ARGYLLSHIRE, a county on the west coast of Scotland, the second largest in the country, embracing a large tract on the mainland and a number of the Inner Hebrides including Coll, Tiree, Mull, Iona, Colonsay, Jura, Islay, Gigha, etc. The main land portion is bounded on the north by Inverness-shire ; on the east by Perth and Dumbarton, Loch Long and the Firth of Clyde; on the south by the North Channel (Irish sea) ; and on the west by the Atlantic. Area 1,990,472 acres (land) and 35,311 acres (water), total 3,165 square miles. It is for the most part mountainous and deeply indented by sea-lochs and fringed with islands; it has torrential rivers and many inland lochs and much of the finest scenery of western Scotland. In the north a penin sular portion of the mainland is defined by lochs Sheil, Eil and Linnhe. This portion is divided by Loch Sunart between the dis tricts of Ardnamurchan and Morven, with Ardgour to the north east, and is separated by the Sound of Mull from the island of Mull, in which Ben More reaches a height of 3,185 feet. The mainland rocks belong principally to the metamorphic series of the Scottish Highlands; late and sedimentary rocks, such as contain exposures of Jurassic age, cover only small areas, but among intru sive rocks there should be noticed the Tertiary gabbro which ap pears in Ardnamurchan Point (the western-most extension of the mainland of Scotland), and in islands farther north beyond the county boundary. Mull consists mainly of interbedded basalts, and the outlying islands, Coll and Tiree, of older gneissic rocks characteristic of the Hebrides. Many small islands lie west of Mull; among them Iona and Staffa (qq.v.) of historic and scenic fame. Loch Linnhe gives access far into the land, and to Glen More, the Great Glen, which strikes across the Highlands to Moray Firth on the east coast. The mainland part of Argyllshire east of Loch Linnhe may be demarcated into districts by the greater valleys radiating west, south-west and south from the western Grampians, and separated by ranges and groups of moun tains. The valleys in this part of Argyllshire contain Loch Leven (an arm of Loch Linnhe), Loch Etive, Loch Fyne and Loch Long, sea-lochs, and Loch Awe (the largest inland loch in the county). Loch Etive connects with Loch Linnhe through a narrow channel at Connel Ferry, near which the Falls of Connel, more properly rapids, are carried by the rush of the ebbing tide over a rocky bar. Ossian called them the Falls of Lora.
Some district-names in this part of the county are well known in history and literature. Appin borders Loch Linnhe in the north; Benderloch lies between Loch Creran and Loch Etive. Lorne, southward from Loch Etive, gives the title of marquess to the Campbells. Argyll, the district from which the shire takes name, is between lochs Awe and Fyne ; it contains Inveraray castle and gives the titles of earl and duke to the Campbells. Cowall is be tween Loch Fyne and the Firth of Forth ; Knapdale between Loch Fyne and the Sound of Jura. Southward from the last district extends the peninsula of Kintyre, almost isolated by West Loch Tarbert, and at its southern point, the Mull of Kintyre, reaching within 13m. of the Irish coast, across the North Channel. The county includes the islands of Jura, Islay, Colonsay and others, westward of Knapdale and Kintyre.
The mountains of the mainland culminate in Ben Cruachan (3,689ft.), close above Loch Etive, where the upper part of that inlet penetrates deeply into an extensive mass of intrusive gran ite. Some of the very fine glens are famous in history, e.g. Glen Croe, Glen Etive, Glendaruel, Glen Lochy ("the wearisome glen" —some Dom. of bare hills and boulders—between Tyndrum and Dalmally), Glen Strae, Hell's Glen (off Loch Goil) and Glencoe, the scene of the massacre in 1692. The two principal rivers are the Orchy and the Awe. The Orchy flows from Loch Tulla through Glen Orchy, and falls into the north-eastern end of Loch Awe ; and the Awe drains the loch at its north-west.
The metamorphic rocks already mentioned are associated with bands of epidiorite which have shared in the folding (north-east and south-west) and metamorphism of the region. Lower Old Red Sandstone, chiefly lavas and tuffs, rests unconformably upon the metamorphic series over a wide area in Lorne, in the high moun tains on both sides of Glencoe, and elsewhere. Similarly the upper Old Red Sandstone forms isolated patches resting unconformably on all older rocks, on the west coast of Kintyre, etc. But the metamorphic series predominates generally in the county and nearly all its subdivisions (see SCOTLAND, Geology) are represent ed. A striking geological feature of the county is the number of dolerite and basalt dykes trending in a north-west direction and referred to the Tertiary period. Another group of dolerite dykes running east and west near Dunoon and elsewhere are cut by the former and are probably older.
In 1222 Argyll was reduced by Alexander II., the Scottish king, to a sheriffdom, and was henceforth regarded as an integral part of Scotland. The Campbells of Loch Awe, a branch of the clan McArthur, now began to come to the fore, though the Mac Dougals owned most of the mainland. The house of Somerled were now feudatories of the king of Norway for the isles and of the king of Scotland for Argyll and they often kept a masterly neutrality. During the expedition of Alexander II. to the Western Isles in 1249, Ewan (Eoghan), lord of Argyll, refused to fight against the Norwegians; in 1263 the same Ewan refused to join Haakon of Norway in attacking Alexander III. Forty years later the clansmen of Argyll, mainly MacDougals, were warring on the side of Edward of England against Robert Bruce, by whom they were defeated on Loch Awe in 1309. The clansmen of the house of Somerled in the isles, on the other hand, the MacDonalds, re mained loyal to Scotland in spite of the persuasions of John of Argyll, appointed admiral of Edward II.'s western fleet ; and, under their chief Angus Og, they contributed much to the victory of Bannockburn. The alliance of John, earl of Ross and lord of the Isles, with Edward IV. of England in 1461 led to the breaking of the power of the house of Somerled, and in 1478 John was forced to resign Ross to the crown and, two years later, his lord ships of Knapdale and Kintyre as well. In Argyll itself Colin, grandson of Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, first Lord Camp bell, had married Isabel Stewart, eldest of the three co-heiresses of John, third lord of Lorne. He bought the greater part of the lands of the other sisters and got the lordship of Lorne from Walter their uncle, the heir in tail male, in exchange for lands in Perthshire. In 1457 he was created, by James II., earl of Ar gyll. He died on May 10, 1493. From him dates the greatness of the house of the earls and dukes of Argyll (q.v.), whose history belongs to that of Scotland. The house of Somerled survives in two main branches—that of Macdonald of the Isles, Alexander Macdonald (d. 1795) having been raised to the peerage in 1776, and that of the Macdonnells, earls of Antrim in Ireland. The prin cipal clans in Argyll, besides those already mentioned, were the Macleans, the Stewarts of Appin, the Macquarries and the Mac donalds of Glencoe, and the Macfarlanes of Glencoe. The Camp bells are still very numerous in the county.
Argyllshire men have made few contributions to English litera ture. For long the natives spoke Gaelic only and their bards sang in Gaelic (see CELTIC LITERATURE, Scottish). Near Inistrynich on the north-east shore of Loch Awe stands the cairn in honour of Duncan Ban McIntyre (1724-1812), the most popular of modern Gaelic bards. But the beauty of the country has made it a fa vourite setting for the themes of many poets and story-tellers, from Ossian and Sir Walter Scott to Robert Louis Stevenson.
The antiquities comprise monoliths, circles of standing stones, crannogs and cairns. In almost all the burying-grounds—as at Campbeltown, Keil, Soroby, Kilchousland, Kilmun—there are ex amples of sculptured crosses and slabs. Besides the famous eccle siastical remains at Iona (q.v.), there are ruins of a Cistercian priory in Oronsay, and of an abbey founded in the 12th century by Somerled, thane of Argyll, at Saddell. Among castles may be mentioned Dunstaffnage, Ardtornish, Skipness, Kilchurn (beloved of painters), Ardchonnel, Dunolly, Stalker, Dunderaw and Car rick.
Population and Government.—Owing to emigration, chiefly to Canada, the population declined, almost without a break, from 1831, when it was 100,973, to 70,902 in 1911. In 1921 it was 76,862, perhaps because taken in the tourist season. In 1931 it was 63,014. In that year the number of Gaelic-speaking persons was 20,913 (a decrease of nearly 4,000 since 1921), of whom 335 spoke Gaelic only. The chief towns are Campbeltown, Du noon, Oban, with Ardrishaig, Ballachulish, Lochgilphead and Tar bert as smaller centres. It is in such places as these, and especially in those developed as holiday resorts and residential outposts from Glasgow, that the recent increase of population is found. The county returns a member to parliament. Argyllshire is a sheriff dom, and there are resident sheriffs-substitute at Campbeltown, Fort William and Oban; courts are held also at Dunoon and Bow more in Islay. Both Presbyterian bodies are strongly represented; there are Roman Catholic and Anglican Episcopal bishops of Ar gyll and the Isles, and there is a Roman Catholic pro-cathedral at Oban.
was formerly partly covered with natural forests, and oak, ash, pine and birch are still visible in the mosses ; but, owing to the clearance for sheep, and to past neglect of planting, the country is lacking in wood, except near Inveraray and a few other places. Nearly three-quarters of the county consists of mountain and moor, but many districts afford fine pasturage for sheep; and some of the valleys such as Glen daruel are fertile. The chief crops are oats and hay and there is a little barley. The crof ting system exists, but is by no means universal: it is predominant in Tiree and the western district of the mainland, but elsewhere farms of moderate size are the rule. The cattle, though small, are good and are marketed in large numbers in the south. Dairy farming is carried on to some extent, especially in Kintyre, where there is a large proportion of arable land. In the higher tracts sheep have taken the place of cattle. The black-faced sheep is the species most generally reared by farmers in this county.
Industries.—Whisky is manufactured at Campbeltown, in Islay and at Oban. Gunpowder is made at Kames (Kyles of Bute) and Melfort. Coarse woollens are made for home use; but fishing is the most important industry and Loch Fyne is famous for its herrings, while fishing is carried on at one or other of the ports all the year round.
Communications.—Owing to paucity of industries and to the greatly indented coast-line (no place more than 12m. from the sea) the railway mileage in the country is very small. The Tyndrum to Oban section of the L.M.S. railway company's system is within the county limits; a small portion of the L.N.E. com pany's line to Mallaig skirts the extreme west of the shire, and the L.M.S. line from Oban to Ballachulish serves the north coast of the mainland. A cantilever bridge crosses the Falls of Lora with a span of 500f t., at a height of 12 5f t. above the waterway. The chief means of communication is by steamers, between Glasgow and various parts of the coast. The Crinan Canal (q.v.) gives a short circuit for Kintyre. Before the railways the shire contained many famous coaching routes, now used by motor traffic, and in some directions in process of ex tension. In few other areas is the position of the main roads so closely controlled by physical conditions as it is in Argyllshire. Here they follow the lochs and the coast but an important one goes through the highlands from the head of Glen Falloch in Perthshire past the heads of Glen Lochy and Glen Orchy, along the west of Rannoch Moor past the top of Glen Etive to Glen coe, through which it descends to Loch Leven.