Tarbert Castle

Tarbert (Scottish Gaelic: An Tairbeart, pronounced [ən̪ˠ ˈt̪ʰaɾʲapərˠʃt̪], or Tairbeart Loch Fìne to distinguish it from other places of the same name) is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre to Knapdale and West Loch Tarbert. Tarbert had a recorded population of 1,338 in the 2001 Census. Tarbert has a long history both as a harbour and as a strategic point guarding access to Kintyre and the Inner Hebrides. The name Tarbert is the anglicised form of the Gaelic word tairbeart, which literally translates as "carrying across" and refers to the narrowest strip of land between two bodies of water over which goods or entire boats can be carried (portage). In past times cargoes were discharged from vessels berthed in one loch, hauled over the isthmus to the other loch, loaded onto vessels berthed there and shipped onward, allowing seafarers to avoid the sail around the Mull of Kintyre. Tarbert was anciently part of the Gaelic overkingdom of Dál Riata and protected by three castles – in the village centre, at the head of the West Loch, and on the south side of the East Loch. The ruin of the last of these castles, Tarbert Castle, still exists and dominates Tarbert's skyline. Around the year 1098 Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, had his longship carried across the isthmus at Tarbert to signify his possession of the Western Isles. Despite its distinction as a strategic stronghold during the Middle Ages, Tarbert's socioeconomic prosperity came during the Early Modern period, as the port developed into a fishing town. At its height, the Loch Fyne herring fishery attracted hundreds of vessels to Tarbert.

East Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a small sea loch on the eastern side of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. It is a part of the much larger Loch Fyne. The village of Tarbert lies along the shores of the loch, which is separated from West Loch Tarbert by an isthmus only 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long.According to Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, had his longship dragged across this isthmus as part of a campaign to increase his possessions in the Hebrides. He made an arrangement with King Malcolm III of Scotland that he could take possession of land on the west coast around which a ship could sail. Magnus declared that Kintyre had "better land than the best of the Hebrides", and by taking command of his ship's tiller and "sailing" across the isthmus he was able to claim the entire peninsula, which remained under Norse rule for more than a dozen years as a result.More than two centuries later Robert the Bruce completed a similar feat during the Scottish Wars of Independence in order to impress the clan chieftains of Argyll. He used tree trunks as rollers.In the 18th century Thomas Pennant recorded that sea-going vessels of up to 10 tonnes (9.8 long tons) were being hauled over the isthmus in order to avoid the dangers of storms and tidal races in the seas surrounding the Mull of Kintyre. James Watt surveyed the area and decided that it was feasible to construct a canal between the two lochs. Some 60 years later it was estimated that the cost for a cut without locks would be £90,000 but delays in implementation and the construction of the Crinan canal in 1801 rendered the plan redundant.In the modern era the Tarbert (Loch Fyne) Harbour Commissioners control the loch, an area defined as "from the point of Garvell on the North, to the Oakenhead or Rudha Loigste point on the South". There are various quays and slipways in the inner harbour and 80 pontoon berths for yachts and other leisure craft.

Stonefield Castle is a Scottish baronial manor house near the village of Stonefield, north of Tarbert, Argyll & Bute, Scotland. It was built on the site of an earlier building, known as Barmore, and has been in use as a hotel since 1950.

The Avinagillan standing stone is a prehistoric menhir on the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland. The stone is near the hamlet of Avinagillan.

Kennacraig (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann na Creige) is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, a five miles (eight kilometres) southwest of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in the west of Scotland.

Argyll and Bute was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1983 general election, merging most of Argyll with some of Bute and Northern Ayrshire, and then superseded by Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber in the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency now comprises the vast majority of the new Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber constituency, first contested at the 2024 general election.

Torinturk (Scottish Gaelic: Tòrr an Tuirc) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Torinturk is 5 miles (8 km) from Tarbert. Torinturk comes from the Gaelic for the hill of the boar. This is where the last wild boar in Scotland was killed.

Eilean Ceann na Creige is a small island near Kennacraig in West Loch Tarbert in Scotland. Ceann na Creige is Gaelic for head of the rock.Eilean Ceann na Creige is connected to Kennacraig by a causeway. It is the mainland terminal of the ferry to Islay, Jura and Colonsay.

Sgat Mòr and Sgat Beag (Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [s̪kat̪ moːrˠ ɪs̪ s̪kat̪ pɛk]; English: The Skate Islands or, less commonly, Skate Island and Wee Skate Island) are two small islands that lie at the mouth of Loch Fyne by the shore of the Cowal peninsula on the west coast of Scotland. Sgat Mòr lies at grid reference NR930666 directly south of Eilean Aoidhe and rises just 11 metres (36 ft) above sea level. Sgat Beag is a similar but slightly smaller island that lies approximately 1 kilometre to the east, across the mouth of Asgog Bay. The islands appear to have been named after the Skate fish however there is a Skate Point and Skate Bay on nearby Great Cumbrae so it is not impossible that skate is a local toponym with a different derivation. The channel between Sgat Mòr and the Cowal shoreline at Eilean Aoidhe is navigable and local sailing regattas, paddle steamer Waverley and MV Balmoral regularly pass inside this narrow channel. The waters to the south of the islands are the deepest in the Clyde area.A beacon resembling a small lighthouse is situated on the southwestern shore of Sgat Mòr.

Whitehouse (Scottish Gaelic: An Taigh Bàn, pronounced [ən̪ˠ t̪ʰɤj ˈpaːn]) is a hamlet on the Kintyre peninsula of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located around 5.5 miles (9 km) southwest of Tarbert and around 25 miles (40 km) north of Campbeltown.

Dùn a' Choin Duibh (Scottish Gaelic: Fort of the Black Dog) is a hillfort located near Torinturk, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. According to the local shanachies, the fort is named after a black wolfhound which was half wolf, which defended the fort. The fort provides views to the Inner Hebridean islands of Gigha, Islay and Jura and further to the Mull of Kintyre and Ireland.

Claonaig (Scottish Gaelic: Claonaig, pronounced [ˈkʰl̪ˠɯːnɛkʲ]) is a hamlet on the east coast of the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland, linked to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran by the CalMac ferry MV Catriona in the summer months. Claonaig is a hamlet 1 mile (2 kilometres) south of Skipness and the location of the slipway for the seasonal ferry for Arran. The ferry terminal has a small car park and bus shelter for the bus service to Tarbert. The nearest sizeable villages are Tarbert, Skipness and Carradale. From Claonaig, Tarbert is 10 mi (16 km) away via the minor B8001 road and the A83. To the south, Campbeltown can be reached in 28 mi (45 km) via the B842 coast road or via the B8001 and the A83 which runs down the west coast of Kintyre (36 mi or 58 km). A church was built in Claonaig in 1756. The current Parish Church, built in the late-18th or early-19th century, may incorporate some of its fabric. Its western gable has a bell-cot. It has been converted to a house.