Saint Conan's Kirk - the prettiest church in all of Argyll, Scotland

I bet you never knew that Conan the Barbarian is revered as a saint in Scotland ! Well, he isn't, but Scotland does have a Saint Conan ! I dont know too much about him other than that he lived in Argyll, and there is the most stunning church dedicated to him in the village of Loch Awe, which looks out over the loch of the same name.

The church is an absolute masterpiece of architecture inside and out - its just stunning. It dates from the 1880s and was design by Walter Douglas Campbell.

Its the detail that is impressive about St Conans kirk (kirk is the Scottish word for church). It gets a lot of tourists, however its not massively well known, and is sort of one of those hidden gems of Scotland.

Above is a pic of the cloister. The lead sheet on the roof is intricately molded. Some idiot(s) actually stole a whole section of this lead roof within the last 10 years or so. It would have been sold for scrap, which is just ludicrous considering the history and artistry behind it. I'm glad to see that they have managed to raise enough funds to replace it.

One of the surprises about the Kirk is the Bruce Chapel which contains a bone fragment from King Robert the Bruce (1274 to 1329), who is our most famous king. He has legendary status in Scotland.

Thats the memorial to him above, with the bone fragment in the small square at the bottom of the picture.

There are many stunning wood carvings in the kirk. This is from the end of some of the seating in the main hall.

Thats one of the backing panels to the same seating, which are dedicated to the clan names in the area, showing the clan coat of arms above (clan sort of means family in Scotland).

And the stunning chairs above sit at the end of the knave.

And the curved arch in the knave is a stunning feature.

Thats it again - what a fantastic architectural feature.

The carved masonry work inside and out is quite incredible. Just look at the arch above the door. My fav feature is that triangle shaped window on the square tower, just to the upper left of the door. I just love it - what an architectural statement. A huge amount of thought and design went into that small feature !

As can be seen above, the back of the church looks out over Loch Awe. The views are quite stunning.

The pic above of the back of the church above shows some of the many features in the design. Water spouts at the top, the large buttress support arches, the individual shaped windows, etc, etc - there is just tons to see here.

It only took 6 years to build, which is quite impressive considering both where it is (its a fairly remote place) and the amount of detail - the stone masonry team must have been top notch.

I'd have to say the back view which faces the loch is much prettier than the front view which is what people see when driving past.

Above is another cool feature. Its a set of extra steps to the small tower next to the cloister - I wonder how many people fell of those over the years !

As can be seen above, there is not a huge amount of stained glass in the kirk, with many of the windows just having plain clear glass - but look at those frames.

I've stopped and visited this church many times as I used to live in the area for a number of years. We just love seeing it.

It was great to stop in again yesterday and see it when we were travelling back from a weekend in the area. Its an absolute wonder of a place, and I will absolutely be back to visit it again, and again.