Campbeltown
This article is about the Scottish town. For other settlements, see Campbelltown. |
Campbeltown waterfront - Wee Picture House with pink roof, Museum and Library just beyond - photograph by J M Briscoe |
The
Royal Burgh of
Campbeltown is a
burgh in
Argyll and Bute,
Scotland, located by
Campbeltown Loch on the
Kintyre peninsula. Originally known as
Kinlochkilkerran (
Eng:
The head of the loch by the kirk of St Kieran). It was renamed in the
seventeenth century and became an important centre for
shipbuilding and
whisky, and a busy
fishing port.
Campbeltown is one of the handful of areas in Scotland categorised as a distinct whisky producing region, and is home to the
Campbeltown Single Malts, at one point having thirty-four
distilleries and proclaiming itself "the whisky capital of the world". However, many of these whiskies were of rather poor quality and have disappeared. Today only three active distilleries remain in Campbeltown, which have, or in one case is expected to have, an excellent reputation for their quality.
The well known
folk song titled
Campbeltown Loch, I wish you were whisky is based on the town's history in this industry.
Apart from the distilleries, Campbeltown boasts a
museum and a
heritage centre. The museum has a varied collection of items from Campbeltown's past, and prehistoric items excavated from sites around Kintyre, such as axeheads, jewellery and combs. The 19th century building also houses the library and has plaques or exhibits related to famous Kintyre people: for example,
William McTaggart and
William Mackinnon. Near the museum is the
Wee Picture House, a small but distinctive
art deco cinema dating from
1913 and believed to be the oldest surviving purpose-built cinema in Scotland. These buildings are on the waterfront, as is a
fourteenth century Celtic cross.
Saint Kieran lived in this area before the town existed. A cave named for him can be visited at low tide, as can the cave on nearby Davaar Island where pilgrims and tourists go to see a 19th century crucifixion painting.
|
Davaar Island at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch, by Malcolm McFadyen |
Ferries originally sailed from Campbeltown to
Ballycastle in
Northern Ireland, but the service was suspended in June
2002 until further notice. According to the
Campbeltown Courier, the
Scottish Executive repeatedly gives the message "not this year, maybe next" about this ferry service.
Campbeltown Airport lies near the burgh. Campbeltown has been linked to
Machrihanish by a canal (1794-mid 1880s) that was superseded by the
Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway that closed in 1932. Due to the town's isolated location near the far end of a long peninsula, in many ways it resembles sizable communities on the islands of the
Inner Hebrides in that transport by sea is particularly important, although nonetheless it is linked to the rest of Scotland by a long minor road.
Campbeltown is traditionally one of the few communities in the
Scottish highlands where the
Scots language has predominated, rather than the previously widespread
Scottish Gaelic language. This was due to the
plantation of
lowland merchants to the burgh in the
Middle Ages. Today the
English language, in the form of the
Scottish English dialect, is the predominant language in the town.
*
HMS Campbeltown for the two
Royal Navy ships named after the town.
*
John Fleming born in the town.
*
Campbeltown Website*
Campbeltown and South Kintyre Website*
Campbeltown Courier - source for local news*
Mobile communications information
