Kilmory Oib Township
The ruins of a township of at least seventeen buildings in Knapdale Forest, with an early Christian cross-marked stone.
Kilmory Oib is the ruin of a township deep in Knapdale Forest, on the mainland, near the edge of Loch Coille Bharr: the tumbled stone walls of at least seventeen buildings, houses and byres for the animals, among the grass, bracken and trees.
Two round piles of rubble may be the remains of kilns for drying corn, and beside a small well stands an early Christian stone carved with a cross, thought to date from the eighth or ninth century.
Kilmory, as it was usually called, was part of an estate known as Oib, the Gaelic for a bay or inlet. The Campbells held it until 1785, when Neil Campbell sold it to Neil Malcolm of Poltalloch. Tax lists name its tenants from 1694 until 1843, but no one knows exactly when or how it was abandoned; by 1873 its houses stood roofless. It lies about half a mile along the Loch Coille Bharr walk, from Barnluasgan.
Start from Barnluasgan, the best place to enter the forest, and follow the red waymarkers of the Loch Coille Bharr walk, graded moderate; the township is about half a mile along the forest track.
- Getting there
- By road: Lochgilphead, then the B841 and B8025 by the Crinan Canal towards Tayvallich.
- Start
- Barnluasgan.
- Walk
- Loch Coille Bharr trail, red markers; half a mile to the site.
Knapdale Forest, near Loch Coille Bharr, Argyll, PA31 8PS.
Nether Largie Standing StonesFive tall stones in Kilmartin Glen raised some 3,200 years ago, thought to mark the rising and setting of the moon.6 miles8 min by road
Achnabreck Rock ArtCup and ring marks carved into the rock some 5,000 years ago, among the finest prehistoric rock art in Scotland, in Kilmartin Glen.6 miles10 min by road
Duntrune CastleThought to be Scotland's oldest continuously occupied castle, on a rock above Loch Crinan, home of the Malcolms since 1792.6 miles17 min by road
Kilmartin StonesMedieval West Highland grave slabs of warriors, swords and interlace in the churchyard at Kilmartin.7 miles10 min by road
Dunadd FortThe rock of the Gaelic kings of Dál Riata in Kilmartin Glen, with footprints carved for the making of kings.8 miles14 min by road
Places to stay near the township, and when each is next free.
Scotland, in print.
Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.
For further reading, before you go.