(June 2017 article in The Tartan – The MacLullichs (MacCullichs) From the Hill of Modan)

Map of Balmaodan and Ardchattan Priory on the North Shore of Loch Etive.  Balmaodan has special significance as the ancient home of the MacCulloch families associated with Clan MacDougall. 

In ancient times the most important place in Benderloch, Argyll was the sacred Hill of Balmaodan and the family associated with this sacred hill down the centuries were “Clann Lulich”. Their Hill of Balmaodan (pronounced Balmodan) is an ancient Christian site on the north shore of Loch Etive.  Family Names associated with the Hill of Balmoadan are Lullich, Lulich, MacLullich, MacCullich, MacCullagh, MacCulloch, MacCullough, etc. with or without the Mac or Mc.  The MacLullichs were very likely a sacred Co-arb clan as well as being the ancestors of the MacCullichs of Argyll.  At some point in history they lost their Co-arb or Abbot status but their ancient lineage and local prestige were brought in to the newly dominant Clan MacDougall early on. 

Origin: This hillside has been a Christian site since about the 6th C.; an era when the Celtic Church preferred to found monasteries rather than churches.  Here on the Hill of Balmaodan, about 460 yards (420 m.) north of the much more recent 13th C. Ardchattan Priory, stood the ancient hamlet of Balimhaodan “St Modan’s Town” (“Baile Mhaodain” in Gaelic). There are several names and spellings related to the Hill of Modan including Balmaodan or Balmhaodan or Balimhaodan & Baile Mhaodain (Town of Modan), and Balmaodan Priory.

In its day Balimhaodan or Baile Mhaodain was never a town but this rural hamlet on a hillside gave its name to the surrounding Balmaodan Parish, the original name of Ardchattan Parish.  Its “Well of Modan” holy well, Tobar Mhaodain, beside the stream of Eas Mhaodain, attests to this hill being the former dwelling of a Saint.  Here tradition says Saint Modan of Rosneath founded a now vanished Celtic Church Priory monastery with its little huts made of wattles and clay. Now all that stands visible on this ancient Christian hill site are the relatively late ruins of the 15th or early 16th C. Auld Ardchattan Kirk parish church (also called St. Baodan’s Church or Cill Bhaodain), old gravestones, a modern Celtic cross, and the Tobar Mhaodain holy well.

Much is uncertain about this hill site with its beautiful view of Loch Etive, but there are traces we can follow. There were two Saints named Modan. One was a Bishop Modan named in the records of a mission to Lorn early in the 8th C. with a Saint’s Day of November 14. However there was an earlier Abbot Modan, the missionary Saint Modan of Rosneath, who was the son of an Irish chieftain and thought to be a contemporary of St. Columba.  His feast day is February 4.  The Breviary of Aberdeen says that “Modanus” was a Latin name bestowed upon him for his purity and modesty, a not infrequent occurrence of renaming.  If true and we are not sure, then a possibility is that his original Gaelic name might have been Lullich which is a very old Gaelic name. This Irish Saint Modan came to Scotland as a missionary of the Celtic Church evangelizing in Pictish territory in the 6th C.  He is said to have come early on to Loch Etive and to have founded a now vanished monastery on a hill on the shore of Loch Etive, before travelling widely as a missionary later.  He spent his final years as an ascetic religious hermit in the hills near Dumbarton.  Saint Modan died at Rosneath in Bute on the north shore of the river Clyde circa 600 AD., though some sources give the date as 507 or 522 AD.  St. Modan’s Church at Rosneath was built where he died but the original church is long gone. The 1898 Annals of Garelochside on p. 156 sum up his travels this way:

“It is believed that Rosneath church was dedicated to St. Modan, who lived in the sixth century,
and who set out from Iona on a mission of Christianity, dwelling for a time on Loch Etive,
then at the Kyles of Bute, and ending his days at Rosneath.”

To complicate the question it appears that at least portions of the Balmaodan site were later renamed for a later Saint Baodan from Iona, especially the still visible ruin of the 15th or early 16th C. Auld Ardchattan Kirk parish church, now a ruin on the site. Though little can be found about Saint Baodan, his name appears mostly connected with this later church rather than the earlier monastery. Some modern maps do represent “St. Baodan’s Church” and name the holy well “Tobar Bhaodain” for him instead using of the early map name of Tobar Mhaodain “The Well of Modan”.  Some sources also call it the “Hill of Baodan”.  However it is the words of the old Gaelic traditions and the surviving water names like Eas Mhaodain “The Cataract of Modan” which best preserve the original names. There are sound reasons to accept that the hill and its ancient monastery hamlet were originally named for the Abbot Saint Modan from Ireland with the much later church named for the later Saint Baodan from Iona.

Robert Herbert Story in 1878 published “Saint Modan of Rosneath”, a book about Balmaodan and its ancient saint.  On p. 21 he described the local Gaelic memories in Benderloch about “the MacLullichs from the hill of Modan”: 

“The lands surrounding Balmhaodan forming the district of Benderloch, are alleged to have belonged to Modan, who was the head, so runs the tradition, of the Clann MacLullich.

An old phrase is still remembered in the district,

— Clann Lulich o thulaich Mhaodain,

i.e., the MacLullichs from the hill of Modan.

Thus dimly, by misty hill and loch and glen, and in the fading memories and phrases of a race that is passing away, with its old language and its old beliefs, linger the traces of the Saint.”

R.C. MacLagan in 1882 confirmed the tradition on p. 175 of Scottish Myths:

“… The Lands surrounding Balmhaodan forming the district of Benderloch are alleged to have

belonged to Modan, who was the head — so runs the tradition -­- of the Clan MacLullich, as recorded in the local phrase, Clann Lulich o thulaich Mhaodain, the Mac Lullichs from the hill of Maodan.”

Frank Adams has provided scholarly information on many Scottish surnames, including the MacCulloch, MacLullichs in Clans, Septs, and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands on p. 319:

(3)  MacCulloch, MacLulich.

…

…  This would point to the MacCullochs or MacLulichs being dependents of the MacDonalds.  However, they appear to be identified (as far as the Argyllshire MacCullochs are concerned) with the MacDougall clan. 

Adams then quotes the above “hill of Maodan” sentence from MacLagan’s Scottish Myths.

In the Church in that era it was permissible to marry, raise a family, and own personal property. A church or monastery was the property of its founder and it could be bequeathed to a chosen successor. When a church or monastery in the Celtic Church was inherited from its founder, the heirs were known as Co-arbs. These Co-arbs were not clan Chiefs but were parents and leaders of their own extended families which evolved over time into small sacred clans headed by the hereditary Co-arb rather than a clan chief. The Co-arbs passed on their Church property and carried on performing their sacred roles and duties down the generations often with the aid of relics of their founding saint.  An example occurs among the descendants of Saint Moluag on the nearby isle of Lismore.  There the Co-arb of Saint Moluag, the Baron of Bachuil of the Clan MacLeay, still carries on in the present day with his Bachuil relic, the Staff of Saint Moluag.

It would have been normal for Saint Modan of Rosneath, or whoever was Abbot or Prior of his monastery, to bequeath his Balimhaodan Priory, his hill property, and personal possessions to his successor Co-arb, perhaps one named Lullich.  His heirs would become the hereditary leaders of the local sacred clan traditionally known as, “the MacLullichs from the hill of Maodan”.  With its connections to a Saint of the Celtic Church, its Saint’s well, and its Saint’s bronze hand bell holy relic, Balimhaodan the “Town of Modan” would have soon become a locally important religious site.  As hereditary keepers of the hand bell relic, the Clag Buidhe Baile Mhaodain “Yellow Bell of Balmaodan”, Co-arbs would administer its holy powers to cure visitors, pilgrims, and people and livestock in the vicinity.  The books “Scottish Myths” and “Saint Modan of Rosneath” are quite informative about the “Yellow Bell of Balmaodan”. This bronze hand bell relic was held in even higher esteem for curative powers than the waters of the sacred well.  This bell is also said to have traveled to Scone, the coronation site of Scottish Kings, where it was likely used in the coronation ceremonies as many Saints’ relics were.  Down the centuries Balimhaodan’s local renown continued to attract visitors seeking aid, cure, and comfort from the powers of the Saint, his bell, and his well.  Even up to the 1800s the Tobar Mhaodain holy well was still being sought out by the sick. They placed small offerings beside it and believed in its healing powers.  In the Carmina Gadelica Carmichael specifically mentions the purity of the holy water of this Tobar Bhaodain, as he called it.  

Then came the Viking incursions.  The arrival of Norse settlers accelerated the disintegration of the Gaelic Kingdom of Dal Riata.  Little is known about what then happened here on the western Argyll Airer Goidel “Coastline of the Gael” but the mainland was lightly settled by the Norse.  In the 10th and 11th centuries the Norse converted to Christianity indicating that the Christian faith had lingered on here during this period.  Details are scant and we hear no more of the Priory, only churches, but Balmoadan seems to have survived as a holy site and so did the MacLullichs.  Soon they would be ruled by Somerled, a Norse Christian supporter of the Gaelic Church.

One may ask: “What does the story of Balmaodan have to do with Clan MacDougall?”  By the mid 1100’s Somerled ruled the Hebrides islands which he held from Norway as well as the Argyll mainland which he held from Scotland. Upon his death in 1164 his dual empire was passed down to his three sons.  Benderloch was inherited from Somerled as part of Dugal’s mainland possessions and its people became part of Clan MacDougall. 

In 1231 Balmaodan was already a six hundred year old Celtic Church site with a sacred well when Duncan the 2nd Chief of Clan MacDougall needed a site to build his new Priory monastery for Valliscaulian monks of the Roman Catholic Church.  For his new Priory, Duncan chose the foot of the long sacred Hill of Balmaodan only about 460 yards (420 m.) below Saint Modan’s old monastery site.  He named it Ardchattan for Saint Cattan. Then some older churches were bestowed upon Ardchattan Priory as dependencies to provide it with financial and ecclesiastical support.  The 1854 Origines Parochiales Scotiae OPR Church records on p. 148 of Vol. 2 show that this gift included the Church of Balivedan dedicated to St. Modan:

“This church, dedicated to Modan the saint of Rosneth, belonged to the prior of Ardchattan,
but its history previously to the Reformation seems entirely lost.”

Skene’s 1854 Celtic Scotland on pp. 408-409 cites the above OPR church records:

“… In 1230 or 1231 the priory of Ardchattan was founded, on the opposite shore,
for monks of the order of Vallis Caulium by Dunkan mak Dougall, the head of the
great family of lords of Lorn, and like most of these foundations, had many of the
older churches bestowed upon it. The dependencies upon this priory were
the churches of Balivedan, within which parish it was situated, and which was
dedicated to St. Modan; …”

At Ardchattan Priory there is still a small stone dating from the early Christian era which displays a wheel cross in relief along with intricate braids and symbolic figures. This stone has now been removed to the display area. It was probably brought to Ardchattan from some early Christian holy place. Perhaps its origin was the ancient Balmaodan site just up the hill.

One may ask: “What else has the story of Balmaodan to do with Clan MacDougall”?  The answer is that when the “L“ in MacLullich is softened or silent or dropped, it sounds as “Macullich”.  MacLullich is the predecessor name of MacCullich and other spelling variations such as MacCulloch, MacCullagh, MacCullough etc. Balmaodan is where they originated in Argyll. This is a family and a surname long associated with Clan MacDougall. 

They may have carried at Balmaodan on as Dewars, keepers of a Saint’s relic as occurred with other sacred clans in the area. As Dewars they may have acted as a Standard Bearers for the clan by displaying their Saint’s relics before a battle to call upon the assistance of angels to fight on their side in the coming battle. This was often done by both sides, and even occurred at Bannockburn in 1314.  In later times the relic Standard evolved to a symbolic flag instead. Dewars may have also used holy water from Tobar Mhaodain to bring heavenly cures to ailing people and their livestock.  As to the fate of the Yellow Bell of Balmaodan, we do not know.  Many such Saints’ relics, if not lost earlier, were destroyed or tossed into the waters during the Scottish Reformation of the 16th C.

From Benderloch the family MacCullich, MacCulloch, MacCullagh spread to other Clan MacDougall territories as described by Frank Adams, in Clans, Septs, and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands on p. 319:

 (3)  MacCulloch, MacLulich.

… 

Many of the MacCullochs hail from the neighbourhood of Oban and the island of Kerrera.  MacCulloch of Colgin, near Oban was regarded as the head of the Argyllshire MacCullochs.

With their ancient origin in Benderloch, Argyll the MacCullochs and MacLulichs are one of the oldest Family Surnames within Clan MacDougall. In this article I have focused on the ancient origins of the MacCulloch surname. These surnames also arose independently in Galloway and other parts of Scotland but those families have no known connection to each other, or to Argyll, or to our clan. For readers interested in even more information and photos I have included the following Addendum. In a future article I hope to write about more recent MacCulloch history in Argyll.

Scott MacDougald

Description of a Celtic Monastery:  Balmaodan has been a Christian site since the founding of its Priory monastery about 1400 years ago.  Such monasteries were surrounded of a low wall or rampart called a cashel or rath which demarcated the rest of the world from the sanctified ground inside where small cells, huts, chapels and other little buildings stood.  Other domestic buildings could be on the grounds outside of the cashel. From their base on the Hill of Balmaodan the Gaelic monks with their hand bells travelled out to the surrounding areas to care for, teach, preach, baptise, and minister to the community for miles around. Aside from old gravestones and the Tobar Mhaodain holy well, all that now stands above ground on this ancient Christian site is the relatively late ruin of the 15th or early 16th C. Auld Ardchattan Kirk parish church (also called St Baodan’s Church or Cill Bhaodain). This ruined kirk may still have been in use c. 1630. It was reported ruinous in 1678 but its burial ground was in use until at least the late 1800s.

Notes on the Landmarks: OS maps have consistently spelled the names Baile Mhaodain, Tobar Mhaodain and Eas Mhaodain with an “M” as if the saint involved were Modan. The modern OS Digimap now instead spells these place names with a “B” to represent Saint Baodan in their names, as in Cill Bhaodain. To avoid confusion this article uses the older Saint Modan spellings except for the more modern Cill Bhaodain parish church ruin.

Baile Mhaodain (Balimhaodan) – This is the name of the ancient hamlet of Balimhaodan “St Modan’s Town” (“Baile Mhaodain” in Gaelic). This “town” would actually have been a small rural hamlet surrounded by fields since the Gaels in that time did not live in towns as we know them. It also gave its name to the original parish surrounding it.

Tobar Mhaodain – This is the name of the holy Saint Modan’s Well, a covered cold water spring on the side of the Eas Mhaodain stream about 50 yards (45 m.) NE of the ruined Auld Ardchattan Kirk. Tobar is Gaelic for a well; in this case a holy well where the Saint’s blessed water was expected to have curative powers and was accordingly often visited by pilgrims seeking cures. Even up to the 1800s this well was sought by the sick, small offerings were placed beside it, and its healing powers were believed in. The Carmina Gadelica mentions the purity of its water.

Eas Mhaodain – In Gaelic Eas means cataract or falls. This is the burn (stream) that flows south west down the hill past the Tobar Mhaodain holy well and Auld Ardchattan Kirk (St Baodan’s Church), and then flows past the Baile Mhaodain settlement SW of the Church and on down to enter Loch Etive west of Ardchattan Priory.

Cill Bhaodain or St. Baodan’s Church is the name of the much later, and now ruined, 14th or 15th C. parish church which is also called Auld Ardchattan Kirk.  It is difficult to find any information about this Saint Baodan or Saint Bodan.

References:

1 – Technical information has been provided by the Canmore Database site of Historic Environment Scotland and their Auld Ardchattan Kirk site may be visited at: https://canmore.org.uk/site/23219/ardchattan-old-kirk

2 – See also the Gazetteer for Scotland site at:

3 – Journeying in MacDougall Country by Walter M. Macdougall, Past President of the Clan MacDougall Society of North America on p. 210 mentions MacCulloch, MacCullagh, and MacLullich. Chapter 22 contains descriptions and notes on Benderloch. This excellent book is available from Lulu.com with profits going to the Dunollie Preservation Fund from its book sales at http://www.lulu.com/shop/walter-macdougall/journeying-in-macdougall-country/paperback/product-2242050.html

4 – An interesting web page with many good photos of this Balmaodan site is https://the-hazel-tree.com/2016/03/25/ardchattan-in-the-footsteps-of-st-baodan/

5 – For Information on saints related to this site see http://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1324288088

6 – There is a 19th C. book written by Robert Herbert Story D.D. and Minister of Rosneath and published in 1878 about Balmaodan and its ancient saint. The book is called “Saint Modan of Rosneath” and it is available on Google Books for free. It explains many things about this ancient place including the fact that there were a two Saint Modans but only the one from Rosneath was connected to this site. The informative book goes into detail about the old stories told for centuries around Loch Etive about the Saint’s bronze hand bell, the Clag Buidhe Baile Mhaodain, the “Yellow Bell of Balmaodan” which was kept at Balimhaodan. 

7- The 1885 book “Records of Argyll LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, AND RECOLLECTIONS OF ARGYLLSHIRE HIGHLANDERS” at pp. 319-320 has a small chapter about Baile Mhaodain. It gives the old Gaelic saying as: “Cloinn Lullaich o Thulaich Mhaodain” i.e., The MacLullaichs from the hill of Modan.”

8 – There is a Youtube video of the Balmhaodan hill site at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTk9tds_W4                                             

Looking northwards up the hillside of Balmaodan