Tarbertshire

Tarbertshire, or the sheriffdom of Tarbert, was a shire of Scotland until 1633, when it was annexed to Argyll. It comprised the mainland peninsula formed by Knapdale and Kintyre, together with the southern Inner Hebrides to the west.

History

It has been suggested that Robert the Bruce, who extended Tarbert Castle, created or intended a sheriffdom there; however, the first reference to Tarbertshire is in 1481, when Knapdale was transferred to it from Perthshire. The shire town was Tarbert, but the sheriff court was latterly at Inveraray in Argyllshire. The Earl of Argyll family of Campbells often supplied the Sheriff of Tarbert and other officials of both Argyll and Tarbert.
Although shires elected commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland from 1590, it was not until the 1628–33 Parliament of Charles I that Tarbert is known to have sent one: Sir [Lachlan Maclean, 1st Baronet|Sir Lachlan Maclean] of Morvern. Since this was the Parliament that abolished Tarbertshire, Maclean was its last commissioner.