Walter J. Douglas Campbell of Innis Chonain (1850 - 9 Mar
1914), a younger brother of the 1st Lord Blythswood, was an architect
who practised in Lochawe in the period between 1881 and 1906.
Their father was Archibald
Douglas of Mains, son of Colin Douglas, 16th laird of Mains. He
adopted the name Campbell of Blythswood.
Walter bought from the Marquis of Breadalbane the Island of Innis Chonam,
on which he built for himself a stately mansion-house. Here he settled
with his sister Helen and his mother. Local tradition has it that the
elder Mrs. Campbell found the long drive to the parish church in
Dalmally too much for her, and that her son accordingly decided to build
her a church nearby.
On the shore above Loch Awe in Argyll stands one of the most unusual
churches in Scotland, Saint Conan's Kirk. Although the building looks
ancient it was in fact only dedicated in 1930. Walter Campbell of
Blythswood decided to extend the small parish church which stood on the
site to create a memorial for the Campbell's of Blythswood family and
work began in 1907.
Walter Campbell was an amateur architect and enthusiastic collector of
the unusual and he decided to act as his own architect on the project,
often incorporating materials, objects and curios that he had picked up
in his travels into his designs. The result was an amazing eclectic mix
of various styles from the Norman and Romanesque of the interior, to
Celtic motifs and even pagan symbolism in the form of the stone circle
at the entrance gate.
When Walter Douglas Campbell obtained a fragment of bone of King Robert
the Bruce following the re-discovery of the King's grave in Dunfermline
Abbey he incorporated the Bruce Memorial Chapel within the kirk with an
effigy of the king to house the relic. References are made to a figure
modelled by W. Hubert Paton of 'King Robert the Bruce - for St. Conan's
Church, Lochawe' in the 1896 RSA Exhibition Catalogue, number 346; and
again in the 1919 catalogue, number 44.
The Bruce Chapel owes its origin to the fact that it was on the hillside
above the kirk that the King despatched his famous outflanking column
under Sir James Douglas, which inflicted such a decisive defeat upon
John of Lorne and his clansmen in the Pass of Brander.
Part of the arcading and also some of the old stonework in the body of
the kirk itself comes from the pre-Reformation church of
Inchinnan, which was
pulled down early in the nineteenth century: Inchinnan was the parish
church of the Blythswood family in their old home. The very heavy oak
beams were taken from two famous old battleships, the Caledonia and the
Duke of Wellington. Wood from these battleships was also used for the
doors and some of the roofwork of the main building. In the arcades are
two "mort-safes," the iron grids which were used early in the last
century to protect graves from the body-snatchers or resurrectionists,
men who in the early part of the nineteenth century made a practice of
digging up recently buried bodies and selling them to the medical
colleges for dissection. This practice was most prevalent near the
cities, so very probably these particular mort-safes also came from
Inchinnan
Walter Campbell died in 1914 and his widow waited until sculptor Carrick
had returned from the war to commission him to carve his tomb. The surge
in orders for war memorials caused delays, the Lochawe memorial also by
Carrick which stands at the entrance gate of the kirk was itself
unveiled in 1920. However there were also delays in finding a suitable
stone and Carrick made a number of journeys to the Ravelston quarry in
the Cheviots before finding a suitable block. In 1925 he finally began
the work, obtaining Campbell's Highland Dress for his model. The result
was a particularly fine tomb featuring the recumbent effigy of Campbell,
his head resting on a pillow which is so beautifully worked that you
expect it to feel soft to the touch. Walter and his sister rest below.
St. Bride's Chapel, contains the tomb of the Fourth Lord Blythswood, who
helped to carry on the work after Walter and his sister had both died.
This chapel is in a very early Norman style and contains two slabs of
Levantine marble about which there is a curious little history. Although
coming originally from the Mediterranean, they were shaped and polished
somewhere near Louvain. The first duly arrived on Loch Awe side in the
summer of 1914, but the second had to wait until the end of the First
World War before it could join its neighbour. On the left side of this
chapel is a very small and low Saxon doorway which opens into an equally
minute room which Walter Campbell used to pretend to maintain was the
cell of St. Conan himself.
Both St. Conval's Chapel and St. Bride's Chapel are protected by most
beautiful wrought-iron gates bearing the initials and badges of those
who lie beneath. This ironwork is yet another example of the exquisite
craftsmanship which was the builder's delight.
At the far end of the Aisle there are two stained-glass windows. The
first of these, which contains the Royal Arms blazoned with those of
Argyll, is in memory of H.R.H. The Princess Louise, daughter of Queen
Victoria and wife of the late Duke of Argyll. The Blythswood family were
on terms of intimacy with the Princess, who took a great personal
interest in the building of St. Conan's. Doubtless it is to her that we
owe the marble bust of the young Queen Victoria which faces the pulpit.
A Founders' Stone in front of the Communion Table, commemorates the
names of Walter and Helen Douglas Campbell, was laid by the Trustees in
1954. High above the screen is a beautiful painted-glass window
with figures of angels and cherubs which Miss Helen Campbell designed
and painted with her own hands.
Although it is thought that Walter Douglas Campbell mostly concerned
himself with buildings in and around Loch Awe, he was also involved with
the Gilmerton Convalescent Home, in Edinburgh.
Note:
1. I am unable to trace a sister, Helen. Walter's mother was Caroline
Agnes, nee Dick. The church contains a memorial to Caroline Agnes
Campbell of Blythswood, and there is a memorial cross in the grounds of
the church.
Auld Robin the Farmer. By Walter Douglas Campbell.
Illus-trated by H.R.H. the Princess Louise. (D. Douglas, Edinburgh.)
Mr. Campbell's ballad tells in spirited verse how "Auld Robin" won a
curling match for the laird, who gives him the farm "for the rent o' a
bobbin." The figures of the farmer and his wife are good, and the collie
is worthy of being the frontis- piece; but we should like to have had a
view of the frozen loch, and the match itself. |
