Colintraive Church

The origin of the church derives from the concern of a lady, Mrs John Campbell, the wife of the laird of South Hall, for the spiritual wellbeing of the tenants who worked on her husband’s estate and others who lived in the vicinity. The Scottish ecclesiastical parishes in the early 19th century were often of large extent and the parish church awkwardly placed for the convenience of some of the parishioners. The parish church for South Hall was at Inverchaolain, on the opposite side of Loch Striven and so accessible only by boat or by many weary miles on foot.

Mrs Campbell had already shown her concern in a practical way by ‘assembling young people in her neighbourhood in a Sabbath School kept by herself’. Now she set herself to raise money to build a church. 

The new church was completed and opened for worship on 23 August 1840 by the parish minister of Inverchaolain, the Reverend Alexander MacTavish. A sad feature of the opening was that Mr and Mrs Campbell were not there to see the completion of an enterprise which owed so much to both of them. They had gone south for Mrs Campbell’s health.

The interior of the church is plain and bright, however, many ministers have commented that the best view of the church is from the chancel. There you get to view the stained glass windows donated by the McFeat family in memory of their son Matthew A McFeat and those from Colintraive who were lost in the Great War 1914-1918.

The more recent addition of the glass doors afford the minister a wonderful view of the Kyles and the boats sailing by.