Campbell of Auchinbreck

Duncan Campbell, as a grandson of King Robert III, received a considerable estate confirmed by royal charter dated 19 June 1452.

In 1628 the then head of the family of Campbells in Auchinbreck received a baronetcy, which included a grant of North American land in Nova Scotia.

The arms of Campbell, won following the achievements of the Duke of Argyll, chief of the clan (Mac Cailein mor), used gyronny of eight Or and Sable as their variation of the field.

Sir Dugald Campbell of Auchinbreck had his chief stronghold at Auchenbreck Castle of which fragments remain at Auchnabreck Farm, on the Cowal peninsula.

[1] This had passed to his great-great-grandfather in around 1500. and is traditionally regarded as the remains of Auchinbreck Castle, the residence of Sir D. Campbell, whose initials and crest dated 1610 appear on a stone in the present nearby, Kilmodan Church wall, in Glendaruel.

By the end of 1625 the first 22 baronets of Nova Scotia were created and, as inducements to settle his new colony of Nova Scotia, Sir William offered tracts of land totaling 11,520 acres to all such 'principal knights & esquires as will be pleased to be undertakers of the said plantations and who will promise to set forth 6 men, artificers or laborers, sufficiently armed, appareled & victual led for 2 years.'

One of the earliest stone castles in western Scotland, it stands at the mouth of Loch Sween and is set upon a low rocky point beside a sand beach facing south.

When he was killed at the Battle of Glenlivet in 1594, his son Duncan inherited the castle, which was then attacked and burned in 1644 by Alasdair Mac Colla and has been in ruins ever since.

"All the lieges within the sheriffdoms of Argyle and Tarbert, were charged, by proclamation, to join the forces formerly appointed to be in readiness under Campbell of Auchin breck.

Their fate excited great commiseration, which was mingled with a feeling of indignation, that no steps were taken to punish the villainous conduct of the Chancellor's emissary, (Graham)."

Sir Dugald Campbell, 3rd Baronet of Auchinbreck (Abt 1629–1662), was granted 10,000 marks in recognition of his father's services and compensation for the destruction of his lands.

Following the 9th Earl of Argyll's failed uprising in support of the Monmouth Rebellion, against James VII in 1685, the castle was blown up by Royalist forces.

In August 1684,[3] the heritors of North Knapdale were required to give bonds to the Marquis that they would "not recept supplie or assist in any manner of way Archibald Earle of Argyll or any other declarit fugitive or trator or intercommoned person."

The Campbells, hearing that the Earl had been taken, surrendered the castle to Captain MacKenzie and others who had the authority of the Lord Marquis of Atholl to receive it.

In January the following year, (1685–1686) the Government indicted: In 1690 an Act of Parliament rescinded all fines and forfeitures dating to 1665 whose beneficiaries included Earl of Argyll, Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchenbreck, the deceased Dugald M'Avish of Dinardrie and others.

Along with others, he suffered destruction of property, plundering of goods, loss of cattle and sheep, deprivation of rent for four years and the expense of living abroad.

Under the leadership of Duncan Campbell of Kilduskland and Dugald MacTavish of Dunardry "a considerable number of people" sailed from North Knapdale in July 1739.

In November 1741, word was received that the adventurers had settled at Cape Fear in North Carolina and expected "a greater number of the poorer sort to follow."

Less wise than in 1715, the chief heritor of North Knapdale, Sir James Campbell of Auchinbreck had been "in correspondence with the Pretender, and in 1741 had been one of the sept seigneurs ecossais ("seven Scottish lords") who signed an assurance to Cardinal Fleury that Scotland would rise in support of a Franco-Jacobite invasion.

In that battle he adopted the rank of lieutenant colonel and with a dedicated leadership group lead a Protestant force and tied up King James's Jacobite army long enough to ensure his eventual defeat at the hands of William of Orange.

As they had been one of the main pillars on which the fabric of society rested, removal of such an integral support weakened the whole, resulting in the disappearance of many smaller houses.