Campbeltown Area

Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown

Fishing Boats, Carradale Harbour

Machrihanish

Area Main Page

Set at the head of a deep loch, sheltered by Davaar Island and surrounding hills, is Campbeltown, one of the largest towns in Argyll. Its heyday was in the Victorian era with its thriving shipbuilding, fishing and whisky industries. Today only three distilleries are in production. The best known is Springbank Distillery, which provides a unique insight into a distillery which undertakes 100% of the process in-house.

Elsewhere in Campbeltown is the excellent Campbeltown Heritage Centre, while on the quayside is the Campbeltown Museum and Library and the nearby "Wee Picture House". Campbeltown also has some striking churches, including the Lorne and Lowland Church and its huge tower, built for the Scots-speaking residents of the town, and the Highland Parish Church, built for the Gaelic-speaking highland population.

A popular day trip from Campbeltown is to Davaar Island, accessible from the mainland only at low tide by means of a peculiar dog-leg stretch of shingle. The island is uninhabited, save for sheep, and its main attraction is a cave painting of the Crucifixion secretly produced by a local artist in the late 1800s.

Ten miles south of Campbeltown lies Southend and the very attractive Dunaverty Bay. Nearby is the spot where in AD563 St Columba first landed in Scotland after being exiled from Ireland, a journey that took him onwards to Iona. St Columba's Footprints carved in the rock at Keil Head are said to mark his visit, and the nearby St Columba's Chapel also commemorates him.

Carskey Bay and Macharioch Bay both have appealing beaches overlooking Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. Beyond Keil, the road continues to the most southwesterly point of the peninsula, the Mull of Kintyre. From here, Ireland, only 12 miles away, is clearly visible.

Campbeltown lies at the eastern end of the only low lying part of Kintyre; the western end being occupied by Machrihanish, and its airfield, which boasts one of the longest runways in Europe, and provides air services to Glasgow. Meanwhile, Machrihanish, itself, five miles west of Campbeltown is increasingly making a name as an internationally important golfing destination.

Further north, you take your pick between roads running up the east coast or the west coast, for there are no cross-connections between Campbeltown in the south and Kennacraig, just south of Tarbert, in the north. Of the two alternatives the west coast offers the main road, much of it laid along raised beaches standing back from wonderful rocky bays with white sand, complete with superb views of Jura and Islay. And if you want to visit the low-lying island of Gigha, then this is the side to take.

The east coast of Kintyre offers a narrower and twistier road, which become single track north of the attractive fishing village of Carradale, which is the location of the Carradale Network Centre, a heritage centre.

This isn't the side for anyone in a hurry, but it does offer dramatic views of Arran, and a range of surprising little settlements, including Saddell, home to the ruins of Saddell Abbey. Nearer Campbeltown the road also passes the well preserved remains of Kildonan Dun. Further north is the slipway at Claonaig, from where you can catch the ferry to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran.