Kilarrow Church (Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais Cill an Rubha) is a Church of Scotland parish church, overlooking and serving Bowmore on the Isle of Islay.
The "Round Church", as it is often known, was built in 1767. It has a highly unusual circular design, more reminiscent of some churches built in the 1960s. It has been suggested that the circular design was intended to ensure that there were no corners in which the devil could hide. The roof is supported by a single massive central pillar.
The Church also contains some artifacts belonging to the Bowmore-born Rev Donald Caskie (1902-1983), former minister of The Scots Kirk, Paris and notable as the "Tartan Pimpernel" for aiding over 2,000 Allied servicemen in their escape from occupied France.
The linked parishes of Kilarrow and Kilmeny are vacant following a reallocation of Ministers.
Famous quotes containing the words parish and/or church:
“When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls, and the stars begin to flicker in the sky,”
—Mitchell Parish (1901–1993)
“A church that can never have done with excommunicating Christ while it exists! Away with your broad and flat churches, and your narrow and tall churches! Take a step forward, and invent a new style of out-houses. Invent a salt that will save you, and defend our nostrils.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)