Campbeltown (Scottish Gaelic: 'Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain') is a town and former royal 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) - this form is still used in Gaelic. It was renamed in the seventeenth century and became an important centre for shipbuilding and whisky, and a busy fishing port.
As of the 2001 census, the population was 5,144.
WhiskyCampbeltown 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, 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, 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.
CultureApart 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 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.
TransportFerries 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.
A passenger ferry currently runs between Campbeltown and Troon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Kintyre Express makes four journeys per day, with a crossing time of one hour in calm weather.[1]
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 the A83(to Tarbet) and A82(from Tarbet to Glasgow).
LanguageCampbeltown 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.
