Parish of Kingarth

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Kingarth
1834-45: Kingarth

Kingarth, a parish of Bute island, Buteshire, whose church stands 6¾ miles S of Rothesay, under which there is a post office of Kingarth. Containing also the villages of Kilchattan Bay, Ascog, and Kerrycroy, and comprising the southern part of Bute island, it is bounded NW by Rothesay parish, and on all other sides by the Firth of Clyde. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 75/8 miles; its utmost breadth is 3½ miles; and its land area is 8995 acres. Its outline is indented by several small bays, especially on the W side; and, contracting southward to 9½ furlongs at the low sandy isthmus of the Vale of St Blane, it thence projects a peninsula 2¼ miles long, and terminating in the promontory of Garroch Head. The coast is mostly bold and rocky; the interior is variously hilly, undulating, and low-its highest elevations from S to N being Torr Mor or Blane's Hill (485 feet), Suidhe-Chatain (517), and the Mound (367). The scenery of the Vale of St Blane, and in portions of the seaboard, is very beautiful. Principal features are noticed in our articles on Bute, Ascog, Fad, Kilchattan, Garroch Head, Dunagoil, Mount Stuart, and Blane's (St). The soils of the arable lands is light and sandy, but fertile. About four-elevenths of the entire area are moor or pasture, some 950 acres are under wood, and nearly all the rest of the parish is in tillage. The Marquis of Bute is almost sole proprietor, but one other holds an annual value of between £100 and £500. Kingarth is in the presbytery of Dunoon and synod of Argyll; the living is worth £281. The parish church was built in 1826, and contains 600 sittings. There are also two Free churches, designated Kingarth and South Kingarth; and three public schools -Brigidale, Kerrycroy, and Kingarth-with respective accommodation for 50, 88, and 107 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 35, 33, and 67, and grants of £42, £42, 14s. 6d., and £60, 5s. Valuation (1860) £6365, (1883) £10, 517. Pop. (1801) 875, (1831) 746, (1861) 905, (1871) 901, (1881) 1260.—Ord. Sur., shs. 21, 29, 1870-73.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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