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Kirkmadrine
Stones
This
is the oldest Christian site on the Rhins. A church was probably
established here in the 5th Century.
The collection
of stone memorials and monuments suggest there was a large
monastery or mission centre here which would have been the
centre of Christianity in the Rhins.
 By
the 13th Century it was a simple parish church and by the
18th Century it had fallen into ruins. At the end of the 19th
Century, Lady McTaggert of Ardwell did restoration work and
built a private family-vault chapel, incorporating earlier
masonry and probably preserved the original ground plan.
Within
a protected recess at the west end there are eight old Christian
stones dating from the 5th to the 12th Centuries.
Further
reading:
The Presence of the Past by John McLean, available at Drummore
Post Office.
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