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MHG7637 - Medieval chapel - Applecross Churchyard

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Chapel (NR) (Remains) OS 6"map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1905)
A chapel said to have been founded in C15. In 1859 it was in use as vault of Applecross family but by 1953 it was roofless. There are fragments of cross-shaft, showing spiral, fret and interlacing in E wall.
W Reeves 1862; Name Book 1875; W J Watson 1904; B G Macrow 1953

This chapel is a roofless ruin measuring 4m NW-SE by 4.5m with walling 0.7m thick. There is a door in NW wall and a blocked window in each of other walls. No trace of the cross-shaft fragment could be found but it may be hidden under harling.
Visited by OS (R D) 28 April 1968

The churchyard (by extension including the chapel) and the remains of the C7 monastery were Scheduled in 1969.

The Old Parish Church and burial ground (by extension including the chapel) were listed at category B on 25/03/1971.

The chapel, now a disused, roofless vault is 5.5m long, but W wall is modern and three other sides, although mainly original, have been heightened. MacRae (Mr Macrae, Blind Institute, Inverness) says that he found foundations of original W gable while digging graves, indicating a total length of about 12m. Inside chapel is a broken sandstone block, 0.5m deep, bearing a dished hollow. This may be the alleged font found in 1874 (NG74NW 4) although it looks more like a broken saddle quern.
Visited by OS (A A) 31 May 1974.

See also NG74NW 2 Cross-slab and NG74NW 7 Old Parish Church. Close-Brooks 1986.

Chapel is seriously deteriorating. Probably, extensive ivy is all that holds much of the walls together (although appears to have been partly cut back). The northern wall (ie farthest from later chapel) is collapsing and loose stones now lie close by - HAW 5/2003

Following a site visit and assessment by Historic Environment Scotland in 2016-17 as part of the Dual Designations project, it was considered that the early Christian monastery, the cross-slab and the small roofless chapel were of national importance and would remain scheduled and would be excluded from the listed building designation. In addition, all the other memorials and the Old Parish Church were considered to be of special architectural or historic interest and would remain listed at category B. They would also be excluded from the scheduled monument. <1>

The listing and Scheduling were amended on 29/05/2017. <2> <3>

GIS spatial data amended in 2018 according to OS MasterMap and description of possible extension to west. <4>

SEE NG 74 SW 0001 and NG 74 NW 0003B

See also:
NG74NW0001 (Parent) St. Maelrubha's monastery
NG74NW0002 Cross-slab
NG74NW0003 Churchyard chapel
NG74NW0005 Old Parish Church
NG74NW0006 Burial Ground
NG74NW0014 Font
JW 11/10/00

Sources/Archives (9)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 7139 4588 (17m by 15m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG74NW
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	APPLECROSS

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