Tighnabruaich


Tighnabruaich; is a village on the Cowal peninsula, on the western arm of the Kyles of Bute in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. In 2011 the population was 660. It is west of Glasgow and north of the Isle of Arran. The road to Ormidale was built in the late 1960s, and until then the village was more reliant on the sea for the transport of passengers and freight.
A pier was possibly built in the 1830s by the Castle Steamship Company, a forerunner of MacBrayne. It was a stopping place for paddle steamers and Clyde puffers. The wooden pier was rebuilt in 1885 by the Tighnabruaich Estate who owned it from 1840 until 1950. George Olding owned it until 1965 when it became the responsibility of the local council.
Passenger services on and around the Clyde were developed after the PS Comet was introduced into service in 1812 and tourism developed with the introduction of cruises through the Kyles around Bute, to Arran and along Loch Fyne. The pier is used by the paddle steamer. Its Royal National Lifeboat Institution inshore lifeboat station currently has an Atlantic 85 type lifeboat and tractor on station.
Tighnabruaich is popular for sailing and yachting and has a sailing school. Shinty is the major sport in the village which is home to Kyles Athletic who have won more Camanachd Cups than any other team apart from Newtonmore and Kingussie.
Tighnabruaich was voted "the prettiest village in Argyll, Lomond and Stirlingshire" in 2002 and featured in the More4/Channel 4 programme Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages.