The Churches of Campbeltown Since the Reformation
John R.H Cormack.
Frequent questions are asked about the origins of our
different congregations and the reasons for their separate existence. A reply
soon lands one among big past issues, such as patronage, and theological
matters, so that the local dimension is lost and maybe interest lost too.
This article is an attempt to trace the evolution of our Campbeltown heritage
over the past four centuries, but so as only to touch the national events
which shaped it. So this is not history, but a set of notes.
The Reformation of 1560 only gradually spread to
Kintyre. There were already the three parishes, Kilkerran, Kilmichael and
Kilchousland and these were united in 1617 to form the parish of Campbeltown,
which was further enlarged in 1772 by the addition of Kilkivan, which was
then disjointed from Southend.
The first place of worship for the new parish dates from
1642-3, the site being still marked by the fenced triangle opposite Ardshiel
Hotel. It was replaced by the present Highland Parish Church, built
in 1807, the tower being added later.
From the 17th century a number of families, mainly
farmers, arrived from Renfrewshire and Ayrshire - "The Lowland Plantation."
They could not understand the services, which were in Gaelic, the common
speech of the town at the time. So by 1655 they had formed themselves into
a separate congregation, soon to be known as the Lowland Church, whose place
of worship was first "The White House" in Kirk Street, and from 1706 the
building nearby at the corner of St. John Street. In 1780 they moved yet
again, to the Castlehill, by which name the congregation began to be poularly
known. The 1706 building fell into decay, but in 1904 it was renovated, and
today, as the oldest ecclesiastical building in the district still in use,
it is the hall of the Highland Church.
In 1767 a section of the Lowland congregation broke away
over a dispute with the Patron, the Duke of Argyll, about a minister's
settlement, and built a church in Longrow. They associated themselves with
the Relief movement, which had just started in Scotland. In 1872 a new church
was built in Longrow, the congregation being by then United Presbyterians,
following the union of the Relief and Secession Churches in 1847. It became
Longrow U. F. Church on the union of the Free and U.P. Churches in 1900,
and entered the Church of Scotland at the larger union of 1929.
The Disruption of 1843, again over the patronage issue,
profoundly influenced Campbeltown. A Free Church separated from each of the
Parish churches, and two places of worship were hastily built on the south
side the Big Kiln. In 1868 new buildings were provided, the Gaelic section
rebuilding on the old site, but the non-Gaelic shifting westwards to Lochend.
Both became U.F., Lorne Street and Lochend respectively, in 1900 at the union
mentioned above. Lorne Street entered the Church of Scotland at the 1929
union, but Lochend adhered to the U.F. Church till the congregation was dissolved
in 1984.
A minority of the Free Church members, mainly from the
Gaelic congregation, did not enter the union of 1900, and, after occupying
temporary places of worship, erected their own at Dalintober in 1912
A local union of Longrow and Castlehill was effected
in 1971, the former's edifice being chosen and a historic name, Lowland,
revived.
There was yet one other Presbyterian Church - the Secession,
who raised their house of worship in Argyll Street in 1833. The congregation
was dissolved in 1849, having been since the 1847 union mentioned above a
second and hardly necessary U.P. congregation. The Episcopal congregation
purchased the building soon afterwards.
To look beyond the Presbyterian pale, the Catholic-Episcopal
tradition had far longer roots, but this article's 1560 base limits it to
the outward re-establishment of the ancient order, whose Celtic lamp had
indeed never been wholly extinguished. A Roman Catholic Chapel was built
in 1809, and was superseded by the present larger one of 1849, opened in
1850 and dedicated to St Kieran, the town's patron saint.
A Scottish Eniscopal congregation held services in the
Town Hall from 1840 till their purchase of the former Secession building
in Argyll Street in 1850. The present more appropriate sanctuary on the old
site dates from 1891, also dedicated to St. Kiaran, but spelt differently.
Christian Brethern first gathered in the early 1920's
in a ground floor hall at 26 Shore Street, a new meeting house taking its
place in 1928 at the corner of Longrow and Well Close.
A Baptist congregation was formed in 1811 and was still
in existence in 1842, but eventually it disappeared. It was doubtless a very
small body, and there is no record of any particular place of assembly. The
meeting probably took place in private houses, and the Sacrament of Baptism
would have been administered in the Loch.
Burnside Independent Chapel was constructed in 1805 and
very largely renovated in 1829. It was recognised by the Congregational Union
in 1823. Due to dwindling membership the Cause was closed down in 1863, and
subsequently in 1899 the building was acquired by the Salvation Army, who
used it as their Citadel for many years, demolishing it quite recently to
make way for new and up-to-date premises. It is a happy thought that the
spot once occupied by a half-forgotten Church should be a centre of active
witness and influence today.
No 23 Spring 1988
In an excellent lecture to the Society on "Saddell Abbey and its connections" in November 1986 Mr Alastair Gordon of Rutherglen destroyed the story beloved by generations of Kintyreans that Magnus Barefoot annexed Kintyre to the Norwegian Crown by "Sailing" his longboat across the Tarbert.
Mr Gordon's view is reinforced in an article on "Magnus Barelegs' Expeditions to the West" by Rosemary Power which appears in Volume LXV No. 2 of the Scottish Historical Review.
"Magnus then returned to Scotland (after his conquest of Man) in 1098 and according to the Norse sources he made a treaty with the Scots King........ Magnus was to have all the islands to the west of Scotland in addition to the Isle of Man. The boundaries of the (Norwegian) kingdom and bishopric (of the Isles) were accepted as including these areas in later times. The Norse sources are even more specific.......... he was to have every island between which and the mainland it was possible for a ship to sail with rudder set. Magnus set to work claiming as many islands as possible. When he came to Kintyre he himself sat at the rudder and caused it to be dragged across the isthmus of Tarbert a place where ships were often dragged. He thus possessed Kintyre "the best of all the sudreyjar except Man".
From what is known about Magnus himself, and because he may have had the precedent of a legendary Norwegian King for claiming land in this manner, it is possible that Magnus and his men actually did this, though perhaps more in high spirits than in order to make any genuine claim to the peninsula. Kintyre was certainly included among Scottish possessions during the reign of David I (1124-53) and it was never part of the bishopric of the Isles, the limits of which appear to have coincided exactly with those of the Kingdom".
No 23 Spring 1988
Page 2: Janet and Marie Morrison's 1993 Trip to Scotland - Part 2
Page 3: David Whitehead's Genealogy Special - Part Three
Page 4: John and Mary Morrison of Rocky River - The Second Part
Page 5: Three Brothers from Drumalea // The Keprigan Hen
Page 6: The Vegetation of Kintyre - Part Two
Page 8: By Hill and Shore - Part 1
Page 9: John McLeod Campbell // An Apprentice Agreement of a Hundred and Fifty Years Ago