Bowmore is a planned village with wide streets on a grid-iron pattern. It has its origins in an earlier settlement, Kilarrow, which until c. 1770 occupied the site of the present grounds of Islay House near Bridgend.[4]
In May 1685, Kilarrow was the scene of the first stages of Argyll's Rising, when rebels under the Earl of Argyll arrived from Netherlands in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow King James II and VII.
As part of his plans for improvements at Islay House,[4] Daniel Campbell the Younger initiated the construction of the new village in 1770, just after the completion of the new Kilarrow Parish Church, which was built in a unique circular shape. The old village of Kilarrow and its church dedicated to St Maelrhuba, were then demolished, and its residents were relocated to the new village of Bowmore. Kilarrow Old Churchyard still exists close to the site of the former village.[5]
The Bowmore distillery came into operation some time before 1816 and is situated on the shores of Loch Indaal. In the 1980s, one of the distillery's warehouses was gifted to the community for conversion to a swimming pool and leisure centre. Named the Mactaggart Centre after one of the scheme's major donors, Sir John Mactaggart, it uses an innovative system of underground pipes to transfer waste heat from the distillery to the water for the swimming pool.[6]
The RAF built a diesel power station close to the A846 road at the eastern end of Bowmore, to supply their facilities. This was taken over by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in 1949, and was extended several times, increasing its capacity to 6 MW. However, the National Grid reached Islay in 1962, with an undersea cable connection from the mainland to Jura, and another from Jura to Islay, after which the station was only maintained as a backup. It is currently owned by Scottish and Southern Electricity.[7]
Facilities
Bowmore has several hotels, restaurants, shops, a hospital, a high school and is home to the Ìleach newspaper, community newspaper of the year 2006. Bowmore is also host to Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle (the Columba Centre), a cultural centre and college founded with the aim of promoting Gaelic language revival and heritage on the Island.
Donald Caskie (1902-1983), noted as the "Tartan Pimpernel" for his wartime exploits in France. He was responsible for the safe passage of numerous exiles through the Scots Kirk in Paris during World War II.
Actor Vivian MacKerrell (1944-1995), whose parents are buried at Bowmore and whose ashes were scattered on Loch Indaal.
^ Edited by Donald E. Meek (2019), The Wiles of the World Caran an t-Saohgail: Anthology of 19th-century Scottish Gaelic Verse, Birlinn Limited. Page 478.
