Campbeltown Loch (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

: Loch Chille Chiarain) is a small sea loch near the south of the

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately nor ...

Peninsula facing eastwards towards the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

. The town of Campbeltown, from which it takes its name, is located at its head. The island of Davaar is located in the loch, and can be reach by foot along a natural shingle causeway at low tide. Oddly, while in English the Loch takes its name from Campbeltown, in Gaelic, Campbeltown takes its name from the loch - "Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain".

English raid of 1558

In October 1558, the English raided "Loch Kilkerran" because of the activities of the

Clan MacDonald Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald ( gd, Clann Dòmhnaill; Mac Dòmhnaill ), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry i ...

in Ireland. The

Earl of Sussex Earl of Sussex is a title that has been created several times in the Peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The early Earls of Arundel (up to 1243) were often also called Earls of Sussex. The fifth creation came in the Peera ...

sailed from Dublin in the '' Mary Willoughby'' with a small fleet. They burnt farms and houses including Saddell, a castle of James MacDonald of Dunyvaig and Glynnes (died 1565), and then marched south to burn

Dunaverty Dunaverty Castle is located at Southend at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland. The site was once a fort belonging to the Clan Donald (MacDonald). Little remains of the castle, although the site is protected as a sched ...

and Machrimore. He then burnt farms on Arran, Bute, and Cumbrae.

The song

The loch is immortalised in the folk song of the same name, repopularized by Andy Stewart in the 1960s. In the song (see below) the writer Alan Cameron expresses his desire that the loch be full of whisky. The basis of that ballad is that Campbeltown was originally a centre of whisky distilling but that the price of whisky in Campbeltown itself was too high. :Chorus: :''Oh! Campbeltown Loch, Ah wish ye were whisky!'' :''Campbeltown Loch, Och Aye!'' :''Campbeltown Loch, I wish ye were whisky!'' :''Ah wid drink ye dry.'' :Now Campbeltown Loch is a beautiful place, :But the price of the whisky is grim. :How nice it would be if the whisky was free :And the Loch was filled up to the brim. :I'd buy a yacht with the money I've got :And I'd anchor it out in the bay. :If I wanted a nip I'd go in for a dip :I'd be swimmin' by night and by day. :We'd have a gathering of the clans :They'd come from near and far :I can see them grin as they're wading in :And shouting "Slàinte mhath!". :But what if the boat should overturn :And drowned in the whisky was I? :You'd hear me shout, you'd hear me call out :"What a wonderful way to die !" :But what's this I see, ochone for me :It's a vision to make your blood freeze. :It's the police afloat in a dirty great boat :And they're shouting: "Time, gentlemen, please!" Campbeltown Loch is sung to a march written for the bagpipes, ''

The Glendaruel Highlanders Glendaruel (Gaelic: ''Gleann Dà Ruadhail'') is a glen in the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The main settlement in Glendaruel is the Clachan of Glendaruel. Features The present Kilmodan Church was built in the Clachan of Glen ...

''.

References

External links

Sea lochs of Scotland Lochs of Argyll and Bute Campbeltown Firth of Clyde {{Argyll-geo-stub