Kilchiaran Chapel is a ruined mediaeval chapel on the west coast of the Rhinns of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, overlooking Kilchiaran Bay. The building dates from the early 13th C. and is dedicated to St.Ciarán (Cill Chiarain). It said to mark the point where St. Columba landed on Islay in 560 AD, before he went on to Iona to found the monastic community which became Iona Abbey. The eastern gable, with its three aumbries (or recesses), is original, but the other walls were partially-restored to their current height in 1972-73 by the Islay Historic Buildings Works Group. This wall also features a plinth indicating the location of the medieval altar and a piscina for holy water. Inside the ruin there is a drum-shaped mediaeval font, although mounted on a more modern base, and several finely-carved graveslabs dating from the 14th to 16th C., one with the carved effigy of a monk or priest, with hands clasped in prayer. An ancient burial ground surrounds the church, although no grave markers remain, but it does contains a prehistoric cup-marked stone. Kilchiaran Chapel is a scheduled ancient monument.
