Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum

Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum
The church and medieval tower, with the northern Holy Loch in the background
Coordinates: 55°59′47″N 4°56′33″W / 55.9964°N 4.9424°W / 55.9964; -4.9424
OS grid reference	NS166821
Location	Kilmun, Cowal peninsula, Argyll and Bute.
Country	Scotland, United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of Scotland
Architecture
Status	open
Functional status	used
Years built	1841

Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum in Kilmun on the Cowal Peninsula, Scotland, consists of St Munn's Church (a Category-A-listed building and Kilmun's parish church of the Church of Scotland), as well as the adjacent mausoleum of the Dukes of Argyll and a historically significant churchyard. The complex is located on the summit of a slight knoll about ten metres from the shoreline of the Holy Loch. The existing church dates from 1841 and occupies the site of an older, medieval church. A partly ruined tower from the medieval period still stands to the west of the present building.

Most of St Munn's Parish Church as it appears today dates from the 19th century, although it seems that the old tower located to the west of the present building (now a Scheduled Ancient Monument) belongs to a much older foundation.

In the 7th century, an Irish monk, St Munn (Fintán of Taghmon), founded a monastic community at Kilmun. The remains of a 12th-century church are still visible. At the present site, a church building is recorded in the 13th century. By the 15th century, the significance of Kilmun as a local centre of Christianity was so great that the adjacent loch became known as the Holy Loch, and the powerful Clan Campbell adopted it as their spiritual home. From the 14th century, Dunoon Castle, a short distance away, was held by the Campbell family and in the 1440s Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochawe (later 1st Lord Campbell), the then chief of the clan, lived near Kilmun in a private residence named Strathechaig. When his eldest son Archibald died tragically in 1442, the young man was laid to rest at Kilmun. This marked the beginning of the tradition of Kilmun as Campbell burial place.