ROTHESAY, royal, municipal and police burgh, and the chief town of the county and island of Bute, Scotland. Pop. (1930 9,346. It is situated on a beautiful bay, 4o m. S.W. of Glasgow, with which there is regular communication by steamers from Wemyss Bay, Gourock, Greenock, Craigendoran, Adris haig, Inveraray, Glasgow, etc. It is a popular watering-place. The sheltered bay affords excellent anchorage, and is the headquarters of the Royal Northern Yacht Club. Rothesay is a centre for the herring fisheries, and the head of a fishery district. The town is under the jurisdiction of a provost and council. Owing to its mild and equable climate it is a resort of invalids. There is a tramway to Port Bannatyne, on the east horn of Karnes *Bay (now prac tically part of Rothesay), and to Ettrick Bay; and Craigmore, about 1 m. west of Rothesay, is a suburb. Ardbeg Point, Loch Fad, Loch Ascog and Barone Hill (53o ft.) are all within a mile
and a half of the town, and the Kyles of Bute within a short sail.
In the centre of the town are the ruins of a castle erected in 1098 either by Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway, or by the Scots as a defence against the Norwegians, with whom during the 13th century, and earlier, there was constant strife. The village which grew up round the castle was made a royal burgh by Robert III., who, in 1398, created his eldest son David duke of Rothesay, a title which became the highest Scottish title of the heir-apparent to the crown of the United Kingdom. During the Commonwealth the castle was garrisoned by Cromwell's troops. It was burned by the followers of Argyll in 1685, and remained neglected till the rubbish was cleared away by the second marquess of Bute in 1816. It was repaired by the third marquess.