Argyll

Argyll
County (until circa 1890)
Country	Scotland
County town	Inveraray
Area
• Total	8,055 km2 (3,110 sq mi)
	Ranked 2nd
Chapman code	ARL

Argyll c. 1854

Argyll (/ɑːrˈɡaɪl/), archaically Argyle (Earra-Ghàidheal in modern Gaelic pronounced [ˈaːr̴əɣɛː.əɫ̪]), is an ancient shire of western Scotland. Its area corresponds with most of the modern council area of Argyll and Bute, excluding the island of Bute and the Helensburgh area, but including the Morvern and Ardnamurchan areas of the Highland council area. At present, Argyll (sometimes anglicised as Argyllshire) is one of the registration counties of Scotland.

Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata. Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore, as well as an early modern earldom and dukedom, the Dukedom of Argyll.

Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll was a county with a county council.

There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 until 1983.

Etymology

The name derives from Old Gaelic airer Goídel (border region of the Gaels). The early thirteenth-century author of De Situ Albanie explains that "the name Arregathel means margin (i.e., border region) of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli (i.e. Gaels), from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas."

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 [the] 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.^[1]

Shire, county and district

The first record of Argyll as a shire dates from 1326, when a sheriff was appointed.^[2] At that time the shire covered a much larger area than the later county. It included the islands which later formed Buteshire, which became a separate shire by 1388, when a heritable sheriff was appointed. It also included the area of Ross-shire, which was separated from Argyll by an act of 1503.

The heritable sheriffdom of Argyll was abolished by the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746, and the governance of Scottish shires was brought into line with that of counties in the rest of Great Britain.

Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll had a county council. 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. Bute is a county of 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 (and are) 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 (Scotland) Act 1889. The island of Egg or Eigg was already in Inverness-shire.

The use of the County of Argyll for local government purposes ceased 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 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.

Oronsay Priory, Oronsay, Inner Hebrides was recently 'improved' in anticipation of Queen Elizabeth's visit.

Coast of Colonsay

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

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 (renamed Argyll in 1950). 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.

Notable residents

• Patrick MacKellar, (1717–1778), born in Argyll, military engineer, achieved his reputation on projects in the United States of America.^[4]
• Baron Robertson of Port Ellen KT, GCMG, FRSA, FRSE, PC (born 12 April 1946, George Islay MacNeill Robertson), British Labour politician and tenth Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Clans

• Clan Campbell was the main clan of this region. The Campbell clan hosted the long line of the Dukes of Argyll.
• Clan Gregor historically held a great deal of lands in this region prior to the proscription of their name in April 1603, the result of a power struggle with the Campbells.
• Clan Lamont historically both allied and feuded with the Campbell clan, culminating in the Dunoon Massacre. In the 19th century, the clan chief sold his lands and relocated to Australia, where the current chief lives.
• Clan Malcolm Also known as MacCallum. The Malcolm clan seat is Duntrune Castle on the banks of Loch Crinan
• Clan MacLean Historically held lands on the Isle of Mull with its seat at Duart Castle

Surnames

Most common surnames in Argyll at the time of the United Kingdom Census of 1881,^[5] by order of incidence:

1. Campbell
2. McDonald
3. Cameron
4. McMillan
5. McIntyre
6. McDougall
7. McCallum
8. McKinnon
9. McArthur
10. MacEwen

In fiction

• Rosemary Sutcliff's novel The Mark of the Horse Lord (1965) is set in Earra Gael, i.e. the Coast of the Gael, wherein the Dal Riada undergo an internal struggle for control of royal succession, and an external conflict to defend their frontiers against the Caledones.
• The highlands above the village of Lochgoilhead were used for a scene in the 1963 film From Russia with Love, starring Sean Connery as James Bond. He killed two villains in a helicopter by firing gunshots at them.
• The 1985 Scottish movie Restless Natives also used Lochgoilhead to film a chase scene, as well as some roads just outside the village.
• The housekeeper Elsie Hughes in Julian Fellowes' television drama Downton Abbey is from Argyll.

See also

• List of counties of Scotland 1890–1975
• Medieval Diocese of Argyll
• Argyle pattern
• Duke of Argyll

Notes

1. ↑ Woolf, Alex. "The Age of the Sea-Kings: 900–1300," in Omand (2006) pp. 94–95
2. ↑ MacNair, Peter (1914). Argyllshire and Buteshire. Cambridge County Geographies. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1, 69. 
3. ↑ Vision of Britain
4. ↑ Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963. 
5. ↑ Most Common Surnames in Argyll

References

• Omand, Donald (ed.) (2006) The Argyll Book. Edinburgh. Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-480-0

Further reading

• The Imperial gazetteer of Scotland Vol. I. page 78, by Rev. John Marius Wilson.

External links

• "Filming locations", From Russia with Love (1963), IMDB
• Argyll.org – Argyll Independent Visitor Information
• Argyll and Argyle Visitor Information
• Visitor information for Inveraray, Tarbert, Knapdale, Crinan and Lochgilphead

Coordinates: 56°15′N 5°15′W / 56.250°N 5.250°W / 56.250; -5.250