Argyll
Argyll, sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area now forms part of the Argyll and Bute council area.
Argyll is of ancient origin, and broadly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata less the parts which were in Ireland. Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore. In medieval times the area was divided into a number of provincial lordships. One of these, covering only the central part of the later county, was called Argyll. It was initially an earldom, elevated to become a dukedom in 1701 with the creation of the Duke of Argyll. Other lordships in the area included Cowal, Kintyre, Knapdale, and Lorn. From at least the 14th century there was a Sheriff of Argyll, whose jurisdiction was gradually extended; from 1633 the shire covered all these five provinces. Shires gradually eclipsed the old provinces in administrative importance, and also became known as counties. Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll had a county council. The county town was historically Inveraray, but from its creation in 1890 the county council was based at Lochgilphead.
The county is sparsely populated, with many islands and sea lochs along its coast, and the inland parts are mountainous. Six towns in the county held burgh status: Campbeltown, Dunoon, Inveraray, Lochgilphead, Oban, and Tobermory. Argyll borders Inverness-shire to the north, Perthshire and Dunbartonshire to the east, and neighbours Renfrewshire and Ayrshire to the south-east, and the County of Bute to the south.
Argyll ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Most of the pre-1975 county was then included in the Argyll and Bute district of the Strathclyde region. The district created in 1975 excluded the Morvern and Ardnamurchan areas from the pre-1975 county, which were transferred to the Highland region, but included the Isle of Bute, which had not been in Argyll. Further reforms in 1996 abolished the Strathclyde region and made Argyll and Bute a single-tier council area instead. As part of those reforms, Argyll and Bute also gained an area around Helensburgh which had historically been in Dunbartonshire.
Name
The name is generally said to derive from Old Irish airer Goídel, meaning "border region of the Gaels". The early 13th-century author of De Situ Albanie wrote that "the name Arregathel means the margin of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli, from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas." The word airer also means "coast" when applied to maritime regions, so the name can also be translated as "coast of the Gaels".An alternative theory has more recently been advanced that the name may actually come from the early Irish kingdom of Airgíalla.
The legal name of the county was Argyll, which was also used by the Royal Mail as the name of the postal county for the mainland. The Ordnance Survey adopted the alternative form 'Argyllshire' for the county on its maps.
History
The Kilmartin Glen has standing stones and other monuments dating back to around 3000BC, and is one of the most significant areas for Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland. In 563AD Iona Abbey was founded, becoming one of the most important early Christian sites in Scotland.The Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata existed between the 5th and 9th centuries. Its territory covered north-eastern parts of Ireland in what later became County Antrim, part of the mainland of Great Britain in what is now western Scotland, and numerous islands in the Inner Hebrides. A fortress at Dunadd in the Kilmartin Glen, northwest of the modern town of Lochgilphead, served as the main seat of the kingdom. Dál Riata fragmented in the 9th century during the Viking Age; the part in Ireland was absorbed into the kingdom of Ulaid, the islands came under the control of the Kingdom of the Isles, and the part on mainland Britain was united in 843AD with the Pictish kingdom to its east under Kenneth MacAlpin to become the Kingdom of Alba.
The name Argyll, meaning 'coast or borderland of the Gaels', came to be used for the part of the former Dál Riata territory on mainland Britain. The name distinguished the area from the Innse Gall, meaning 'islands of the foreigners' which was used for the Kingdom of the Isles, ruled by Old Norse-speaking Norse–Gaels.
Dunardry in Argyll, was the historic seat of the ancient MacTavish clan. An early mention of the Clan MacTavish lineage and its presence in Argyll can be found in records from the Philological Society of London, the oldest scholarly society in Great Britain. One of its publications notes: "Our author's father was married to a daughter of Campbell of Ashfield, and her mother was a daughter of MacTavifh or Thomfon of Dunardary. This is a highly esteemed and ancient family, having held the Dunardary estate for over nine centuries." Further corroboration of this claim appears in The Scots Magazine from 1793. Given that the MacTavishes were documented at Dunardary for 900 years prior to that reference, their presence in the region can be traced back to approximately 893 AD.
Argyll was divided into several lordships or provinces, including Kintyre, Knapdale, Lorn, Cowal, and a smaller Argyll province which covered the area around Inveraray between Loch Fyne and Loch Awe. The term "North Argyll" was also used to refer to the area later called Wester Ross. It was called 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 tSagairt, son of the abbot, became the Earl of Ross in the 13th century, the region of North Argyll gradually became known as Wester Ross instead.
Alba evolved into the kingdom of Scotland, but lost control of Kintyre, Knapdale and Lorn to Norwegian rule, as was acknowledged in a treaty of 1098 between Edgar, King of Scotland and Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway. In 1266, the Treaty of Perth re-established the Scottish crown's authority over the parts of Argyll which had been under Norwegian rule, along with the former Kingdom of the Isles, which together became the semi-independent Lordship of the Isles.
By this time, the rest of the area under Scottish rule was divided into shires, administered by sheriffs. The shires covered different territories to the provinces, and it was the shires which subsequently evolved into Scotland's counties rather than the older provinces. Following the Treaty of Perth, the Argyll provinces were initially placed in the shire of Perth. In 1293, two new shires were created within Argyll; the Sheriff of Kintyre, covering just that province, and the Sheriff of Lorn, covering Lorn, Knapdale, and Mid-Argyll.
The earliest reference to a Sheriff of Argyll was in 1326. The position appears to have been a re-establishment or renaming of the position of the Sheriff of Lorn. The post subsequently became a hereditary position held by members of Clan Campbell.
Despite the creation of the shires, much of the area remained under the practical control of the Lord of the Isles until 1476, when John MacDonald, last Lord of the Isles, quitclaimed Kintyre, Knapdale, and Mid-Argyll to full Scottish control. In 1481, Knapdale was added to the shire of Kintyre which then became known as Tarbertshire, being initially administered from Tarbert.
The Scottish Reformation coincidentally followed the fall of the Lordship of the Isles. The MacDonalds were strong supporters of the former religious regime. The Campbells, by contrast, were strong supporters of the reforms. At the start of the 17th century, under instruction from James VI, the Campbells were sent to the MacDonald territory at Islay and Jura, which they subdued and added to the shire of Argyll. Campbell pressure at this time also led to the sheriff court for Tarbertshire being moved to Inverary, where the Campbells held the court for the sheriff of Argyll. Tarbertshire was subsequently abolished by an act of parliament in 1633, being absorbed into the shire of Argyll. The act also confirmed the town of Inveraray's position as "head burgh" of the enlarged shire.
In 1667, Commissioners of Supply were established for each shire, which would serve as the main administrative body for the area until the creation of county councils in 1890.
Image:Oransay Priory.JPG|thumb|right|Oronsay Priory, Oronsay, Inner Hebrides
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 the recently unified Great Britain, and the English term "county" came to be used interchangeably with the term "shire". In 1890, elected county councils were created under the Local Government Act 1889.
The 1889 Act also led to parish and county boundaries being adjusted to eliminate cases where parishes straddled county boundaries. The parish of Small Isles straddled Argyll and Inverness-shire, with the islands of Muck, Rùm, Canna, and Sanday being in Argyll but Eigg in Inverness-shire. The whole parish was placed in Inverness-shire in 1891. The parishes of Ardnamurchan and Kilmallie both also straddled Argyll and Inverness-shire; the county boundary through Kilmallie was adjusted to follow Loch Eil in 1891. In 1895 these two parishes were both split along the county boundary; the part of Ardnamurchan in Inverness-shire became a new parish of Arisaig and Moidart, leaving the reduced Ardnamurchan parish wholly in Argyll, whilst the part of Kilmallie in Argyll became a new parish of Ardgour.
Argyll was abolished as a county 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.
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. The historic county boundaries of Argyll are still used for some limited official purposes connected with land registration, being a registration county.