Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.
Argyll is of ancient origin, and broadly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of less the parts which were in Ireland. Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore, as well as an early modern earldom, elevated to become a dukedom in 1701 with the creation of the Duke of Argyll.
Argyll borders Inverness-shire to the north, Perthshire and Dunbartonshire to the east, and—separated by the Firth of Clyde—neighbours Renfrewshire and Ayrshire to the south-east, and Buteshire to the south.
Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll was an administrative county with a county council. The county town was historically Inveraray, but from its creation in 1890 the county council was based at Lochgilphead. Most of the historic county's territory is within the modern council area of Argyll and Bute, with the main differences being that the Morvern and Ardnamurchan areas from the historic county are now in the Highland council area, whilst the Isle of Bute and the Helensburgh area were not in historic Argyll but are now in the Argyll and Bute council area.
There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain then Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 until 1983.
Name
The name derives from Old Irish , meaning "border region of the Gaels". The early 13th-century author of wrote that "the name Arregathel means the margin (i.e., border region) of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli (i.e. Gaels), from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas." The word also means "coast" when applied to maritime regions, so the name can also be translated as "coast of the Gaels".
History
The Kilmartin Glen has standing stones and other monuments dating back to around 3000BC, and is one of the most significant areas for Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland. In 563AD Iona Abbey was founded, becoming one of the most important early Christian sites in Scotland.
The Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata existed between the 5th and 9th centuries. Its territory covered north-eastern parts of Ireland in what later became County Antrim, part of the mainland of Great Britain in what is now western Scotland, and numerous islands in the Inner Hebrides. A fortress at Dunadd in the Kilmartin Glen, north-west of the modern town of Lochgilphead, served as the main seat of the kingdom. Dál Riata fragmented in the 9th century during the Viking Age; the part in Ireland was absorbed into the kingdom of Ulaid, the islands came under the control of the Kingdom of the Isles, and the part on mainland Britain was united in 843AD with the Pictish kingdom to its east under Kenneth MacAlpin to become the Kingdom of Alba.
The name Argyll (), meaning "coast or borderland of the Gaels", came to be used for the part of the former Dál Riata territory on mainland Britain. The name distinguished the area from the , meaning "islands of the foreigners" which was used for the Kingdom of the Isles, ruled by Old Norse-speaking Norse–Gaels.
Argyll was divided into several lordships or provinces, including Kintyre, Knapdale, Lorn, Cowal, and a smaller Argyll province which covered the area around Inveraray between Loch Fyne and Loch Awe (the latter sometimes described by later writers as "Argyll proper" or "Mid Argyll" to distinguish it from the wider area). The term "North Argyll" was also used to refer to the area later called Wester Ross. It was called North Argyll as it was settled by missionaries and refugees from Dál Riata, based at the abbey of Applecross. The position of abbot was hereditary, and when Ferchar mac in tSagairt, son of the abbot, became the Earl of Ross in the 13th century, the region of North Argyll gradually became known as Wester Ross instead.
Alba evolved into the kingdom of Scotland, but lost control of Kintyre, Knapdale and Lorn to Norwegian rule, as was acknowledged in a treaty of 1098 between Edgar, King of Scotland and Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway. In 1266 the Treaty of Perth re-established the Scottish crown's authority over the parts of Argyll which had been under Norwegian rule, along with the former Kingdom of the Isles, which together became the semi-independent Lordship of the Isles.