The Islands of the Firth of Clyde are the fifth largest of the major Scottish island groups after the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland. They are situated in the Firth of Clyde between Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute. There are about forty islands and skerries. Only four are inhabited, and only nine are larger than 40 hectares. The largest and most populous are Arran and Bute. They are served by dedicated ferry routes, as are Great Cumbrae and Holy Island. Unlike the isles in the four larger Scottish archipelagos, none of the isles in this group are connected to one another or to the mainland by bridges.
Argyll and Bute is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current Lord-Lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod. The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate. The current Council leader is Councillor Robin Currie, a councillor for Kintyre and the Islands.
Sir Antony Mark David Gormley is a British sculptor. His works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool; and Event Horizon, a multipart site installation which premiered in London in 2007, around Madison Square in New York City, in 2010, in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012, and in Hong Kong in 2015–16.
The County of Bute, also known as Buteshire, is a historic county and registration county of Scotland.
Argyll, sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.
Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about 30 miles, from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north of Kintyre is known as Knapdale.
Sanda Island is a small island in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, off the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, near Southend and Dunaverty Castle.
Carradale is a village on the east side of Kintyre, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the west coast of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, approximately 14 miles from Campbeltown. To the north of Carradale is the coastal peak known as Torr Mor; nearby are the hamlet of Dippen and Dippen Bay. Population: 578~ (2021)
Saddell is a small Scottish village situated on the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran, 8 miles (13 km) from Campbeltown on the B842 road to Carradale. The name Saddell is derived from the Norse for sandy dale.
Tarbert is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre to Knapdale and West Loch Tarbert. Tarbert had a recorded population of 1,338 in the 2001 Census.
The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headquarters is at Shottesbrooke in Berkshire.
Skipness is a village on the east coast of Kintyre in Scotland, located just over 7 miles (11 km) south of Tarbert and facing the Isle of Arran.
Pirnmill is a small village on the north-west coast of the Isle of Arran, Scotland. The village is situated on the Kilbrannan Sound, facing Grogport on the Kintyre peninsula.
Grogport is a hamlet in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies on the coast of Kintyre, on the Kilbrannan Sound, across from Pirnmill on the Isle of Arran.
Kildonald Bay is a bay on the eastern side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland. Kildonald Bay is an element of Kilbrannan Sound that separates the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Other bays along the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula include Dippen Bay.
Kilbrannan Sound is a marine water body that separates the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland from the island of Arran. Kilbrannan Sound is the western arm of the Firth of Clyde.
Torrisdale Bay is a coastal embayment along the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula within Kilbrannan Sound in Scotland. The shoreline of the bay consists partially of a shingle beach. Nearby is located Torrisdale Castle. The villages of Torrisdale and Bridgend lie along Torrisdale Bay with Carradale directly to the north. Bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises are often sighted.
Saddell Castle is a historic 16th-century castle on the shore of the Kilbrannan Sound near Saddell, Kintyre, Argyll and Bute, Scotland of significant importance. The original castle existed in Somerled's time in the 12th century. The castle served as a bastion of the MacDonald family for several centuries and continues to be visited by MacDonald diaspora from around the world who return to Western Scotland and the Isles. Several MacDonald Lords have resided at Saddell over the centuries, including Alasdair Mor MacDonald, younger brother of Angus Mor MacDonald, Lord of the Isles in the 13th century. Angus Og MacDonald once provided refuge to Robert the Bruce during the First War of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century before taking him on to Dunaverty Castle on the Mull of Kintyre.
Catacol Bay is a small shallow-curved tidal, 310° facing, rocky coastal embayment located on the northwest tip of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, within the council area of North Ayrshire in Scotland.
