Applecross Heritage Centre

Ionad-Dualchais na Comraich

Applecross cross slab

Leac croise na Comraich

The Applecross Heritage Centre lies just behind Clachan Manse and next to the historic Clachan Church and Churchyard. The churchyard is the site where St Maelrubha founded a monastery at Applecross in 673 AD, within what was probably Pictish territory.

The Heritage Centre is a single-storey stone building where you can see one very large part and two fragments from a beautiful, intricately-carved cross slab that once stood within the precincts of the monastic site. When put together these pieces show amazingly complex sculpting skills. The slab has been pierced around the arms of the cross, to form a ringed-head. Such cross slabs are extremely rare – this is the only example from the Highlands. It probably dates to the late 700s or early 800s and reflects a melding of Pictish and Irish sculptural art.

For further information about the monastic site, see her.highland.gov.uk/Monument/MHG7685

Applecross Historical Society houses a small but diverse collection of objects, mostly connected with crofting, fishing and the social life of the west Highlands, with objects including machinery and agricultural implements, letters, photographs, etc.

Further information

​In the churchyard nearby, you can see a cross slab which gives an idea of how the sculptor worked to prepare the stone. The cross is marked out on one side but only the top has been shaped. It was never finished. The design would only have been added once the slab was the right size, just in case it was accidentally damaged early in the process. Two traditions are linked to this stone. One associates it with the local medieval hero Ruaridh Mor MacCoigen; the other is that it may commemorate Mac Oigi of Applecross, Abbot of Bangor, who died in 801AD. her.highland.gov.uk/Monument/MHG7635