West Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a long and narrow sea

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

on the western side of the

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...

peninsula in Scotland.

Geography

The head of the loch lies near the village of

Tarbert Tarbert ( gd, An Tairbeart) is a place name in Scotland and Ireland. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or isthmus. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island. Etymology All placenames ...

and it reaches the open sea at Ardpatrick Point some distant. The island of

Eilean Ceann na Creige 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 ...

, off the south shore, is connected to the mainland by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

. It is the ferry terminal for

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...

History

Around the year 1093,

Magnus Barefoot Magnus Olafsson (Old Norse: ''Magnús Óláfsson'', Norwegian: ''Magnus Olavsson''; 1073 – 24 August 1103), better known as Magnus Barefoot (Old Norse: ''Magnús berfœttr'', Norwegian: ''Magnus Berrføtt''), was King of Norway (being Ma ...

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingdoms ...

had his longship dragged across the isthmus at Tarbert between West Loch Tarbert and

East Loch Tarbert East Loch Tarbert ( gd, Loch an Tairbeairt) is a sea loch that lies to the east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The loch contains several small islands including Sgeotasaigh, Stiughiag, Stiughiag na Leum and Rosaigh and the larger ...

as part of a campaign to increase his possessions in the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...

. He made an arrangement with King

Malcolm III of Scotland Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...

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. Murray, W.H. (1977) ''The Companion Guide to the West Highlands of Scotland.'' London. Collins. p. 100.

Ferry services

In the 1960s,

Western Ferries Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd (also known as Western Ferries) is a private ferry company with its headquarters in Hunters Quay, Scotland. It currently operates on the Firth of Clyde running a year-round, high-frequency vehicle carrying service be ...

began operating a car ferry, with a simple stern-loading ramp, from

Kennacraig Kennacraig () is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, a south west of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in the west of Scotland. Ferry terminal Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the terminal, on the rocky islet Eil ...

on the south shore. This served

Port Askaig Port Askaig ( gd, Port Asgaig) is a port village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Scotland. The village lies on the Sound of Islay (Caol Ìle) across from Jura. Economy Port Askaig has a hotel, a petrol station and shop next to the ...

, in competition with the mail steamer, operated by MacBraynes from West Tarbert near the head of the loch. The new service soon won a significant share of the traffic and stimulated MacBraynes to modernise the Islay route. In January 1970, hoist-loading MV ''Arran'' was transferred from the Clyde. She gave two daily return sailings, one each to Port Ellen and Port Askaig, as well as sailings to Craighouse on Jura,

Gigha Gigha (; gd, Giogha, italic=yes; sco, Gigha) or the Isle of Gigha (and formerly Gigha Island) is an island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of 163 people. The climate is m ...

and

Colonsay Colonsay (; gd, Colbhasa; sco, Colonsay) is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, located north of Islay and south of Mull. The ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeil, it is in the council area of Argyll ...

. Over the winter 1972/73, ''Arran's'' hoist and side-ramps were removed, along with the superstructure aft of them. She was converted to a stern-loading vessel, with a stern ramp and an open car deck. In this guise, she took on a new timetable – three double crossings a day between modified terminals at Port Ellen and West Loch Tarbert. Port Askaig was left to Western Ferries. With the introduced of in August 1974, CalMac started to win back Islay traffic. Over the next five years ''Pioneer'' became well established, running to Port Ellen and Gigha. In 1978,

Caledonian MacBrayne Caledonian MacBrayne ( gd, Caledonian Mac a' Bhriuthainn), usually shortened to CalMac, is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west ...

took over the

terminal at

, with the deeper-draught MV ''Iona'', again providing a service to both Port Ellen and Port Askaig, as well as calling at

. In 1989, the more spacious, became the Islay ship, with the drive-through taking over in 1993. became the main Islay vessel in 2001, with replacing ''Isle of Arran'' in 2011 and relegating ''Hebridean Isles'' to the second Islay vessel.

Footnotes

{{coord, 55, 48, 0, N, 5, 30, 30, W, display=title, type:waterbody_region:GB Sea lochs of Scotland Lochs of Argyll and Bute