Knutby church is a medieval stone church built probably in the late 13th century. The sacristy was built during the 1300s or 1400s. The porch was added probably in the 1400s. The nave, together with the tall and wide chancel is covered by a single pitched roof. The interior is richly decorated with murals, more than any other of Uppland churches.
Albertus Pictor was the author of the younger paintings depicting the life of Jesus with Old Testament features. The main restoration was made in 1925 and unveiled paintings and furnishings were restored to their original color scheme from the 1700s.
There are several medieval artifacts. The font, made of Gotland limestone, was made between 1250-1300. The triumphal crucifix date back to the 1200’s and the triptych to the 1400’s. The pulpit was made in 1707 by Joakim Lutkenschwanger.
The cemetery is surrounded on three sides by a churchyard wall of granite from the 1200s. On a hill northwest of the church is a bell tower which was built in 1739 by Rafael Puset.
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Dating from the 15th century, Kisimul is the only significant surviving medieval castle in the Outer Hebrides. It was the residence of the chief of the Macneils of Barra, who claimed descent from the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages. Tradition tells of the Macneils settling in Barra in the 11th century, but it was only in 1427 that Gilleonan Macneil comes on record as the first lord. He probably built the castle that dominates the rocky islet, and in its shadow a crew house for his personal galley and crew. The sea coursed through Macneil veins, and a descendant, Ruari ‘the Turbulent’, was arrested for piracy of an English ship during King James VI’s reign in the later 16th century.
Heavy debts eventually forced the Macneil chiefs to sell Barra in 1838. However, a descendant, Robert Lister Macneil, the 45th Chief, repurchased the estate in 1937, and set about restoring his ancestral seat. It passed into Historic Scotland’s care in 2000.
The castle dates essentially from the 15th century. It takes the form of a three-storey tower house. This formed the residence of the clan chief. An associated curtain wall fringed the small rock on which the castle stood, and enclosed a small courtyard in which there are ancillary buildings. These comprised a feasting hall, a chapel, a tanist’s house and a watchman’s house. Most were restored in the 20th century, the tanist’s house serving as the family home of the Macneils. A well near the postern gate is fed with fresh water from an underground seam. Outside the curtain wall, beside the original landing-place, are the foundations of the crew house, where the sailors manning their chief’s galley had their quarters.