West Loch Tarbert is a long, narrow sea

loch ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or "inlet, sea inlet" in Scottish Gaelic, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes calle ...

on the western side of the

Kintyre Peninsula Kintyre (, ) 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 of Kintyre is ...

, in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

, west of Scotland.

Geography

The head of the loch lies near the village of Tarbert and it reaches the open sea at Ardpatrick Point some distant. The island of Eilean Ceann na Creige, 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 T ...

. It is a ferry terminal for island of

Islay Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...

History

Around the year 1093,

Magnus Barefoot Magnus III 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 the King of Norway ...

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 king ...

had his longship dragged across the isthmus at Tarbert between West Loch Tarbert and East Loch Tarbert as part of a campaign to increase his possessions in the

Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...

. He made an arrangement with King

Malcolm III of Scotland Malcolm III (; ; –13 November 1093) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Alba from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" (, , understood as "great chief"). Malcolm's long reign of 35 years preceded the beginning of the Scoto-Norma ...

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 b ...

began operating a car ferry, with a simple stern-loading ramp, from Kennacraig on the south shore. This served

Port Askaig Port Askaig () is a port village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Argyll and Bute, 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 th ...

, 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 and

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

. 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 (), in short form CalMac, is the trade name of CalMac Ferries Ltd, the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries to the west coast of Scotland, serving ports on the mainland and 22 of the major islands. It is a subsid ...

took over the

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

External links

{{Authority control Sea lochs of Scotland Lochs of Argyll and Bute