And no, this is not some time-travelling last excursion by Sir Duncan Campbell and his second wife, Lady Margaret Campbell. Their monumental effigies at Kilmun’s Argyll Mausoleum have not been known to move – or not as far as we know.
This is all our last chances to see the historic Argyll Mausoleum as it is now – and to learn about it – before it closes to visitors for a substantial time, to allow a £1 million restoration programme to go ahead.
At 12.00 noon on Saturday 27th April, at St Munn’s Church in Kilmun, beside which is the Mausoleum, there is:
- a talk by David McKenzie, telling the fascinating story of Kilmun and the Mausoleum;
- a guided tour of the graveyard with the aid of Jean Maskell’s grave-hunter’s map;
- and a face to face, flesh to stone, meeting with the ghosts of Kilmun’s past, in the Mausoleum;
- light refreshments.
The fee is £4, with no charge for children – but donations towards tea and coffee are requested, since this is part of the energetic campaign to raise the substantial match funding required for the project.
In what is a major boost for heritage tourism in Argyll and for the Cowal peninsula, a £1M funding package has been put together to help restore the historic mausoleum in Kilmun.
The Argyll Mausoleum was built around 1790, one of the most significant heritage sites in Argyll. It sits at the north-east of St Munn’s church and was rebuilt in 1795-6.
Within it and under the adjacent church, are the burial places of many of the Earls and Dukes of Argyll from at least 1455 until 1949.
The mausoleum itself houses two effigies. One is of Sir Duncan Campbell – who died in 1453 – in full armour. The other is of a female, probably Campbell’s second wife, Margaret, who was the daughter of Sir John Stewart of Ardgowan.
Since 1890, the condition of the building has deteriorated, leaving a substantial risk to both the structure and its unique artefacts.
It is this situation that the major restoration programme – which will shortly commence – has been designed to redress.