The village is named after the sixth century bishop,
Saint Cathan, who established a
hermitage at this location in AD 539. His nephew was
Saint Blane and a chapel was established in his honour in the 12th century.
St. Blane's Chapel still exists as a ruin, one mile to the south of Kilchattan village. The village developed as a row of fisherman's houses. Further developments included a quarry, stone
pier and a
lime kiln which can still be seen behind St. Blane's Villa. The
limestone used in the kiln was mined on the hillside behind the village. Some of the old mine workings are now used as the reservoir for the village. Overlooking the reservoir are the ruined remains of
Kelspoke Castle. A new wooden pier was constructed in 1880 when the village became a regular port-of-call for
steamers which carried trippers from the great city of
Glasgow and local traffic such as the output of the tile factory at
Kingarth. St. Blane's Hotel was constructed between the two piers and still services the tourist trade today as a holiday home. Since that heyday, the steamer traffic has disappeared with the new pier closing in 1955 to scheduled steamers. The pier was then used on an occasional basis before the wooden structure deteriorated and was demolished in 1976.
Queen Elizabeth II and her consort landed on the pier from the
Royal Yacht Britannia in 1957 on a visit to the island before driving through the village. The old stone pier, being more durable, has been renovated and now serves as the main landing point. The village at one stage had a post office, drapers, bakery, grocers, greengrocers, cafe (owned by the family of
Lena Zavaroni) and a tearoom at the pier. It was also one of the last places in Scotland (until the early 1970s) where milk was delivered from a churn with residents collecting their milk in jugs from a churn on the back of a van. A landslide in 2011 removed a section of the path from the village to the top of
Suidhe Chattan. ==Famous residents and visitors==