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Saddell Abbey

Much of the ancient abbey’s history is shrouded in mystery but we do know it is connected to the arrival in East Kintyre of monks from St Malachy’s Cistercian abbey at Mellifont in Ireland.

Somerled, the Thane of Argyll who freed the highlands and islands from Norse influence and was the first King of the Isles, is believed to have awarded them the land and that the building was finally completed on by his son Raghnall.

The abbey was made up of a church and three ranges of buildings around a cloister. Today, little remains but for some low walls, an archway and headstones.

Nearby, however, is a wooden building that is home to a collection of medieval carved gravestones: life-sized effigies of knights wearing distinctive West Highland armour.

Some final words of warning: some say the ruins of the abbey are haunted by a huge black spectral hand!

External Link: https://canmore.org.uk/site/38866/saddell-abbey