ARMS OF THE ROYAL BURGH OF CAMPBELTOWN
D.L.H. Patton
"Quarterly; 1st Vert, a castle triple-towered Or, masoned Sable, windows and port Gules; 2nd gyronny of eight Or and Sable, 3rd Argent, a lymphad Sable, sail furled and oars in action, flagged Gules, at the masthead a beacon in flames Proper; 4th Argent, a fret Sable.
Above the shield a coronet suitable to a Royal Burgh, thereon a helmet befitting their degree, with a mantling Vert doubled Or and on a wreath of their liveries is set for a crest a herring naiant Proper, and in an escrol below the shield the motto 'Ignavis Precibus Fortuna Repugnat'."
Campbeltown was created a Burgh of Barony in favour of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, in 1667, during the reign of Charles II. It was elevated to a Royal Burgh by William of Orange in 1700. Arms were not matriculated for the burgh until 1929.
The arms of the Royal Burgh of Campbeltown could be broken down into the following component parts, in descending order of importance, thus: shield, coronet, helmet, mantling and wreath, crest, motto. It is convenient to take each component in order.
SHIELD. This is divided into quarters, and convention has it that the quarters are numbered in the following order, top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right. 1st - and senior - quarter has a golden castle on a green field, and it is significant that the windows and door are red. That the door is red signifies that it is a royal castle, which means it is not the Lords’ of the Isles castle of Maol (from which castle perhaps the name Askomulmaol is a difficult word for a non-Gaelic speaker to pronounce, and maybe that is why we have various English spellings, eg. Askomul, Askomil, Askomel). Castle Maol stood on a continuation of The Walk. (To digress further; the 'Home Farm' of Castle Maol would appear to have been at Smerby. In the early 17th century a daughter of MacDonald of Smerby married Coll MacDonald of Colonsay - Colla Ciotach - and their son Alasdair was to win renown, being better known by a corruption of his father's by-name, Colkitto). Nor is the castle on the shield the Castle of Castlehill. This only leaves Kilkerran Castle, which was indeed a royal castle, being built for James IV. 2nd quarter, the familiar gyronny of the Campbells. 3rd quarter is tricky; the heralds call the ship a 'lymphad' which is a corruption of the Gaelic long-fhada which translated literally means 'ship-long', or longship. In fact it is not a Viking longship, but a.Celtic 'little ship' or naibheag. The naibheag was Somerled's symbol for power at sea, his fleet bore a black naibheag on a gold field. Dougall, the first Lord of Lorn, bore his father's shield charge, but with flame at the mast-head for difference. The naibheag used by the MacDougalls for the Lordship of Lorn is marshalled in thearms of Argyll and Bute District Council which were designed by the writer. The next Lords of Lorn, the Stewarts, changed the field colour from gold to silver, and most, but not all of the associated families, did away with the beacon at the mast-head. It was while the Lordship of Lorn was in Stewart hands that the naibheag acquired its flags. The next Lords of Lorn - the Campbells - kept the naibheag on its silver field, but did away altogether with the beacon and with the flags. So perhaps this quarter remembers the two Chamberlains of Argyll, father and son, who were Stewarts of the Appin line, though the father came to Campbeltown via Stronvaar in Balquidder. The village of Stewarton also recalls this family. In the blazon, the lymphad is described as having "oars in action", the number of oars is not specified so the artist can please himself so long as he shows at least two. 4th quarter displays the arms of the Tollemache family of Suffolk; Elizabeth Tollemache was the wife of Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll. This first Duchess of Argyll died at Limecraigs House in 1735 and is buried in Campbeltown.
CORONET. The colouring of a coronet of this type is significant, as it tells at a glance whether a burgh be a Royal Burgh, Parliamentary Burgh, or a Police Burgh. Campbeltown's coronet, as befitting a Royal Burgh was of stone coloured stone (the heralds' Proper) with black mortar.
HELMET. This is of steel and is shown "full face" with visor open.
MANTLING & WREATH. The wreath was a twist of silk in the livery colours, which secured the mantling in place. The purpose of the mantling was to lessen the heat of the sun on the back of the helmet. A mantling is lined, the lining being of a diff erent colour, and the two colours - except for the sovereign, and peers of the realm - are always the two principal colours of a shield, or of its senior quarter if it is quartered, and therefore in the case or the Roya1 Burgh of Campbeltown the mantling was green lined with gold, and these were the burgh's livery colours.
CREST. This is displayed resting on the wreath; the crest of the Royal Burgh of Campbeltown was a herring swimming, in its natural colouring.
MOTTO being loosely translated gives "Fortune helps those who help themselves."
References
"Scottish Burgh and County Heraldry" by R.M. Urquhart
pub.
Heraldry Today.1973
"Arms of the County Councils of Scotland" by David L. H. Patton
pub. Argyll Reproductions 1977
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