Campbeltown

Campbeltown
Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain[1]
Scots: Cammeltoun[2]
Campbeltown waterfront
Campbeltown  Campbeltown shown within Argyll and Bute
Population	4,852 2011 census[3]
OS grid reference	NR718203
Council area	Argyll and Bute
Lieutenancy area	Argyll and Bute
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Campbeltown
Postcode district	PA28
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Argyll and Bute
Scottish Parliament	Argyll and Bute
List of places UK Scotland

Coordinates: 55°25′23″N 5°36′29″W / 55.423°N 5.608°W / 55.423; -5.608

Campbeltown (ⁱ/ˈkæmbəltən/; Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or Ceann Locha) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Originally known as Kinlochkilkerran (an anglicization of the Gaelic, which means "head of the loch by the kirk of Ciarán"), it was renamed in the 17th century as Campbell's Town after Archibald Campbell (Earl of Argyle) was granted the site in 1667.^[4] Campbeltown became an important centre for shipbuilding and Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port.

Whisky

Campbeltown is one of five areas in Scotland categorised as a distinct malt whisky producing region, and is home to the Campbeltown single malts. At one point it had over 30 distilleries and proclaimed itself "the whisky capital of the world". However, a focus on quantity rather than quality, and the combination of prohibition and the Great Depression in the United States, led to most distilleries going out of business. Today only three active distilleries remain in Campbeltown: Glen Scotia, Glengyle, and Springbank.^[5][6][7][8]

The well known folk song titled Campbeltown Loch, I wish you were whisky is based on the town's history in this industry.

Culture

The Wee Picture House

The old Library and Museum

There are several listed buildings in Category A in the town and include the following.

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, by John James Burnet, also houses a library and has plaques or exhibits related to famous Kintyre people: for example, William McTaggart and William Mackinnon.^[9] Near the museum is the cinema known as the Wee Picture House, a small but distinctive Art Nouveau building of the Glasgow School dating from 1913 and believed to be the oldest surviving purpose-built cinema in Scotland.^[10] These buildings are on the waterfront, as is a 14th-century Celtic cross that also served as a mercat cross.^[11][12]

St Kieran (Ciarán of Clonmacnoise) lived in this area before the town existed.^[13] A cave named after 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.

Campbeltown also hosts the annual Mull Of Kintyre Music Festival, which has seen acts ranging from up-and-coming local bands to well-established groups such as Deacon Blue, The Stranglers and Idlewild perform.^[14]

A recent addition has been the Kintyre Songwriters Festival, a fairly low key annual gathering aimed at promoting the wealth and variety of original music across the area. The festival is held during the last weekend of May and is open to anyone interested in performing.

On Friday 16 June 2006, First Minister Jack McConnell flew to Campbeltown to officially open Campbeltown's new 'Aqualibrium' Centre. Aqualibrium, designed by Page\Park Architects, replaced the old Campbeltown swimming pool, which closed 7 years ago due to safety concerns, and houses Campbeltown's library (with the old building being the museum only), swimming pool, gym, conference centre and 'Mussel Ebb' Cafe.

The Kintyre Camanachd are a local shinty team that belongs to the Camanachd Association.

Argyll FM is a local radio station based in Campbeltown on 106.5, 107.1 and 107.7

In May 2012 Campbeltown and Dunoon were jointly named in a report by the Scottish Agricultural College as the rural places in Scotland most vulnerable to a downturn. The "vulnerability index" ranked 90 Scottish locations according to factors associated with economic and social change.^[15][16]

Transport

Campbeltown Airport, lies near the burgh, and a scheduled service^[17] runs between here and Glasgow International Airport on weekdays, but not at weekends.

The town is the westernmost town in Great Britain (for the avoidance of doubt, the island of Great Britain) by reference to which it has the population of a large village, laying claim to its town status due to port status and its central close grid of streets. Near the end of a long peninsula makes for a time-consuming road journey, and to some extent the area relies on sea and air transport, like the Inner Hebrides. However it is linked to the rest of Scotland by the A83 (to Tarbet) and A82 (from Tarbet to Glasgow). Bus service is provided by West Coast Motors.

Davaar Island at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch

Ferries sail from Campbeltown to Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, operated by Kintyre Express.^[18] An earlier service had been suspended in June 2002; the new service, which runs to Ballycastle every Friday to Monday during summer months and on Mondays and Fridays during the winter months, commenced in 2011.

In 2006 a foot passenger ferry operated by Kintyre Express ran between Campbeltown and Troon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a crossing time of one hour in calm weather. By 2007 this ferry no longer ran, although the vessel can be chartered privately.^[18]

Starting 23 May 2013, Caledonian MacBrayne began operating a pilot ferry service to Ardrossan calling at Brodick on Saturdays.^[19]

Campbeltown was linked to Machrihanish by a canal (1794-mid-1880s) that was superseded by the Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway, that closed in 1932. The railway. which was originally built to serve the Machrihanish Coalfield, ran from Campbeltown railway station to Machrihanish railway station.

Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles and Scotland, Cambeltown experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office weather station for which online records are available is at Campbeltown Airport/RAF Machrihanish, about 3 mi (4.8 km) west of the town centre.

The lowest temperature to be reported in recent years was −12.9 °C (8.8 °F) during December 2010.^[20]

Language

Campbeltown is one of the few communities in the Scottish Highlands where the Scots language predominated in recent centuries, rather than the previously widespread Scottish Gaelic, an enclave of Lowland Scots speech surrounded by Highland Scottish speech. This was due to the plantation of lowland merchants in the burgh in the 17th century. The dominant position that Lowland Scots had in the town has today been taken by the English language, in the form of the Scottish English dialect.

Notable people

Main Street and Campbeltown Cross

Campbeltown harbour

Campbeltown Loch and Campbeltown. Looking down from the top of Davaar. In the foreground is the Doirlinn, then the loch. On the western side of the loch is Campbeltown and beyond that Machrihanish Bay can be seen

• Hugh Henry Brackenridge, American writer, lawyer, judge, and justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court^[22]
• Alexander Beith, divine and author^[23]
• T. Lindsay Galloway, civil and mining engineer and coal master of Argyll Colliery^[24]
• James Gerald Gulliver, founder of Argyll Foods^[25]
• Sir William Mackinnon, 1st Baronet, Scottish ship-owner and businessman^[26]
• Norman Macleod (Caraid nan Gaidheal), Scottish divine and miscellaneous writer, served at the parish of Campbeltown, father of Norman Macleod (below)^[27]
• Norman Macleod, Scottish clergyman and author^[28]
• Angus MacVicar, author and broadcaster^[29]
• Neil Mathieson, chemist and businessman
• Neil McBain, professional footballer and football manager
• Duncan McNab McEachran, Canadian veterinarian and academic^[30]
• Paul McCartney, musician, singer, songwriter and leader of Wings and a member of the Beatles owns a farm near the town^[31]
• Jill McGown, British writer of mystery novels^[32]
• Jamie McIvor, BBC Scotland broadcaster^[33]
• Gilbert McKechnie, Ontario merchant and political figure
• Dan McPhail, professional footballer who made 437 appearances in the Football League^[34]
• John Neil Munro, journalist and author of biographies
• Rodney Pattisson, English yachtsman^[35]
• George Pirie, artist who was associated with the Glasgow Boys in the 1880s^[36]
• Kieran Prendergast, diplomat and a former Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the United Nations^[37]
• Bob Pursell, footballer who played for Liverpool in the early 20th century^[38]
• Peter Pursell, footballer. he won one cap for Scotland in 1914
• James C. Russell, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland^[39]
• Angus Stewart, Lord Stewart, lawyer and Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland^[40]
• John Stewart, Australian politician^[41]
• Gerald Tait, Olympic sailor^[42]
• Lawrence Tynes, placekicker in the National Football League. Grew up in Campbeltown when his father was with the US Navy^[43]
• Denzil Meyrick, author of Kinloch novels.

See also

• Lochend Castle, Campbeltown
• Charles Campbell (member for Campbeltown)
• Hazelburn distillery
• HMS Minona

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Campbeltown.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Campbeltown.

• Come to Campbeltown
• Campbeltown Website
• Campbeltown Independent Travel and Visitor Information
• Campbeltown Courier - source for local news
• Mull Of Kintyre Music Festival- official site
• Kintyre Songwriters Festival- official site
• The Picture House