Church of The Three Brethren
The ancient church of Lochgoilhead stands in the centre of a delightful village, in the north-eastern corner of Cowal.  You will find the church in its quiet and secluded graveyard, a little haven of peace.  The gate looks locked, but it’s not.  Pull out the pin, draw back the bolt, and enter the kirkyard.

Incorporated into the present building, forming its eastern and western wings, are some parts of an earlier church.  They probably date to around the 1440s, and might have been erected by Duncan Campbell of Lochawe.   Up to that point the church had been in a state of collapse, and he seems to have taken measures to restore it at the same time as giving it to his newly established Collegiate Church at Kilmun.

Lochgoilhead church appears in early documents as ‘the church of the [three] brethren’  – ecclesia Trium Fratrum in Latin, and Kill nam brathairn (properly Cill nam Bràithrean) in Gaelic.  Unfortunately, we have no clue as to who the three holy brethren were.  Further research might reveal when their feast-day was, and that might help identify them, but till then we are at a loss.