Kilmory (''Cill Mhoire'' in

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

"Church of Mary") is a small

crofting Crofting (Scottish Gaelic: ') is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were est ...

(

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

) hamlet on the north coast of

Ardnamurchan Ardnamurchan (, ) is a peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its l ...

, western

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Geography

Kilmory is reached by a branch road off the

B8007 road B8, B VIII or B-8 may refer to: Transport Roads * B8 (Croatia), an expressway part of the Istrian Y highway network * B8 road (Cyprus) * B8 road (Kenya) * B8 road (Namibia) * Bundesstraße 8, a road in Germany Other uses in transport * B8 (New Yo ...

that runs from Salen to Achosnich by way of

Kilchoan Kilchoan () is a village on the Scotland, Scottish peninsula of Ardnamurchan, beside the Sound of Mull in Lochaber, Highland (council area), Highland. It is the most westerly village in mainland Great Britain, Britain, although several tiny ha ...

. All the roads in

are single track. There is a view north from the junction with the B8007 to the islands of

Rùm Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicisation, anglicised to Rum ( ), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the ...

Eigg Eigg ( ; ) is one of the Small Isles in the Scotland, Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the island of Isle of Skye, Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With ...

Muck Muck most often refers to: *Muck (soil), a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland Muck may also refer to: Places Europe * Muck, Scotland, an island * Isle of Muck, County Antrim, a small island connected by sand spit to Portmuck ...

and Canna. The road descends northwards, crosses the Achateny Water that drains Loch Mudle, passes through Branault and on to Kilmory, Swordle and Ockle. The branch road that enters Kilmory continues to its end at Balnaha Croft. A rough track (access on foot only) leads to very beautiful, wild and unspoilt Kilmory Bay, a sheltered bay with clear water, white sands and black, volcanic rock. It is one of the few sandy beaches on Ardnamurchan. Kilmory is overlooked by

Dun Dun most commonly refers to: *Dun gene, which produces a brownish-gray color (dun) in horses and other Equidae * Dun (fortification), an ancient or medieval fort Dun or DUN may also refer to: Places Scotland * Dun, Angus, a civil parish in ...

Mhurchaidh ().

Archaeology

A prominent feature in Kilmory is the graveyard. This is said to be the site of the original "Church of Mary", and it is suggested that outlines visible under the grass are part of that structure. Also lying in the grass near the centre of the graveyard is a stone said to be the font stone from the original church. Locally tradition has it that this stone never dries. The graveyard is surrounded by largely circular dry stone wall. There is a

Standing Stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

in the field behind Branault. (NM526695) Whilst the age and significance of this stone are unknown it aligns, almost perfectly, with Ben Hiant to the SSE (528m, NM537632, the highest point in Western Ardnamurchan) and Sgurr Dearg (986m, NG443215) to the NNW, the high point at the western end of the

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some o ...

Cuillin The Cuillin () is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin ('), which lie to the east of Glen Sligachan.R. Anderson & ...

Demographics

Like many other communities in remote parts of Scotland, the population of Kilmory has experienced a decline. Kilmory/Branault consists of twenty houses, out of which ten are occupied by a population of thirteen throughout the year as of January 2009. The remaining ten houses are utilized as holiday homes. The average age of the residents is 68 years, with the youngest individual being 46 years old.

Services

This decline has been mirrored by a steady decrease in services. In the early part of the 20th century, there was a shop in Branault (Mathieson) and one in Kilmory; up until the 1970s there were weekly visits by two grocery vans(mobile shops)(Burgess from

and McColl from

Acharacle Acharacle (; , "Torquil's ford") is a village on the landward end of the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the Scottish Highlands, at the foot of Loch Shiel. The ford referred to in the name spans the River Shiel, and, according to legend, was the site ...

) as well as the Tuesday butcher's van (Cameron from Acharacle) and the Thursday butcher's van (Connel from Salen). In 2008

British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

threatened to withdraw the service from the one

telephone box A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

. June 2017, the phone was removed but then, in February 2018, reinstated on appeal. In August 2018, British Telecom still had not re-connected the telephone. It is also reported in 2017 that it is taking over a year to get a telephone "landline" installed. As of July 2024 this telephone has still not been connected, although local residents have re-painted the telephone box.

Mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

reception in Kilmory is very poor as is the terrestrial

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

signal. In 2019 it has become possible to pick up a 4G signal in isolated spots around Kilmory. There are neither mains water nor mains drains in Kilmory. Internet access in Kilmory is difficult, even in 2017. There is no cable service; Kilmory is too far from the exchange to get Broadband through the phone line and the very very patchy mobile signal only offers a very slow GPRS signal, sometimes. A number of houses in Kilmory have installed satellite broadband systems. In 2019 Sunart Telecom, a locally based company, introduced a

wireless broadband Wireless broadband is a telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term encompasses both fixed and mobile broadband. The term broadband Originally the wo ...

service. Some households have replaced their satellite services with the wireless broadband. Kilmory

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

closed in 1962 and the sub post office was closed in 2004. There was a notice board in Kilmory which usually lists the times of the Kilchoan-Tobermory ferry, but this fell into disrepair in Autumn 2023 and has not been replaced.

Religion

Kilmory supported two churches. Members of the Free Church of Scotland worshipped in a wooden building set amongst trees to the east of the village whilst members of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

worshipped in Kilmory Church which stands to the south of the village; services ceased here in 1989.

Development Issues

In 2009 and 2010 there has been talk of up to four new houses being built in Kilmory. One of these projects was abandoned as access was too difficult: progress on two others is delayed as there have been problems securing a reliable water supply. The spring from which most of the existing dwellings are provided with water has been deemed to not have sufficient flow to sustain the additional houses.

References

{{Lochaber Populated places in Lochaber Ardnamurchan