A village on the west coast of the Kintyre Peninsula, Argyll and Bute, Machrihanish lies at the southern end of Machrihanish Bay, 5 miles (8 km) west of Campbeltown. Once the locus for coal mining, the village was linked to Campbeltown by a canal, planned and constructed between 1773 and 1794. This was replaced by a narrow-gauge railway in the 1880s, which continued to transport coal to the harbour at Campbeltown and provide a passenger service until the 1930s. The University of Stirling maintain a Marine Environmental Research Laboratory at Machrihanish. South of the village lies the ruined settlement of Craigaig. To the northeast, Machrihanish Airport (also known as Campbeltown Airport) is a significant local employer, and the manufacture of wind turbines is now an important industry after the building of a factory at the airport by Danish-owned Vesta Celtic Wind Technology in 2001. Tourism and golf also contribute significantly to the local economy.
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