Linda McCartney Memorial Garden and Statue, Campbeltown

The Linda McCartney Memorial Garden is the sheltered inner garden of the museum building in Campbeltown, the main town on the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland. A local trust opened it in November 2002. Its centrepiece is a bronze statue of Linda holding a lamb, made by Jane Robbins and commissioned and donated by Paul McCartney.

Why Kintyre built a garden for Linda

Paul and Linda McCartney lived at High Park farm in Kintyre after they married in 1969. Linda died in 1998, and a group of friends and admirers from the peninsula then formed the Linda McCartney Kintyre Memorial Trust. By the trust chairman's account at the opening, the project took about four years.

Money came from people in the community, Argyll and the Islands Enterprise, the Campbeltown and Kintyre Enterprise Trust and Argyll and Bute Council. Paul McCartney's contribution was the statue. He commissioned it from the sculptor Jane Robbins, who is his cousin, and gave it to the garden.

The BBC reported the opening on 1 November 2002. Paul, Stella, Mary and Heather had been expected but did not come. The family sent a statement instead, calling Scotland one of Linda's favourite places. At the time the trust also hoped to open a gallery nearby for her photographs of Kintyre.

The statue of Linda with a lamb

Robbins shows Linda holding a lamb. The figure is bronze. Sources don't agree on its size: the 2002 BBC report says two-thirds life size, while the trust's sculptor page and the Gazetteer for Scotland call it life-size.

Some reports also name the local peer Ray Michie as the person who unveiled it. No readable report confirms it, so treat that as unconfirmed.

Where the garden is, and when it is open

The garden sits inside the museum building designed by J.J. Burnet in the 19th century. Burnet's plan had a loggia opening onto a sheltered inner garden, and that space was redesigned for the memorial.

Live Argyll lists the garden as open 09:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 16:00 at weekends. The Campbeltown Museum next to it is closed for building works, so check before you travel if you also want to see the museum.

A memorial, not a grave

The garden holds no remains. Accounts of Linda McCartney's ashes differ: a 1998 Maclean's obituary said they were scattered on the Sussex farm, and Scottish sources link them with Kintyre. What is known for each of them is set out in where the Beatles and their families are buried.