the village of Broadford. Cill Chrisosd (Christ Church) is now the site of one of many Commonwealth War Grave cemeteries on the Isle of Skye.
Size: 4469px × 2971px
Location: Cill Chrisosd, Isle of Skye
Photo credit: © Ruth Craine / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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