Campbeltown Heritage Centre

The Campbeltown Heritage Centre stands in Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula in Argyll. It occupies the former Lorne Street Church, built in 1868 after the Church of Scotland split. The building’s east front is striped with differently coloured stone bands, giving it the local nickname The Tartan Kirk. The centre is run by the Kintyre Amenity Trust, which also runs a small hostel in the old Free Church School. Exhibits come from donations by local people and show how Campbeltown grew rich from herring, coal, shipbuilding, whisky and farming. The museum holds a leading collection of social history from about 1700 to today. A model village shows the light railway that once linked Machrihanish and Campbeltown. Farming displays trace 400 years of dairy and meat production that shaped the area’s wealth. Steamers and navy ships regularly visited the port, exporting coal, whisky and herring. A German Minenwerfer mortar, one of only eight left in the world, is displayed outside after careful conservation. Visitors find rooms full of local stories and objects. A display on William McTaggart shows how the artist captured coastal landscapes. Photographs by the McGory Brothers, early twentieth-century pioneers, show key Campbeltown buildings. The centre’s grounds include the conserved mortar and views towards the old church. The building itself, with its striking stonework, remains a landmark in the town.