Argyll


Argyll, sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.
Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata on Great Britain. Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore, as well as an early modern earldom and dukedom, the Dukedom of Argyll.
It borders Inverness-shire to the north, Perthshire and Dunbartonshire to the east, and—separated by the Firth of Clyde—neighbours Renfrewshire and Ayrshire to the south-east, and Buteshire to the south.
Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll was an administrative county with a county council. Its area corresponds with most of the modern council area of Argyll and Bute, excluding the Isle of Bute and the Helensburgh area, but including the Morvern and Ardnamurchan areas of the Highland council area.
There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain then Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1708 until 1983.

Name

The name derives from Old Gaelic airer Goídel. The early 13th-century author of De Situ Albanie wrote that "the name Arregathel means margin of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli, from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas." The De Situ Albanie is however of dubious authenticity.
However, the word airer naturally carries the meaning of the word 'coast' when applied to maritime regions, so the placename can also be translated as "Coast of Gaels". Woolf has suggested that the name Airer Goídel replaced the name Dál Riata when the 9th-century Norse conquest split Irish Dál Riata and the islands of Alban Dál Riata off from mainland Alban Dál Riata. The mainland area, renamed Airer Goídel, would have contrasted with the offshore islands of Innse Gall, literally "islands of the foreigners." They were referred to this way because during the 9th to 12th centuries, they were ruled by Old Norse-speaking Norse–Gaels.

North Argyll

The term North Argyll historically referred to what is now called Wester Ross. It acquired the name North Argyll as it was settled by missionaries and refugees from Dál Riata, based at the abbey of Applecross. The position of abbot was hereditary, and when Ferchar mac in tSagart, son of the abbot, became the Earl of Ross, the region of North Argyll started to acquire the name Wester Ross. Both names continued in use until the 15th century, when Wester Ross became the exclusive term.

Geography

Argyllshire is split into two non-contiguous mainland sections divided by Loch Linnhe, plus a large number of islands that fall within the Inner Hebrides. Mainland Argyllshire is characterised by mountainous Highland scenery interspersed with hundreds of lochs, with a heavily indented coastline containing numerous small offshore islands. The islands present a contrasting range of scenery - from the relatively flat islands of Coll and Tiree to the mountainous terrain of Jura and Mull. For ease of reference the following is split into three sections: Mainland, Mainland and the Inner Hebrides.

Mainland (north)

The northern mainland section consists of two large peninsulas - Ardnamurchan and Morvern - divided by Loch Sunart, with a large inland section - known traditionally as Ardgour - bounded on the east by Loch Linnhe. This loch gradually narrows, before turning sharply west in the vicinity of Fort William, almost cutting the northern mainland section of Argyll in two. This area, in the vicinity of Fort William and along the railway line, contains the largest towns of northern mainland Argyll.
Ardnamurchan is a remote, mountainous region with only one access road; it terminates in Ardnamurchan Point and Corrachadh Mòr, the western-most points of the British mainland. In the north-east of the peninsula two unnamed sub-peninsulas almost encircle Kentra Bay, and are bound by the South Channel of Loch Moidart to the north; to the east of this lies the River Shiel and then Loch Shiel, a long loch which forms most of this section of the border with Inverness-shire. Morvern is a large peninsula and like its northern neighbour is remote, mountainous and sparsely populated. In its north-west Loch Teacuis cuts deeply into the peninsula, as does Loch Aline in the south. At the estuary of Loch Teacuis lie the large islands of Oronsay, Risga and Càrna. There are numerous lochs in northern Argyll, the largest being Loch Doilet, Loch Arienas, Loch Teàrnait, Loch Doire nam Mart and Loch Mudle.

List of islands

The southern mainland section is much larger than the northern, and is dominated by the long Kintyre peninsula, the terminus of which lies only 13 miles from Northern Ireland on the other side of the North Channel. The coast is complex, with the west coast in particular being heavily indented and containing numerous sea inlets, peninsulas and sub-peninsulas; of the latter, the major ones are Appin, Ardchattan, Craignish, Tayvallich, Taynish, Knapdale and Kintyre, and the major loch inlets are Loch Leven, Loch Creran, Loch Etive, Loch Feochan, Loch Melfort, Loch Craignish, Loch Crinan, Loch Sween, Loch Caolisport and West Loch Tarbert, the latter dividing Kintyre from Knapdale. To the east Loch Fyne separates Kintyre from the Cowal peninsula, which is itself split into three sub-peninsulas by Lochs Striven and Riddon and split on its east coast by Holy Loch and Loch Goil; south across the Kyles of Bute lies the island of Bute, which is part of Buteshire, and to east across Loch Long lies the Rosneath peninsula in Dunbartonshire. The topography of south Argyll is in general heavily mountainous and sparsely populated, with numerous lochs; Kintyre is slightly flatter though still hilly. Near Glen Coe can be found Bidean nam Bian, the tallest peak in the county at 1,150 m. Of the lochs and bodies of water the largest are the Blackwater Reservoir, Loch Achtriochtan, Loch Laidon, Loch Bà, loch Buidhe, Lochan na Stainge, Loch Dochard, Loch Tulla, Lochan Shira, the Cruachan Reservoir, Loch Restil, Loch Awe, Loch Avich, Blackmill Loch, Loch Nant, Loch Nell, Loch Scammadale, Loch Glashan, Loch Loskin, Loch Eck, Asgog Loch, Loch Tarsan, Càm Loch, Loch nan Torran, Loch Ciàran, Loch Garasdale, Lussa Loch and Tangy Loch.

List of islands

Note that islands lying off the west coast are generally considered to be part of the Inner Hebrides
Argyllshire contains the majority of the Inner Hebrides group, with the notable exceptions of Skye and Eigg. The islands are too geographically diverse to be summarised here; further details can be found on the individual pages below.

List of islands

Historically, the term shire is somewhat misleading, as it must not be confused with an English county. In medieval Latin, the latter was referred to as a comitatus, which prior to 1889 a Scottish shire had never been. In Scotland, the comitatus was in fact the region controlled as a Lordship, such as a mormaerdom, or an early Earldom, and typically survived as a regality. Shire instead came into use, in Scotland, to refer to the region in which a particular sheriff operated; in Scottish medieval Latin this was sometimes called the vice-comitatus.
Following the transfer of the Hebrides and adjacent mainland coast from Norway to Scotland, by the 1266 Treaty of Perth, Argyll was served by the sheriff of Perth. However, in 1293, king John Balliol established the post of sheriff of Kintyre. In 1326, Dougall Campbell, son of Neil Campbell, was rewarded for Campbell support of Robert the Bruce; Dougall was grandson of the baron of Innis Chonnell, at the centre of the Argyll region, so he was created Sheriff of Argyll. However, the sheriffdom had only been created to oversee the forfeited MacDougall territory of Lorn, the southern parts of Argyll remained part of the quasi-independent Lordship of the Isles until the late 15th century.
In 1476, John MacDonald, the Lord of the Isles, quitclaimed Kintyre and Knapdale to Scotland, and initially Knapdale was served by the Sheriff of Perth. However, in 1481, it was placed under the control of Tarbertshire - an expanded sheriffdom of Kintyre.
The Scottish Reformation co-incidentally followed the fall of the Lordship of the Isles, but the MacDonalds - former lords - were strong supporters of the former religious regime. The Campbells by contrast were strong supporters of the reforms, so at the start of the 17th century, under instruction from James VI, the Campbells were sent to Islay and Jura - MacDonald territory - to subdue the MacDonalds. The sheriffdom of Argyll was an inherited position, and had remained in the Campbell family, and now it was extended to include Islay and Jura. Campbell pressure at this time also lead to the sheriff court for Tarbertshire being moved to Inverary, where the Campbells held the court for the sheriff of Argyll. Somewhat inevitably, in 1633, Tarbertshire was abolished, in favour of the sheriff of Argyll.
David II had restored MacDougall authority over Lorn in 1357, but John MacDougall had already renounced claims to Mull in favour of the MacDonalds, to avoid potential conflict. The MacLeans were an ancient family based in Lorn, and following the quitclaim, they no longer had a Laird in Mull, so themselves became Mull's Lairds. Unlike the MacDonalds, they were fervent supporters of the Reformation, even supporting acts of civil disobedience against king Charles II's repudiation of the Solemn League and Covenant. Archibald Campbell was instructed by the privy council to seize Mull, and suppress the non-conformist behaviour; by 1680 he gained possession of the island, and transferred shrieval authority to the sheriff of Argyll.
In 1746, following Jacobite insurrections, the Heritable Jurisdictions Act abolished regality, and forbade the position of sheriff from being inherited. Local governance was brought into line with that of the rest of Great Britain. Boards for health, water, education, the poor law, and so on, were established for each sheriffdom, akin to the way counties were now governed in England. In 1889, counties were at last formally created in Scotland, by a dedicated Local Government Act; they were to use the same boundaries as sheriffdoms.
Argyll thus gained a county council, which lasted until 1975. Argyll's neighbouring counties were Inverness-shire, Perthshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Bute. Renfrewshire and Ayrshire are on the other side of the Firth of Clyde, while Bute was a county comprising the islands in the firth.
The county town of Argyll was historically Inveraray, which is still the seat of the Duke of Argyll. Lochgilphead later claimed to be the county town, as the seat of local government for the county from the 19th century. Neither town was the largest settlement geographically, nor in terms of population, however. Argyll's largest towns were Oban, Dunoon and Campbeltown.
The Small Isles of Muck or Muick, Rhum or Rùm, Canna and Sanday were part of the county until they were transferred to Inverness-shire in 1891 by the boundary commission appointed under the Local Government Act 1889. The island of Egg or Eigg was already in Inverness-shire.
The concept of a County of Argyll ceased for local government purposes in 1975, with its area being split between Highland and Strathclyde Regions. A local government district called Argyll and Bute was formed in the Strathclyde region, including most of Argyll and the adjacent Isle of Bute. The Ardnamurchan, Ardgour, Ballachulish, Duror, Glencoe, Kinlochleven and Morvern areas of Argyll were detached to become parts of Lochaber District, in Highland. They remained in Highland following the 1996 revision.
was recently 'improved' in anticipation of Queen Elizabeth's visit.
In 1996 a new unitary council area of Argyll and Bute was created, with a change in boundaries to include part of the former Strathclyde district of Dumbarton.

Constituency

Starting in 1590, as one of the measures that followed the Scottish reformation, each sheriffdom elected commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland. As well as the commissioner representing Argyll, at least one was sent to represent Tarbertshire, Sir Lachlan Maclean of Morvern. In the 1630 parliamentary session, Sir Coll Lamont, laird of Lamont, was the commissioner for "Argyll and Tarbert".)
There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801, and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1983. The Argyll and Bute constituency was created when the Argyll constituency was abolished.

Civil parishes

Civil parishes are still used for some statistical purposes, and separate census figures are published for them. As their areas have been largely unchanged since the 19th century, this allows for comparison of population figures over an extended period of time.

Mainland (north)

The West Highland railway runs through the far north of the county, stopping at Locheilside, Loch Eil Outward Bound, Corpach and Banavie, before carrying on to Mallaig in Inverness-shire. A branch of the line also goes to Oban, calling at Dalmally, Loch Awe, Falls of Cruachan, Taynuilt and Connel Ferry.
Numerous ferries link the islands of the Inner Hebrides to each other and the Scottish mainland. Many of the islands also contain small airstrips enabling travel by air. A fairly extensive bus network links the larger towns of the area, with bus transport also available on the islands of Islay, Jura and Mull.
The county contains a number of small airports which serve the region and Edinburgh/Glasgow: Oban, Tiree, Coll, Colonsay, Campbeltown and Islay.
Kintyre has been one of the mooted locations for a proposed British-Irish bridge; as the closest point to Ireland at first glance it appears to be the most obvious route, however Kintyre is hampered by its remoteness from the main centres of Scotland's population.

Residents

Clans