The Lowland Church of Campbeltown
from its Foundation in 1654 till the Disruption.

Being a Lecture delivered to the Kintyre Antiquarian Society by Colonel Charles Mactaggart, C.S.I., C.I.E., on the 3rd of December, 1924.

Part One

    In the lectures about Campbeltown in the 17th and 18th Centuries, which I have from time to time delivered to you, I have said a good deal about the settlement of Kintyre by lowlanders and about the Church which those lowlanders founded and, when selecting " The Lowland Church of Campbeltown" as the subject of this lecture, I quite realised that much of what I am going to say to you this evening must be "cauld kail het again" ; but, on thinking over that matter, I consoled myself with the thought that, while what I had said on these subjects was fresh in my own memory, it had, doubtless, long ago faded from yours, and that, consequently, "the kail," which I put before you, might not be so lukewarm to you as I, at first, feared it would be.
 
    Perhaps before proceeding further I had better tell you the sources of most of the information, about the Lowland Church, which I am going to give you this evening.
By far the most important document in existence relating to our Lowland Church is an old minute, which was recorded by the Managers of the Longrow Church, when the Longrow Congregation seceded from the Lowland Church in 1767. That minute gives a brief history of the Lowland Church from
its foundation till the time of the split in the Congregation above referred to, and it contains much interesting information : but its value, as an historical document is largely discounted by the fact that it is full of prejudice and bias, and it, obviously, records a very one-sided account of important incidents in the early history of the Church. I shall, however, draw on the information it contains largely this evening, and for the sake of convenience, shall refer to it in future simply as "The Old Minute." Then I am indebted to the Kirk Session of Campbeltown for having placed its records freely at my disposal for purposes of study. I also have used the information given in Dr Boyd's most valuable lecture on the "History of the Longrow Church," which he delivered in 1867, and I have got facts and figures from the "Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae," and from various other books and records, which I need not. specify.

    In order to understand the causes which led to the formation of the Lowland Church of Campbeltown, we must know something about what is usually called "The Lowland Settlement of Kintyre'' ? the settlement of this Peninsula by lowlanders from Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Galloway, and other parts of Lowland Scotland.

    There can be little doubt that a few lowland settlers came to Kintyre early in the 17th Century, being invited to settle here by Lord Lorne (afterwards the great Marquis of Argyll), who was then in charge of the Kintyre possessions of the Argyll Family during the exile in Spain of his father, the 7th Earl; but those early settlers were certainly all cleared out of Kintyre, when it temporarily reverted to the rule of Colkitto and the Macdonalds, after the Battle of Inverlochy, in February, 1645. The tradition is that most of them escaped to the "Low Country" ; but some sought shelter in Ireland, where they were kindly treated by the Earl of Antrim. Colkitto's period of power did not last long, and he and the Macdonalds were finally driven out of Kintyre, and the Peninsula reverted to the Argylls, after Leslie's Campaign and the capture of Dunaverty, in July 1647. As the result of that war Kintyre was largely depopulated, and the process of depopulation was accentuated by a great epidemic of plague, which commenced just after Leslie and his army had departed. Traditions of that great epidemic still persist, and among them is one which says that only two homesteads were left, in rural South Kintyre, from whose chimneys smoke issued. That. is, doubtless, a picturesque exaggeration; but those, who, like myself, have had experience of what plague can do in surroundings favourable to its spread, such as then existed in Kintyre, will have no difficulty in believing that at least half the population was swept out of existence in a few months. As a result of war and plague, large tracts of excellent land in the Peninsula were then lying derelict, and it was to occupy and cultivate those desirable vacant lands that the earliest permanent lowland settlers came here. Another inducement to come to Kintyre, which must have appealed to many of the strict presbyterian and covenanting lowlanders, was, that here they would live under the patronage and protection of the great Marquis of Argyll, the champion of the presbyterian cause and then, as Baillie says, " questionless " the greatest subject in the realm. We may, therefore, date the commencement of the Lowland Settlement from 1648, and the influx of settlers continued till about 1700, or roughly over a period of fifty years. That the number of settlers was considerable, even in the very early years of the settlement, is certain, for, by 1653, only six years after the capture of Dunaverty, the lowlanders, with Ralston of Ralston as their Commander, were sufficiently numerous to seize and hold the Castle of Locheid against Lord Lorne, who then invaded Kintyre in the interests of King Charles and against the wishes of his father the Marquis of Argyll ; but I need say nothing about that incident, as its story has already been told by a far abler pen than mine ?that of our President, the Sheriff ?in the "Book of Old Castlehill." The early settlers were all strong presbyterians and covenanters; but their coming to Kintyre was in no way the result of religious persecution. There was no persecution of presbyterians during the period from 1650 to 1660, the time of Cromwell's rule in Scotland, and those settlers who arrived here prior to 1660 were attracted to Kintyre simply because good land was to be had at a low rental. From 1660, the year of the Restoration, on to 1688, the year of the Revolution, a different state of matters prevailed in Scotland, and the presbyterians in the Low Country were subject to a gradually increasing persecution, which compelled many of them to leave their native counties and seek shelter, and safety, elsewhere. Kintyre, remote from the centres of persecution and under the rule of the 9th Earl of Argyll, offered such shelter and comparative safety, and the settlers, who came here between. the years 1660 and 1688, were, no doubt, in very many cases, the victims of the persecution already referred to. In 1688 came the Revolution, and also religious freedom for the people of Scotland, and the lowlanders, who came to Kintyre between that year and 1700, were attracted here by the tales of the prosperity which previous settlers enjoyed.

    The presbyterianism of the settlers was of a far more strict and pronounced type than that of the local highlanders, and the services in the Parish Church here were then entirely in Gaelic, a language which the settlers did not understand, so they had not the privilege of attending public worship and were, more or less, deprived of church ordinances. This is what the
“Old Minute" says on the subject. " Here (in  Kintyre) they were in quiet and ? in a great measure, free from these hardships which their friends in the Low Country were, at that time, suffering from, and that tended not a little to make their situation comfortable; yet. amid all these advantageous circumstances, their happiness was embittered by the want of the Gospel, and their uneasiness under the want of this daily increased.  For although the Gospel was preached in the country it was in a language not understood by them." Dr. Boyd states that the highland ministers in Kintyre had no sympathy with the settlers.  "They looked upon them 'as intruders and did everything in their power to drive them back to the districts from which they had come." The tradition is that in the early years of the Settlement, the lowlanders used to make pilgrimages to their native parishes in the Low Country, at the time of the yearly  “Communion " in these parishes, and that there they participated in the communion services and had their baptisms and marriages performed ; but, obviously, these yearly pilgrimages were very expensive and very inconvenient, so it is not to be wondered at that, as soon as the settlers here became sufficiently numerous to justify such action and sufficiently powerful to defy local opposition, they decided to form themselves into a congregation, and so they founded the Lowland Church of CampleItown. That event occurred in the year 1654, the year after that in which the lowlanders, under Ralston, occupied and held the Castle against Lord Lorne, as I have already told you. All the expenses connected with their Church, including the minister's stipend, were borne by the Congregation, and the Lowland Church
of Campbeltown, if it was not THE FIRST, was certainly one of the first "voluntary" churches in Scotland, and, for that reason, Dr Boyd claims that Campbeltown "was the birthplace of Scottish dissent" ; but, in making that claim, I think, the Rev. Doctor went a little bit too far. The Lowland Church was, at first, certainly a "voluntary" church and it was not connected with the National Church ; but it could hardly be correctly described as a " dissenting ' church, for the lowlanders did not "dissent" from the doctrines, teaching or methods of the National Church, as it then existed, and even their voluntaryism was compulsory. They would undoubtedly have accepted state aid had it been available, just as their descendants did forty years later ; but; as it was not available, they had to do the best they could without it.

    The first Lowland Church was naturally an unpretentious building. It had a thatched roof and it was known as "The Thatched House," and, according to a widely believed Campbeltown tradition, it was situated in the Shore Street; but that old tradition is not founded on fact. Bound with the earliest records of the Town Council is a list of the houses and other buildings in the. burgh and in most cases, of their owners. It is not dated, but it was certainly compiled between the years 1700 and 1706. It distinctly shows that all the houses on the east side of the Kirk Street had gardens, or back yards, which extended right down to the sea, so the Shore Street did not exist for fifty years after the Thatched House was built. In the old list, already referred to, a building in the Kirk Street is shown as "The Preaching House" with its entrance from the shore," and there can be no reasonable doubt that that building was the  Thatched House. Further, in the "Old Minute”, it is clearly stated that the existing Kirk Street Kirk was built exactly on the site of the Thatched House. It reads thus. "In 1706 the Thatched House became too little, as well as ruinous, and therefore it was judged expedient to pull it down and build a slate house on the ground where it stood. This was accordingly done." It is certain, therefore, that the Thatched House stood in the Kirk Street, on the site of the present Kirk Street Kirk, and the tradition, that it was situated in the Shore Street, probably arose from the fact that the entrance to it was, for some reason or other, probably because it was built on a steep slope, "from the shore" side of the buiIding. Unpretentious Church as the Thatched House was, it certainly had a bell, and that old bell is still preserved, I believe, at Inveraray Castle. On it are the arms of King Charles the First and what I think are, the arms of Neil Campbell, who was appointed Bishop of the Isles in 1634. There is also a Latin inscription, which reads as follows :?? ‘Gloria Deo soli : Michael Burgherhuys me fecit 1638. " The probable history of the bell is as follows: It was cast for the Bishop of the Isles in 1638, and when that dignitary ceased to function in that same year, it fell into the hands of the Marquis of Argyll, who, eventually, presented it to the first church of his proteges the lowland settlers of Kintyre. When the Thatched House was pulled down the bell was, doubtless, re?erected in the Kirk Street Kirk and, when that Kirk was, in turn, abandoned and its ruins, and the ground on which they stood, reverted to the 5th Duke of Argyll, he had the bell taken to Inveraray. The late Duke, who was better known to many of us as "Marquis of Lorne,”  when he was President of the Kintyre Club, had an exact model of the old bell made and presented it to the Club, which greatly values it as an interesting relic of old Campbeltown. I am glad to be able to show you that model of the old bell to?night. It is now in my custody as President of the Kintyre Club, and, with the consent of the Directors of the Club, it is being placed, for the rest of my period of office, on loan exhibition in the local Museum.

    The first minister of the Lowland Church was the Rev. Edward Keith, who was ordained here in 1655, the year after the church was founded. Mr. Keith was a cadet of the family of the Earl Marshal and his father was Sheriff of Montrose. The Keiths were, as you all doubtless remember, strong jacobites and episcopalians, and no family suffered more, from devotion to the Stuart cause than they did, and there is no more interesting, or pathetic story in the annals of the Scottish Peerage than that which tells how, after the Battle of Sheriffmuir, the young Earl Marshal and his brother James Keith (afterwards the great Marshal Keith) having lost titles, rank and estates, had to fly from their native land, and how, by their splendid courage and their great abilities, they both eventually regained honours, rank and fortune in the service of Frederick the Great. It is indeed strange to find the first minister of the Lowland Church of Campbeltown, a strong presbyterian and covenanter, a member of such a family; but such accidents happen, even now, in the best regulated families, and it is no more strange for a Keith to have been a covenanting minister than it is to see Mr Baldwin's son waving a red flag, or the Marquis Curson's son?in?law leading a Socialist procession ; but between the Rev. Mr Keith and the other members of his family there can have been no sympathy in religious or political views, and that is, very probably, the reason why he was willing to come here to Campbeltown, far from his native part of Scotland.
Mr. Keith's period of office, as Minister of the Lowland Church, extended over twenty?six years and ended with his death in 1681. His ministry covered the most terrible time 'in the history of the Church of Scotland, and the tradition is that he did not escape his fair share of trouble. He was “outed" from his charge and, I believe, imprisoned, but he was one of those who eventually accepted what was known as "The Indulgence" of 1669, and, no doubt, he was then permitted to resume his work. He is said to have been a gifted preacher and an excellent minister and, in spite of his acceptance of  "The Indulgence", a fact which must have Iowered the estimation in which he was held by strict covenanters, he seems to have lived respected and beloved by his people. A prominent "Lady of the Covenant," Lady Henrietta Lindsay, a step-daughter of the 9th Earl of Argyll, and the wife of Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck, has left on record the fact, that she "had access to hear sweet and powerful truths at Campbeltown under the ministry of Mr Keith" whom she describes as "an eminent light there." I shall not be far wrong, I think, if I describe Mr Keith as an able and very tactful minister, true in all essentials to
the great principles which he professed: but anxious to make the most of any circumstances favourable to the interests of his Congregation and himself, which occurred in the trying days over which his ministry extended. Under him the Lowland Church certainly prospered, and he lived in perfect amity with his flock.

Part 2 in July

Wee Drams

Page  2:    Eighteenth Century Church Letters from Southend Parish

Page  3:    The Ralston Correspondence - Part Two 

Page  4:    The Lowland Church of Campbeltown from its Foundation in 1654 till the Disruption. - Part One

Page  5:    Heather McFarlane's Page - Dalintober

Page  6:    HMS Campbeltown // Genealogy of Peter Johnson

Page  7:    Betty McNiven and 'The Flight'.

Page  8:    By Hill and Shore - Part Two

The A.I.B. Stewart Page