Cill Chriosd

Cill Chriosd, or Kilchrist, stands on a small mound above the B8083 road in Strath on the Isle of Skye. The ruined church replaced an earlier medieval building in the 16th century and served the parish until 1840. Its low rubble walls still show dressed stone at the corners and a burial enclosure added in the early 18th century for the Mackinnons. The south wall holds three windows with inward splays, while the east gable once had a similar window now blocked up. The church’s interior measures about 16 metres by 5 metres and its side walls rise just under 2.5 metres. The site has deep Christian roots going back to the 7th century when St Mael Ruba preached nearby. Records from 1505 list early ministers such as Kenneth Adamson and John Johnson. In 1627 Neil Mackinnon became the first Protestant minister and enforced strict Sunday rules, though workmen later outwitted him by ploughing after service. The graveyard holds many 18th- and 19th-century MacKinnon memorials and once featured unusual stones, including one with obscure markings for Chief Lachlan Mor. Visitors find the long low ruin set among weathered gravestones and a walled burial enclosure. A worn medieval slab with an ornate cross lies in the south corner, and a slate slab bears a worn foliated cross. An armorial stone and fragments of a crude cross also stand in the yard. The church’s doorway in the south wall shows splayed jambs and square sconces, while its walls tilt slightly from true east–west. The quiet mound overlooks Strath and offers a glimpse of Skye’s layered past.