Kilninver

The church at the river's mouth

Kilninver Parish Church sits on the right bank of the Euchar Water with a birdcage belfry on top and 450 seats inside, which is a lot of seats for a hamlet this size. John Clark, a mason from Oban, built it in 1793, or possibly 1791, depending which record you trust. It was reconstructed in 1892, a porch and vestry bolted on and the windows altered, and repaired again between 2005 and 2008. There has been Christian worship on the site since the 1200s. Services run fortnightly at noon, alternating with the church at Kilmelford down the road. Visitors are welcome, and there's a guide book and an induction loop.

That is more or less the centre of Kilninver. The hamlet stands just above the point where the Euchar empties into the salt water of Loch Feochan, about eight and a half miles south-southwest of Oban, on the A816. It is small. The post office and shop both closed, and the nearest of each is now at Kilmelford, seven miles south.

Across the Bridge over the Atlantic

There is no pub in Kilninver either. For that you take the B844, which turns off near the village and runs down to the Clachan Bridge — the "Bridge over the Atlantic," a single high hump-backed arch of about 72 feet, built in 1792–93 to let boats pass underneath at high tide.

Over the bridge, on the Isle of Seil, is the Tigh an Truish Inn. The name means "House of the Trousers." After the 1745 rising, when the kilt was outlawed, Seil islanders stopped here to change out of their kilts into trousers before crossing to the mainland, which is why it is known locally as "The Hoose of Troosers." It has two AA Rosettes for its food, five AA Gold Stars for the inn, and has been serving islanders for over 250 years. The rooms are named Kerrera, Luing and Insh.

Walking, water and the Slate Islands

The walking is the reason to be here. About three kilometres of the River Euchar run through the Kilninver Estate, with woodland and hill above it, and the wildlife includes ospreys, white-tailed sea eagles and seabirds. The same beat is fished for salmon and sea trout, booked by the day or the week, along with Lochs Charn, Seil and Feochan. A longer circular loop takes in Ardmaddy and Loch Melfort through the parish. The shoreline roads along Loch Feochan and Loch Melfort are single-track, with open sea and island views.

The junction is really the point of the place. This is where the road divides for the Slate Islands — Seil, Easdale and Luing, once nicknamed "the islands that roofed the world." Ardmaddy Castle and Gardens lie about four and a half miles southwest, with an 18th-century walled garden and a rhododendron collection, open all year, though the castle itself stays shut.

A parish shaped by departure

The history is one of leaving. The parish held 1,175 people in 1801 and 405 by 1881, of whom 340 still spoke Gaelic. A burial mound near the hamlet, traditionally said to hold a Scandinavian princess, was removed in 1813.

Oban is north for the station and the ferries — the West Highland Line to Glasgow, and the port out to the isles. West Coast Motors' 418 runs through Kilninver on the Oban–Seil route, about nineteen minutes from town.

Connections and rural life

The primary school takes in children from a wide rural area south of Oban — two classrooms, a hall and an Early Learning Centre. Most are bussed in, many from Kilmelford.