Campbeltown
Town and former royal burgh
Campbeltown Viewed from the slopes of Beinn Ghuilean
Scotland
Scotland
Campbeltown
Location within Argyll and Bute
Population4,500 (mid-2020 est.)[3]
OS grid referenceNR 71800 20300
• Edinburgh101 mi (163 km)
• London352 mi (566 km)
Council area
  • Argyll and Bute
Lieutenancy area
  • Argyll and Bute
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCampbeltown
Postcode districtPA28
Dialling code01586
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament

Campbeltown (/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. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port.

The 2018 population estimate was 4,600 indicating a reduction since the 2011 census.[4]

History

Originally known as Kinlochkilkerran (an anglicization of the Gaelic, which means 'head of the loch by the kirk of Ciarán'), Campbeltown was renamed in the 17th century as Campbell's Town after Archibald Campbell (Earl of Argyll) was granted the site in 1667.[5] Campbeltown Town Hall was completed in 1760.[6]

Economy

Main street, with Campbeltown Town Hall visible

In addition to the benefits of distilling, and whisky tourism, there were two major employers in 2018, Campbeltown Creamery and CS Wind UK, who provided "a substantial portion of the Campbeltown area’s high skilled jobs and are a vital part of the local economy," according to the Scottish government. A report in October 2019 had raised warning signs for the economy of Argyll & Bute; the report also suggested that up to 70 jobs at CS Wind UK could be lost but did not specify a time frame.[7]

Both companies confirmed the prediction of job redundancies, leading the Scottish government to hold an emergency summit in November 2019 to discuss steps that might be taken for improving the local economy. Participants included Argyll & Bute Council, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, trades unions and local employers.[8][9] After the summit, a "working group" was formed in late November 2019.[10]

The number of dairy farms supplying Campbeltown Creamery reduced from 147 to 28 and the number of dairy cows fell from 6600 to 2500. Consequently, the Creamery became unviable. A plan by a small number of local dairy farmers to take over the running of the Creamery failed in early December 2019. The milk produced in Kintyre is now transported by road tankers to Lockerbie and Mull of Kintyre Cheddar is no longer available.[9]

By early December 2019, CS Wind UK had declared 22 jobs redundant. The Scottish government was working with the company to search for long-term solutions.[11] Preliminary discussions did not produce optimism about the future stability of the company. The Unite union indicated that while CS Wind had been profitable, it was not receiving an adequate number of orders to sustain full employment.[12] The plant was shut down in 2019 and production shifted to CS Wind's cheaper Vietnam plant in Phú Mỹ.[13]

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.[14][15][16][17]

Campbeltown is a "protected locality" for Scotch Whisky distilling under the UK's Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009.[18]

The folk song titled "Campbeltown Loch, I wish you were whisky" is based on the town's history in this industry.[19]

Climate

As with the rest of Scotland, Campbeltown 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]

Climate data for Machrihanish, 10 m (33 ft) ASL, 1981-2010
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 7.8
(46.0)		 7.8
(46.0)		 9.2
(48.6)		 11.1
(52.0)		 13.9
(57.0)		 15.9
(60.6)		 17.4
(63.3)		 17.5
(63.5)		 15.9
(60.6)		 13.0
(55.4)		 10.2
(50.4)		 8.3
(46.9)		 12.4
(54.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 2.6
(36.7)		 2.4
(36.3)		 3.3
(37.9)		 4.4
(39.9)		 6.8
(44.2)		 9.4
(48.9)		 11.3
(52.3)		 11.4
(52.5)		 9.9
(49.8)		 7.6
(45.7)		 5.0
(41.0)		 2.9
(37.2)		 6.4
(43.5)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 128.5
(5.06)		 91.8
(3.61)		 105.7
(4.16)		 75.0
(2.95)		 63.4
(2.50)		 73.0
(2.87)		 77.6
(3.06)		 94.5
(3.72)		 108.6
(4.28)		 143.8
(5.66)		 134.9
(5.31)		 129.3
(5.09)		 1,226.2
(48.28)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) 17.7 13.9 16.0 12.2 12.2 11.5 13.0 14.0 15.0 17.8 17.8 16.7 177.7
Mean monthly sunshine hours 47.8 75.1 101.6 163.4 214.8 181.1 157.7 159.7 126.8 87.1 54.7 42.8 1,412.5
Source: Met Office[21]

Culture

The old Library and Museum
The Wee Picture House

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 the Registrars office and Customer Service Point for Argyll and Bute council and has plaques or exhibits related to famous Kintyre people: for example, William McTaggart and William Mackinnon.[22] 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.[23] These buildings are on the waterfront, as is a 14th-century Celtic cross that also served as a mercat cross.[24][25]

St Kieran (Ciarán of Clonmacnoise) lived in this area before the town existed.[26] A cave named after him can be visited at low tide, as can the cave on nearby Island Davaar where pilgrims and tourists go to see a 19th-century crucifixion painting.[27]

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.[28]

The Kintyre Songwriters Festival, a fairly low key annual gathering aimed at promoting the wealth and variety of original music across the area, which started in 2009. The festival is held during the last weekend of May and is open to anyone interested in performing.[29]

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 was previously closed due to safety concerns; the centre houses Campbeltown's library (with the old building being the museum only), swimming pool, gym, conference centre and 'Mussel Ebb' Cafe.[30]

The Kintyre Camanachd are a local shinty team that belongs to the Camanachd Association.[31]

The local amateur football team, Campbeltown Pupils AFC, are members of the West of Scotland Football League Division 4 which largely comprises clubs based in the Greater Glasgow and Inverclyde areas, requiring the Campbeltown team to make a round trip of over 200 miles (320 km) for away fixtures most weekends.[32]

Argyll FM is a local radio station based in Campbeltown on 106.5, 107.1 and 107.7.[33]

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.[34][35]

Transport

Campbeltown Ferry Terminal
Campbeltown Airport terminal building

Campbeltown Airport is near the town, and has a scheduled service to/from Glasgow International Airport on weekdays and some summer Sundays.[36]

The town is the westernmost town in the island of Great Britain (if the port of Mallaig is not counted as a town). It has the population of a large village, but lays claim to its town status based on its port and its central close grid of streets. Its position 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, who also operate services to Glasgow for Scottish Citylink.[37]

Ferries sail from Campbeltown to Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, operated by Kintyre Express. The service, which runs to Ballycastle every Friday to Monday during summer months and on Mondays and Fridays during the winter months, commenced in 2011.[38]

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.[38]

Starting 23 May 2013, Caledonian MacBrayne began operating a ferry service across the Firth of Clyde to Ardrossan, calling at Brodick on Saturdays.[39]

Campbeltown was linked to Machrihanish by a canal (1794 – mid-1880s) that was superseded by the Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway, which closed in 1932. The railway, which was originally built to serve the Machrihanish Coalfield, ran from Campbeltown railway station to Machrihanish railway station.[40]

Preceding station   Ferry   Following station
Terminus   Caledonian MacBrayne
Kintyre Ferry
(Summer only)		   Ardrossan
    Brodick
Terminus   Kintyre Express
Ferry		   Ballycastle

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.[41]

Notable people

Main Street and Campbeltown Cross
Campbeltown harbour

Town twinnings

Campbeltown is twinned with Kümmersbruck, Bavaria, Germany. [71]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba - Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland - Database". Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Scotslanguage.com - Names in Scots - Places in Scotland".
  3. ↑ "Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland". National Records of Scotland. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  4. ↑ "Campbeltown (Argyll and Bute, Scotland, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de.
  5. ↑ "Campbeltown" in A Dictionary of British Place-Names, A. D. Mills, Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Hull. 12 December 2009
  6. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Main Street, Town Hall, including lamp standards (LB22918)". Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  7. ↑ "Largely negative economic data and a slew of job losses, the North Coast 500 shows which economic road to take – The State of Britain".
  8. ↑ "Campbeltown economic summit - gov.scot". www.gov.scot.
  9. 1 2 Cameron, Greig (17 May 2023). "Farmers join forces in attempt to save Campbeltown Creamery" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  10. ↑ "Working group formed after emergency economic summit". Campbeltown Courier. 22 November 2019.
  11. ↑ "First Minister intervention plea as jobs go at CS Wind". Scotland Against Spin. 5 December 2019.
  12. ↑ McPhee, David (3 December 2019). "Scottish Government sought to 'assist' troubled CS Wind prior to job losses". Energy Voice.
  13. ↑ Meek, James (15 July 2021). "Who holds the welding rod?". London Review of Books. 43 (14). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "The World of Scotch Whisky" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "The five single malt scotch whisky whiskey regions explained. scotland wisky higlands speyside campbeltown islay lowlands". 24 September 2009. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009.
  16. ↑ D8. "Scotch Whisky Association - Whisky Regions & Tours". Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Stirk, David (1 January 2005). The Distilleries of Campbeltown: The Rise and Fall of the Whisky Capital of the World. Angels' Share. ISBN 9781903238844 – via Google Books.
  18. ↑ "The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009". www.legislation.gov.uk.
  19. ↑ Stewart, Andy (2010). ""Campbeltown Loch, (I wish you were whisky)"". Spotify. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  20. ↑ "2010 minimum". UKMO. 24 December 2010.
  21. ↑ "Machrihanish Climate period: 1981-2010". Met Office. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  22. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "St John Street and Hall Street, Public Library and Museum, with Librarian's House, Garden, Railings, Gates, and Gatepiers (Category A Listed Building) (LB22964)". Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  23. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Hall Street, The Picture House (Category A Listed Building) (LB22965)". Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  24. ↑ "Campbeltown Cross". Kintyremag.co.uk. 28 December 1950. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  25. ↑ "Campbeltown Cross, Hall Street".
  26. ↑ "TravelDock". Archived from the original on 9 January 2014.
  27. ↑ "Che vandal attacks Christ image". BBC News. 1 August 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  28. ↑ "Mull of Kintyre Music Festival". Mokfest.com. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  29. ↑ "Call for local musicians to take part in 2022 Kintyre Songwriters Festival". Campbeltown Courier. 16 March 2022.
  30. ↑ "£7m Aqualibrium planned for Campbeltown". Health Club Management. 27 February 2006. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  31. ↑ "Shinty in South Kintyre". Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  32. ↑ Join Campbeltown Pupils AFC as they make a 260 mile trip just for a game of football, A View from the Terrace (BBC Scotland), 28 February 2020
  33. ↑ "Argyll FM". Tune In. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  34. ↑ "BBC News - 'Vulnerable' Scottish rural towns listed". Bbc.co.uk. 28 May 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  35. ↑ "Revealed: our rural towns on the brink". The Scotsman. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  36. ↑ "Flybe timetable: flight from Campbelltown Airport". Flybe. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  37. ↑ "Services". West Coast Motors. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  38. 1 2 Plan B - The Creative Edge. "Kintyre Express". Kintyre Express. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  39. ↑ "New ferry link for Campbeltown". Caledonian MacBrayne. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  40. ↑ Macmillan, Nigel S.C. (2000). The Campbeltown & Machrihanish Light Railway (third ed.). Plateway Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-871980-17-2.
  41. ↑ "Where Is Scots Spoken In Scotland?". I love languages. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  42. ↑ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1901). "Beith, Alexander" . Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  43. ↑ "Scotland's Mark on America". Scotlands.com. 28 May 2007. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  44. ↑ "Kintyre Magazine 68".
  45. ↑ "Durham Mining Museum - Thomas Lindsay Galloway". www.dmm.org.uk.
  46. ↑ "James Gulliver, Chairman Of Food Group, Dies at 66". The New York Times. 17 September 1996.
  47. ↑ "AIM25 collection description". aim25.com.
  48. ↑ "Macleod, Norman (1783-1862)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  49. ↑ "Memoirs and portraits of one hundred Glasgow men: 61. Norman Macleod".
  50. ↑ "The Wee Web - rare, collectable and used children's books online". 23 January 2004. Archived from the original on 23 January 2004.
  51. ↑ "Neil McBain". LFC History. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  52. ↑ Rowley, Tom (11 October 2013). "Paul McCartney and the Mull of Kintyre: 'Maybe the memories make it too painful for him to return'".
  53. ↑ "Jill McGown".
  54. ↑ Duncan McNab McEachran at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  55. ↑ Vickers, John. "The Lincoln City FC Archive". Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  56. ↑ "William McTaggart: The Storm". Campbeltown Heritage Centre. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  57. ↑ "Scottish author Denzil Meyrick tells Janet Christie about his Kintyre-set novels and his hopes for the planned TV crime drama series". The Scotsman. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  58. ↑ "John Neil Munro". Birlinn. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  59. ↑ Campbell, Alan (8 May 2012). "Olympic sailor asks to be removed from Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.. because he's English".
  60. ↑ Tate. "Sir George Pirie (1863-1946) - Tate".
  61. ↑ "SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS KIERAN PRENDERGAST OF UNITED KINGDOM AS USG FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS - Meetings Coverage and Press Releases".
  62. ↑ "Robert Pursell". Archived from the original on 28 January 2012.
  63. ↑ "QPFC.com - A Historical Queen's Park FC Website". www.qpfc.com. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  64. ↑ "Rothesay in line for £1.5m in heritage funding". 13 May 2009.
  65. ↑ "James Curdie Russell". The University of Glasgow Story. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  66. ↑ Scottish Government (14 October 2010). "College of Justice".
  67. ↑ "Mr John Stewart [2] (1876–1957)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  68. ↑ "Gerald Tait Olympic medals and stats". Archived from the original on 24 March 2013.
  69. ↑ Brown, Oliver (22 January 2008). "Celtic humour keeps Lawrence Tynes on song".
  70. ↑ "George Wylie, Morrisonville, Succumbs Here". The Capital Times. Madison, WI. 9 December 1926. p. 1. Retrieved 5 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  71. ↑ Bayer, Josef. "Schottland zu Gast". www.asamnet.de.
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