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St Blane's Monastery was built at an unknown date prior to 574 with evidence of Christian burial there in the C6th and 7th.
The monastery became a cultural centre on the island and increased in importance with Bute's only parish (at that time) being centred on the church here.
Although named for St Blane, it was probably his uncle, St Catan who founded the monastery. The story goes that Catan's sister Ertha fell pregnant by an unknown man and the enraged Catan set her and her new-born child (Blane) adrift in an oarless boat (not a terribly Christian thing to do I would venture). The boat washed ashore in Ulster and both mother and child survived. After some years the young Blane returned to Bute and was reunited and reconciled with his uncle. He succeeded him as abbot of the monastery and was bishop of the surrounding area. Blane eventually moved eastwards into mainland Scotland where he founded a monastery by the Allan Water - now the site of Dunblane Cathedral.
The monastery continued to thrive after Blane's departure with bishops Daniel and Iolan in the C7th and Abbot Ronan around 737. However pagan Viking raids in the later C8th were causing havoc and the violent deaths of two of the abbots, Maelmanach in 776 and Noah in 790 were probably as a result of this, and it seems likely that the monastery was abandoned by the early C9th.
The church at the centre of the site dates from a couple of hundred years later, by which time the Norse settlers had themselves become Christians. In 1204 Alan Fitz-Walter, High Steward of Scotland issued a charter granting the church at Kingarth and all associated lands to the monks of Paisley Abbey along with "all the chapels and the whole parish of the island [of Bute]"
At this time the parish of Kingarth encompassed the whole of the island, but by the later C13th Rothesay had grown in importance and a new church and parish was created there at St Mary's (see Link )
It is thought that Kingarth gradually diminished in importance as Rothesay-St Mary increased and the church here had probably largely fallen out of use by the late C16th, though it remained the parish church of Kingarth until the early C18th.
The remnants of the church are described by HES as "a fine 12th century Romanesque building consisting of a nave and chancel"
The graveyard contains many interesting features including remnants of the former monastery, associated chapels and numerous gravestones, some dating back to the earliest years of the site.

For details of the architecture and more information visit the sites below:
HES (Designated Scheduled Monument): Link
Canmore: Link
The Canmore website also contains dozens of detailed entries of associated buildings, monuments and gravestones etc. best found by using the 'Map Search' for the area.

Created: Thu, 21 Jul 2022, Updated: Sat, 23 Jul 2022