Thomas Telford’s churches on Islay

Sunday, October 07 2007

This month marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of the pre-eminent Scottish engineer Thomas Telford who is credited with the construction of in excess of 1,500 miles of roadway, over 400 bridges, many leading harbours and jetties, as well as the Menai Bridge and the Caledonian Canal. He was also commissioned by Parliament to provide 32 churches and 71 manses throughout the Highland and Islands at a total cost of £1,500 each. Here, on Islay, one of these Parliament churches is still in use as a regular place of worship. Portnahaven Church in the Rhinns peninsula was built in the mid 1820s to plans drawn up by Telford. Although he did not oversee the actual construction, he appointed superintendents to ensure his plans were adhered to and that all was kept within the stipulated budget. Parishioners could choose if they wanted a gallery within their church building and the people of the Rhinns raised sufficient money to have such a facility installed within their kirk. Kilmeny Church at Ballygrant was remodelled in 1828 to plans drawn up by Telford and is situated in an area which was the site of a number of medieval and early Celtic places of worship. Portnahaven and Kilmeny Churches are now a linked charge and their parish minister is the Rev Steve Fulcher who also ministers to the congregation at St Kiaran’s Church on the outskirts of Port Charlotte. St Kiaran’s was opened for worship in 1899 and was designated a parish church in 1977 following the closure of the church at Kilchoman due to the area’s depopulation and the resultant difficulty in maintaining a parish church in the district.

This story was published with kind permission from The Ileach - Community Newspaper of the year.

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