CAMPBELTOWN, a royal burgh and seaport of Scotland, in Argyllshire, situated on an indentation of the coast, near the southern extremity of the peninsula of Kintyre, in 55° 25' N. lat. and 5° 36' W. long. Its principal buildings are the churches (one of which stands on the site of the castle of the Macdonalds), the townhouse, the jail, and the athenaeum. The staple industry is the manufacture of whisky. There are in the town, or in its immediate vicinity, upwards of twenty distilleries, which produce a spirit that is in high estimation. Many of the inhabitants are also engaged in the fisheries and the coasting trade. A good supply of water is furnished, from a distance of a mile and a half, by the works opened in 1866. The harbour, which is formed by the inlet of the sea called Campbeltown Loch, has been improved by the extension of the pier to a distance of 250 feet. The whole bay measures about 2 miles in length by 1 in breadth, and has from 6 to 15 fathoms water. The registered vessels belonging to the port on the 31st of December 1874 were 41 sailing vessels of 2590 tons and 2 steamships of 284. During the same year there entered 806 British and 18 foreign vessels, with a tonnage of 61,838 and 2353 respectively. Campbeltown unites with Ayr, Inveraray, Irvine, and Oban in sending one member to parliament The population of the parliamentary burgh in 1871 was 4593, while that of the parish amounted to 8580. Campbeltown is supposed to be a place of considerable antiquity, though no memorial of this exists except a finely-sculptured stone cross, which now stands on a pedestal in the market-place, and is popularly assigned to the 12th century. Prior to 1700 the place was a mere fishing village, but it was then erected into a royal burgh through the interest of the ...