Kilmallie ( gd, Cill Mhàilidh) is a civil

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creatio ...

, in the west highlands of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It is centered on the village of

Caol Caol ( Gaelic: ''An Caol'') is a village near Fort William, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is about north of Fort William town centre, on the shore of Loch Linnhe, and within the parish of Kilmallie. The name "Caol" is from the ...

, near Fort William and extends to

Banavie Banavie (; gd, Banbhaidh) is a small settlement near Fort William in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. One of the closest villages to Ben Nevis, it is about northeast of Fort William town centre, next to Caol and Corpach. It has been su ...

and

Corpach Corpach ( gd, A' Chorpaich) is a large village north of Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands. The canal lock at Corpach Basin on Loch Linnhe, east of the narrows leading to Loch Eil, is the western sea entrance of the Caledonian Canal. It i ...

. It gives its name to the local

shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, and ...

club,

Kilmallie Shinty Club Kilmallie Shinty Club is a shinty team from Caol, Fort William, Scotland. The club most recently achieved prominence in the all-Fort William Camanachd Cup Final in 2005. History The club was founded in 1929 and is named after the parish o ...

as well as two local churches, Kilmallie Free Church of Scotland and Kilmallie Parish Church of Scotland. Somerled MacMillan says that "In 1296, the English spelling of Kilmallie was Kilmalyn,.. the Anglicized form of the Gaelic Cill-Maolan (Church of the little tonsured one..) Kilmallie.. derived its name from ''Maolan'', progenitor of the Clan MacMillan." According to WJ Watson, "A saint called ''Màillidh'' is commemorated in ''Cill Mhàillidh''..Kilmallie .. the largest parish in Scotland. About eight miles away.. is Glen Mallie... There is also ''Dail Mhàillidh'', Dalmally in Argyll" The parish was once much larger than the present ecclesiastical parish. It covered the Burgh of Fort William, North Ballachulish, Banavie, Corpach and Onich, Ardgour, Blaich, Duisky, Clovulin and Garvan. The quoad sacra parish of Duncansburgh, consisting of Fort William and Inverlochy, was created in 1860 The present parish church is in Corpach. Kilgour claims that the first church was erected in the vicinity by a Columban monk in the 6th century. Eaglais cill mhallaidh

Some years after the disruption of 1843 the Free Church of Scotland were granted a site on which to build a church. It is claimed that they were deliberately given impossibly boggy ground and that the building was never stable. It was demolished in 1976 and replaced by one in the new village of Caol, where a fine new building stands today.John MacLeod, "Highlanders",(London, Sceptre/ Hodder and Stoughton. 1997)233

References

External links

Scottish Geographic GazetteerKilmallie Free Church of Scotland
Lochaber Civil parishes of Scotland {{Highland-geo-stub