WHAT'S ONLINE HERE A to Z GUIDE to UPLOADS and RELATED WEBSITE LINKS LEARN HOW TO CONVERT TEXTS - TO - SPEECH and MP3 FILES FOR THE BLIND, THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED and DISADVANTAGED The general aim of these documents is to provide others - teachers, family and local history researchers and anyone with an interest in the history of Kintyre and its immediate surrounding area - with as much material as possible for them to understand what Kintyre was and is about. It is inevitable in such an exercise that, from time to time, interests stray outside Kintyre itself, not least into the waters surrounding it and, that there is a 'historic relationship' with Kilberry and Knapdale, on the far side of West Loch Tarbert, the documents here, generally, rather than referring simply to Kintyre, consider the whole area 'south of The Crinan Canal'. Tarbert itself, at the northern end of Kintyre, derives its name from the Gaelic compounding of tarruing , to draw and bata , meaning boat. The variations of spelling are as numerous as the writers are ingenious ! In the oldest records it is Tarbart, then Tarbard. Later it is spelt discriminately as Terbert, Tarbert, Tarbett, Tarbet, Tarbatt, Tarbat, Torban, Tarbot, Tarbitt, Terbat, Turbet and too Terbart. Take your pick or phone a friend ? There was, though no date of its foundation can be traced, a shire of Tarbert which included Kintyre, Gigha, Islay, Jura, Scarba, Colonsay and Mull plus the various and adjacent smaller islands. Rathlin Island also then reckoned to be within The Sheriffdom of Tarbert. On February 26, 1481, Knapdale too was made part of Tarbert-shire. Previously it was part of Perth-shire ! Eventually, on Friday, June 28, 1633, Tarbert-shire was amalgamated with the shire of Argyll - The last Tarbert- shire M.P., elected in September 1628, was Sir Lachlan M’Lean of Morvern. Tarbert’s famous fair appears in records at least as early as 1705. The first documents in these pages were uploaded at the end of January 2008 and in the first eight months of these various papers, lists and indexes going online, nearly 80,000 "hits" were recorded on the document archives here and on various 'sub-listings' on scribd.com and, though there are no 'hit-counters' on the other related websites linked here, a 'proportionately similar number' of people may too have accessed their pages. 1 1776 - Taylor and Skinner - Road Atlas of Scotland Scotland's very first road atlas, the original 1776 plates, first published in the year of The American Revolution and coloured up and published, as here in 1792, the year of The French Revolution. 1776 - Taylor and Skinner - Road Map of Kintyre Road The original, uncoloured, strip map of the road between Lochgilphead and Campbeltown, the map drawn 'Chinese style' with Campbeltown at the top and notes about the old Kintyre Mail Routes and Droving Routes added. 1798 - Kintyre Invasion Alert In October 1798, some French ships, sent to support an Irish uprising, came close inshore to Kintyre, the crew of one ship landing to kill a few sheep for fresh meat - In a state of great alarm, a rider was despatched to Inveraray to bring troops to defend Kintyre from 'invasion'. 1915 - The Campbeltown Argylls in Gallipoli Well-written account of the action and inaction in Gallipoli, its seeming likeness compared here to Kintyre. 1947 - List of Campbeltown Fishing Boats An intriguing look at the local fishing fleet after WWII, the boats' owners, tonnages and rigs - sail, motor and auxilary - all listed. 1947 - List of Tarbert Fishing Boats An intriguing look at the local fishing fleet after WWII, the boats' owners, tonnages and rigs - sail, motor and auxilary - all listed 1955 - Sale of The 10th Duke of Argyll's Estates An interesting list of the properties and sale prices. 1961 - Automobile Association Scottish Ferry Guide The days before drive-through ferries and quick turnarounds - Service frequencies and fares. 2006 Whisky Menu from Bellochantuy's Hunting Lodge Hotel Bellochantuy's Hunting Lodge Hotel was awarded the prestigious 'Whisky Bar of The Year' title in 2006, the, near 20- page long, list of whiskies should be of interest to anyone curious about Scotland's liquors in all their varieties. Across The Sea to Ireland Two ferry boats operated, one from Cushendun, the other from Dunaverty, operating under a lease from The Duke of Argyll. Andrew McQueen's Clyde Steamer Photographs McQueen's two 'Clyde Steamer' books being too big to load directly here and consequently uploaded (links below) as 'slide-shows' on Photobucket - The books' 70+ photographs, with captions, extracted here. 2 Ardrishaig - WWI - Roll of Honour - Rev. Kenneth McLean Forgotten Heroes - Probably one of the few surviving copies of McLean's list. Ardrishaig and Loch Fyne At War A companion volume to the massive "Kintyre At War 1939 - 1945" record - Here one will find the story of Ardrishaig's HMS "Seahawk" training base for motor launch and gunboat crews, a note about Dickie's Tarbert Boatyard and too the stories of the WWII Ardrishaig steamer services and the training of the "Heroes of Telemark" on the opposite shore of Loch Fyne. Ardrishaig Shops of The Past Extracted from Forsyth Hamilton's "Kipper House Tales", this list is essentially a companion to that which follows for Tarbert's Old Shops and to Slater's 1911 Directory for Kintyre and Argyleshire Notes Ardrishaig's Glendarroch Distillery Sometimes referred to as the 'Glenfyne Distillery', those who walk The Crinan Canal's 'West Bank' will remember to pass the old distillery's site with frequent glances over their shoulders, on the lookout for the ghostly 'monk' who supposedly haunts the area. Argyll and Bute Council Archives - Updated to June 26, 2006 This is a 'composite' list of the collections supposedly held in Argyll and Bute Council's archives, the list assembled after reconciling the various items noted online in The National Archives listings. Argyll and Bute Parishes Map - Groome's 1886 A geographical map of Argyll and Bute, the parishes numbered and their borders drawn as in 1886. Bagpipes - Ultimate Piping Guide - Starting Off A useful starting point for those who know nothing about 'how they work' ! Bellochantuy's Seaweed Factory Built in 1934 and employing some 45 people, Cefoil's seaweed processing factory at Bellochantuy was so successful that officials from the wartime government shut it down and transferred processing to factories at Barcaldine and Girvan ! Blasco de Gavray and La Trinidad's 1543 Steamship Trials 250 years before Henry Bell's COMET steamed the waters of the River Clyde, Blasco de Gavray succeeded in proving the success of steam-powered ships, two accounts of his trials here. Booms and Blimps At least three airships, SSZ 11 , SSZ 12 and SSZ 13 , operated over The North Channel. SSZ 12 collided with the flagstaff on Stranraer pier, damaging its ‘car’ and ripping open its envelope open, on July 15, 1918, but was repaired and soon back in service. 3 British India Steam Navigation Company - A Short History Of unknown authorship, this history was produced to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Campbeltown-born William Mackinnon's "B.I." shipping line. The Brownie of Cara The Brownie, to whom everyone should pay homage when stepping ashore, has a somewhat impish and droll sense of humour, some might say a little man of cumbernosity ! Campbeltown - Fishermen - WWII Record of Losses etc. This record escaped inclusion in "Kintyre At War 1939 - 1945" Campbeltown - Luftwaffe O S Map - WWII The Germans used ordinary Ordnance Survey maps for many purposes, this one surviving the war years. Campbeltown - Southend - Machrihanish - 1907 Guide Book Published to coincide with the first full operating season of the 'new' Campbeltown to Machrihanish railway's passenger services and full of advertisements. Campbeltown and Machrihanish Railway The old coal canal, running from the colliery to the Mill Dam and operated with three small barges, had opened in 1794 but had fallen into disuse and was eventually abandoned about 1856. The colliery changed hands in 1875 and the new owners, The Argyll Coal and Canal Company, needed a better way of sending coal to the town and set to build a 2’ 3” narrow gauge railway from the pit at Kilkivan to their coal depot at the east end of Argyll Street in Campbeltown, a distance of about 4¼ miles. Campbeltown Distilleries - A - Z List - from 1817 onwards Although perhaps little more than 20 distilleries worked at the same time, here are all Campbeltown's 34 distilleries, their proprietors and, in many cases, details of their buildings and equipment. The Campbeltown Shipbuilding Company Though ships are known to have been built in Campbeltown since around 1700, it was in 1877, when Archibald MacEachern returned to his native town after building up his fortune in Africa, that Campbeltown got its first shipyard able to build big sea-going ships. Campbeltown Steamers - 2004 An UN-ILLUSTRATED history of the Campbeltown Steamers, their last ships the DAVAAR and the DALRIADA, the company founded in 1826 and the company used as a 'vehicle' to found Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd.. Campbeltown's Quays, Coal and Sailing Ships A short history of the building of Campbeltowns quays and piers, the start of coal mining and The Campbeltown Coal Canal and brief descriptions of the sailing ship rigs commonly found in pre-steamboat days. 4 Carradale Antler - 185 - February 2008 Properly now known as "The Antler", the free monthly newsletter online, though here without photographs, it of particular value as it generally contains reports and details of Argyll and Bute Council business which escape inclusion in the area's weekly newspapers. Carradale Antler - 186 - March 2008 Properly now known as "The Antler", the free monthly newsletter online, though here without photographs, it of particular value as it generally contains reports and details of Argyll and Bute Council business which escape inclusion in the area's weekly newspapers.