Killdavie, eccles. Buchanan

Grid reference

NS 409 904 (general (5km))

Six-figure easting & northing

240900 690400

Latitude

56.07995102319474

Longitude

-4.556842570910343

Nearby places

Buchanan, parish (alias Inchcailloch) (0.14 miles)

Inchcailloch, island, Buchanan (0.14 miles)

St Kentigerna's Church, Buchanan (0.18 miles)

Balmaha, relief feature, Buchanan (0.58 miles)

Balmaha, settlement Buchanan (0.59 miles)

Object Classification

Ecclesiastical

Is linear feature?

No

Notes

This supposed church and its name appear in only one source, the Description of various parishes written by Alexander Graham of Duchray in 1724. And even here it seems that the place exists only in the imagination of local fishermen ('several judicious men') who report ruined buildings under the waters of Loch Lomond which appear during dry spells. 'In so much as they stand upon the old walls to turn off their boats particularly wtihin two mmiles of the mouth of Leven, they sie the ruines of a very great building, and in another place near the shore of the above ment[ioned] Isle of Inchcaillioth they observe the ruines of a church which tradition calls Killdavie' (Geog. Coll. i, 246). The fact that the church building itself may be imagined does not mean that the place-name, which is hagiophoric, is irrelevant. It may, however, be a transferred name (i.e. a name taken from another place and applied to this object, whether it is imaginary or not), rather than a genuine reflection of a saint's cult at the site. *** Note that Smith (Strathendrick, 98) cites the name as Kildarie, and identifies it with Inchcailloch church itself, rather than an underwater feature.

Relationships with other parishes

Within Buchanan, parish (alias Inchcailloch)