History

Loch Insh Old Kirk is a small white church beside Loch Insh in the Highland village of Kincraig. Distinctive in many ways, its roots lie in the monks from Iona, perhaps as far back as the 7th century. Some accounts claim it is the site of longest continuous Christian worship in Scotland. In the pattern of Columba’s earliest missionaries, a monk would have erected a small stone cell as a base for teaching and leading worship. Since then, a series of church buildings has culminated in the current one dating from 1792. Significant alterations in the 20th century include clear glass windows and an etched Celtic cross above the altar.

The church sits on a wooded knoll above the loch, which is a swelling of the River Spey. The knoll is called Tom Eunan, from the Gaelic word ‘tom’ for mound or hillock, and ‘Eunan’, the shorter form of Adamnan, therefore: ‘Adamnan’s Mount’. Adamnan was the 9th Abbot of Iona and Columba’s biographer and at some point the church was dedicated to him. Early names for it include St Adamnan’s, St Eunan’s and St Ewan’s.

The building still houses an ancient stone font that is believed to date from the very earliest chapel. A bronze bell, dated to 900AD, hangs in an alcove, reflecting the tradition of monks using hand bells to announce worship. Not an original iron bell of the earliest monks, it is nevertheless one of only five from this period remaining in Scotland and is thick with legends, including the power to heal and a flight home over the Drumochter Pass when stolen.

One of its legends is that the monks used the bell to summon the swans to worship, perhaps accounting for one of the site’s names as the Chapel of the Swans. Undoubtedly, the loch and surrounding area are renowned for their natural beauty and wildlife, including a wintering site for whooper swans, an osprey nest and a haven for iconic species such as goldeneye, eagles, red squirrels and beavers.

For all these reasons, the site is exceptional in beauty, history and as a place of ongoing worship and welcome. Alongside the unbroken lineage of the local congregation, the church continues to receive countless visitors from all around the world, drawn to its story, its sense of peace and blessing, and the natural beauty surrounding it and spilling in through the windows.

It is often experienced as a ‘thin place’, an old Celtic idea of a site where the veil between the worlds of heaven and earth, the spiritual and the material, this life and the next, is porous. Some claim it sits on a ley line and others resonate with its pagan history. For many, whatever the reason, it feels special and offers a place of encounter and blessing.