Campbeltown
Campbeltown has much the atmosphere of a holiday town today. Overlooked by Beinn Ghuilean where walking can be enjoyed and at the head of the loch by Davaar Island. Today there is plenty to see and explore, including places of historical interest, a range of outdoor activities, tours of the whisky distillery and much more. There are a good variety of locally run shops, restaurants, hotels and pubs. See the Directory. The town makes an excellent touring centre for the scenic Kintyre Trail and the Kintyre Walk (2006). As well as road and sea access, Campbeltown has an airport located 3 miles from the town. There is a ferry terminal from which it is hoped that direct ferry services to Ireland, only a short distance away will be resumed in 2006.
Campbeltown is the largest town in Kintyre with a population of 5,100 (2001). It is situated on the shores of the sheltered anchorage of Campbeltown Loch, near to the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula. The town received its Royal Burgh charter in 1700 from King William II, having previously been created a burgh of barony in 1667. The settlement lay to the south of the present town near Kilkerran castle and was known as Ceann Loch Cille Chiaran (Gaelic: the town at ‘the head of the loch of the cell of Ciaran’) named after St Ciaran, a Celtic missionary from Ireland.
Campbeltown was once a prosperous, bustling fishing port, a centre for coastal shipping, boat building, coal mining and whisky distilling. In 1900 it had the highest per capita income in the country and this prosperity can be seen by the large number of substantial Victorian and Edwardian villas, as well as the high quality architecture of many of its public and private buildings.
Campbeltown was one of the many Clyde coastal towns visited by steamers in the early part of the 20thcentury. They brought visitors from the centre of Glasgow and until the mid 1930s there was even a ‘Wee Train’ that took them across to Machrihanish for golfing or to walk on the beach.
