 | |
  Location within Scotland | |
| Established | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Location | 3 Big Kiln St, Campbeltown PA28 6JF, United Kingdom |
| Type | Museum and Heritage Centre |
| Website | https://campbeltownheritagecentre.co.uk |
The Campbeltown Heritage Centre is a museum and heritage centre in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland. The centre is the main repository for social history for the Kintyre Peninsula from around 1700 to the present day, and is run by the Kintyre Amenity Trust.
Kintyre Amenity Trust (KAT) was formed in 1998 to lease the recently redundant Lorne Street Church from the Church of Scotland and open a Heritage Centre to complement the existing Campbeltown Museum whose exhibits focused on archaeology and natural history. [1] With grants and contributions from the local community the trustees established a museum that highlighted the different aspects of Campbeltown's success - it had the highest per capita income for any town in Scotland. [2] This was based not only on the herring fishing industry but also coal, shipbuilding, whisky and agriculture. Exhibits were donated by many local people and the museum now holds a premier collection.
In 2012 KAT opened Campbeltown Backpackers in the old Free Church School. [3] This provides a modest revenue stream to support the activities in the museum.
The Lorne Street Church was built in 1868 as a result of the Disruption in the Church of Scotland. The architect was James Boucher of Glasgow, perhaps inspired by a church recently built in Manchester by the leading Gothic architect of the day, E.W. Pugin. The highly unusual stripy pattern that emerged from the use of differently coloured bands of stone on the east front, rapidly led to the church being named colloquially as The Tartan Kirk.
In 2016 KAT celebrated The Year of Scottish Architecture with a display of pictures of key Campbeltown buildings using contemporary pictures by the McGory Brothers, pioneer photographers from the early twentieth century. Also the very rare Minenwerfer that had come to the care of KAT was conserved and redisplayed.
Social history of Campbeltown. Steamers were regular visitors to Campbeltown, as were navy vessels. Exports have included coal, whisky and herring, whilst shipbuilding was a major industry.
Coal mining has been mined in Kintyre since the 15th Century, although the grade of coal was not the best it was a popular export. A model village includes the light railway that ran between Machrihanish and Campbeltown.
A farming display showcases 400 years of farming in Kintyre and highlights the dairy and meat industries that are key to the prosperity of the area.
William McTaggart - a popular artist and one of Scotlands finest landscape painters whose work was inspired by the coastal landscapes.
In 2016, a conserved and stabilised German 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer (bomb thrower or mortar) was put on display in the grounds of the heritage centre. [4] It is believed to be one of just eight surviving examples worldwide.
Argyll and Bute is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod. The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate. The current council leader is Councillor Jim Lynch.
Campbeltown 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.
Inveraray is a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is on the western shore of Loch Fyne, near its head, and on the A83 road. It is a former royal burgh, the traditional county town of Argyll, and ancestral seat to the Duke of Argyll. Known affectionately as "The Capital of Argyll"
Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about 30 miles, from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north of Kintyre is known as Knapdale.
Loch Fyne, is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal Peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. It extends 65 kilometres (40 mi) inland from the Sound of Bute, making it the longest of the sea lochs in Scotland. It is connected to the Sound of Jura by the Crinan Canal. Although there is no evidence that grapes have grown there, the title is probably honorific, indicating that the river, Abhainn Fìne, was a well-respected river.
Saddell is a small Scottish village situated on the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran, 8 miles (13 km) from Campbeltown on the B842 road to Carradale. The name Saddell is derived from the Norse for sandy dale.
Southend is the main settlement at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies 8 miles (13 km) south of Campbeltown, the main town in the area. The civil parish of Southend comprises the village and the surrounding land, used mainly for farming and forestry. The population of the parish is 497.
Tarbert is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built at the head of an inlet of Loch Fyne called East Loch Tarbert, on a narrow isthmus which connects Kintyre to the south with Knapdale to the north and separates East Loch Tarbert from the much longer West Loch Tarbert. Tarbert had a recorded population of 1,338 in the 2001 Census.
The Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was a 2 ft 3 in narrow gauge railway in Kintyre, Scotland, between Campbeltown and the coalmining village of Machrihanish. Only three other passenger-carrying lines in the UK operated on the same gauge, all of them in Wales - the Corris Railway, the short-lived Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway and the Talyllyn Railway.
Campbeltown single malts are single malt Scotch whiskies distilled in the burgh of Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. Once a major producer of whisky with as many as 30 distilleries, and claiming the title "whisky capital of the world", its production has markedly declined. Most of the distilleries have gone out of business and little trace of them remains. The reason for this decline was that the town was "churning out whisky in volume ... with little concern for quality", according to a 2018 book that covers the entire industry and its history.
Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll was a Scottish peer and soldier.
Saddell Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery located in western Scotland. The abbey was established in 1160 by Somerled, Lord of Kintyre, who was killed in 1164. The abbey was completed by his son, Ragnall, a few years later. The original layout of the abbey included a church and three adjoining buildings grouped around a cloister. Saddell Abbey is widely known for its important collection of life-sized stone carvings and burial slabs that were constructed from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1975.
Keil School was a school in Dumbarton, Scotland. After opening as a technical college in 1915 it later became an independent school for boys, then became co-educational before closing in 2000.
Finlaggan is a historic site on Eilean Mòr in Loch Finlaggan. The Loch, the island, and Finlaggan Castle lie on Islay, around two kilometres to the northwest of Ballygrant.
The 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer was a mortar used by Germany in World War I.
Glen Scotia distillery or sometimes affectionately known as The Scotia or Old Scotia is a distillery that is a producer of single malt Scotch whisky. The distillery was founded in 1832 and is one of just three distilleries left in Campbeltown, the smallest whisky region.
Machrihanish was a railway station in the village of Machrihanish, Argyll and Bute, serving the town. The Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was a 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) narrow gauge railway in Kintyre, Scotland, between the towns of Campbeltown and Machrihanish.
The Campbeltown Picture House is a theatre located in Campbeltown, Scotland. Opened in 1913, it was one of the first purpose-built cinemas in Scotland. It is the only remaining example of an Atmospheric theatre in Scotland.
The Gauldrons (Scottish Gaelic: Innean nan Gailleann meaning "Bay of Storms" is a bay facing the Atlantic Ocean in the village of Machrihanish in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland, a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre.
Campbeltown Town Hall is a municipal structure in Main Street in Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building.
