A History of Campbeltown & Islay

A History of Campbeltown & Islay 12 pages written by Professor Michael Moss Islay and its neighbour Jura are the innermost of the Hebridean Islands. Islay is largely low lying and fertile, well- suited to growing grain, while Jura is mountainous with only a small coastal strip on the east side. Like Kintyre, both enjoy the warming currents of the Gulf Stream. Campbeltown lies at the end of the long Kintyre peninsula that stretches from Ardrishaig down to the Mull. Sheltered from the west by high ground (and the north of Ireland) and warmed by the Gulf Stream, it enjoys a mild temperate climate. The long fertile coastal plain on the east shore is ideal for growing oats and barley or bear or bigge. Top left, a map of Scotland with Campbeltown & Islay highlighted. Bottom left, a map of Campbeltown. Above, a map of Islay and Jura. Campbeltown and Islay were until not that long ago reached easily only by sea, but the waters around the Mull are perilous with strong tidal currents that made access dangerous, particularly in winter months. A History of Campbeltown & Islay Page 1 Since Scottish summers are frequently wet, As in much of Scotland, economic grain had to be dried in kilns. It was a development in both places – including short step from drying to malting and then distilling – was promoted by the lairds. At to brewing and distilling. Distilling times, they overlooked illicit distilling if depended on smiths who could make the income helped their tenants to pay copper stills and worms to condense the their rents. Illicit distilling in Kintyre was distillate. well organised. The monks are credited with bringing the art of distillation to Islay, but early on most distilling was of essences from flowers and herbs rather than ardent liquor. By the 1670s whisky or aquavitae was being distilled in Kintyre. Hills and cliffs on the Isle of Islay. Robert Armour’s family had been distillers but were driven out of business when duty was raised in 1797. In 1811, he set up a plumbing and copper-smithing business in Inveraray Castle. Seat of the Dukes of Argyll since the 18th Longrow and began making stills for illicit Century, located on the shores of Loch Fyne (Scotland’s distillers in Kintyre on an extensive scale. longest sea loch). Over the next six years he made 400 stills, From the beginning of the seventeenth of which 53 found their way to Century, Kintyre belonged largely to the neighbouring Arran in the Firth of Clyde. Earls of Argyll – later the Dukes – while Islay was purchased by Daniel Campbell of He made stills for families that founded Shawfield in 1725 (using money he had legal distilleries after the changes in the received in compensation for the legislation in 1823, such as the Colvills, destruction of his Glasgow mansion during Greenlees, and Mitchells. the malt tax riots in the city). A History of Campbeltown & Islay Page 2 whom were keen to develop the economy of their estates, particularly after the end of the French Wars in 1815 that had made them rich in supplying the army and navy with black cattle and wool for uniforms and blankets. Improvement was linked directly to Enlightenment thought and notions of progress. Both the 7th Duke of Mull of Oa. Argyll and Walter Frederick Campbell, the then laird of Islay, were imbued with The Mull of Oa on Islay was well known such idea. for its illicit distillation. In 1777, the Reverend John McLeish of Kilchoman The same was true of Colonel Charles Parish reported: Campbell of Barbreck who died a bankrupt in 1792. He had invested heavily We have not an excise officer on in his Kintyre estate, building shops and “ the whole island. The quantity, tenements at Dalaruan, Dalintober and therefore, of whisky made here Longrow in Campbeltown in which distilleries were to be built. His estate was is very great and the evil that sold in 1795 by his creditors for almost follows drinking to excess of this £53,000. liquor, is very visible on the Walter Frederick, who inherited the island island.” on the death of his grandfather in 1816, On Islay, Bowmore was reputedly founded undertook costly developments including in 1779 and Ardbeg sometime before 1794 the construction of a series of planned when Alexander Stewart became villages that would provide employment in bankrupt. Both seem to have gone out of new factories, including distilling. production quite quickly or possibly switched to illegal production, given there In their commitment to economic was no excise officer. development, the lairds anticipated their new factories would find a market outside It is tempting to assume that illicit their immediate locality. The Highlands of distillers simply became legal. Across the Scotland had been sending cattle and whole of the Highlands and Islands; it sheep, wool and salmon south for at least a needed impetus from the lairds, all of century. A History of Campbeltown & Islay Page 3 The first distilleries on Islay were opened or re-opened at the end of the life of Walter Frederick’s grandfather, Walter Campbell. Daill was set up in 1814 by Neil McEachern and Ardbeg was re-opened by John McDougall in 1815, , although there is no record of distilling until 1817. Photograph from the Graham Lappin Collection. Puffer at Lagavulin. The first licenced distillery in Campbeltown, the aptly named Campbeltown distillery was opened in 1817 by John Mactaggart, a maltster, and John Beith, a banker. To encourage the industry, the Duke built a larger reservoir at Crosshill with two water mains, known as the town and the distillery. Illustration from whatwhiskywhereblogspot.com. A map of current and lost distilleries circa 2005. Lagavulin and Octomore, behind Port Charlotte, opened in 1816, Bowmore re- opened in 1816. Ardmore and the short- lived Scarrabus began in 1817, while Neil McEachern’s son Donald opened Bridgend Photograph by Chris Sampson. This Loch is still the water in 1818. The distilleries opened after 1816 source for the town's distilleries Springbank, Glengyle and took advantage of the Small Stills Act that Glen Scotia. allowed the use of 40 gallon stills throughout Scotland and weaker washes of After the 1823 legislation, and with a the sort used by illicit distillers. This rash secure supply of water, new distilleries of new distilleries almost certainly were opened in Campbeltown almost reflected the enthusiasm of Campbell every year for the next decade. Amongst lairds for improvement and increasing these was Hazelburn in Longrow that was their rental income. established by Greenlees, Colvill & Co, A History of Campbeltown & Islay Page 4 “Possessed of great natural energy and By 1833, small still Islay whisky was being unwearying perseverance”, Samuel advertised in London alongside Glenlivet. Greenlees “soon made the business one of Already it was being matured for between the most extensive and successful in the three and five years and not sold straight town”. By 1835 Campbeltown could boast from the still. 29 distilleries. Islay whisky was first advertised in On Islay, to complement the existing Australia in 1839 and Campbeltown three distilleries, Newton and Port Ellen opened years later. in 1825, to be followed by Laphroaig and Lossit in 1826 and Lochindaal in 1829. It was not all plain sailing. Five of the Campbeltown distilleries closed between 1834 and 1837, although one re-opened. The same was true on Islay but this did not deter James and Andrew Stein (from the distinguished Clackmannanshire family of distillers) from opening Ardenistiel, next Photograph from the Graham Lappin Collection. The first to Laphroaig, in 1836. Nor did it deter steam driven vessel to reach Campbeltown from Glasgow Glasgow distiller Hector Henderson from was the Britannia in 1816. Her journey took 14 hours, a building Caol Ila, in the Sound of Islay in vast improvement on the normal time of a week on the 1846. Those distilleries that survived had previously used sailing boats. The Gael’s (above) maiden voyage to Campbeltown took place in 1867. She was a established a market across the United much more powerful ship and her journey time between Kingdom and started to export. Greenock and Campbeltown was an incredible 3.5 hours. The arrival of the steamboat at Campbeltown in 1816 – and round the treacherous waters of the Mull to Islay in 1825 – gave all these distilleries access to the fast-expanding markets in Glasgow and the towns along the banks of the Clyde, such as Greenock and Dumbarton. When Islay and Campbeltown whiskies were advertised in Glasgow in 1829, Islay Photograph from the Graham Lappin Collection. Campbeltown in the mid 1800s… with plenty of distillery enjoyed a premium price. chimneys in view. A History of Campbeltown & Islay Page 5 In 1854, 400 cases of Campbeltown whisky Operating from London, Samuel was sent out to the regiments in the Greenlees’ sons – James and Samuel – are Crimea. It was not until the 1860s that self credited with being “pioneers of whisky whiskies (single malts) began to be blending as well as the pioneers in advertised. Dalaruan and Hazelburn popularising Scotch whisky throughout whiskies from Campbeltown were more the world”. expensive than those from Glenlussa and even Islay. Bulloch, Lade & Co., Glasgow distillers and blenders, bought the bankrupt Caol Ila distillery on Islay in the 1860s and rebuilt it. Likewise, James Mackie of White Horse fame bought Lagavulin in 1867. Dalruan, Campbeltown Malt Scotch Whisky. Dalaruan was on the market in Australia in 1865, Mutter’s Bowmore whisky was available in bulk in 1872 and 10 year old Ardbeg from Islay by 1874. Glen Nevis distillery in Campbeltown opened in 1877 and was exporting its self whiskies within Greenlees Brothers.

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