The County of Bute (), also known as Buteshire, is a historic county and registration county of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Now replaced by

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

for the Isle of Bute, with the Argyll and Bute Council. The

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; ) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Counties of Scotland, Historically part of Buteshire, it is in the ...

and The Cumbraes are now in North Ayrshire

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

area. Since the implementation of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, on the 1 April 1996. The former County of Bute comprised a number of islands in the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre, Kintyre Peninsula. The ...

, between the counties of Argyll and

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, the principal islands being Bute, Arran, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae. The

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

is Rothesay, located on the Isle of Bute. The County of Bute had its own elected county council from 1890 to 1975.

History

Buteshire was created as a

shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

(the area administered by a

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

) by Robert II around 1385. Prior to that the islands in the Firth of Clyde had not formed part of any shire. The position of Sheriff of Bute was initially given to Robert's illegitimate son, John Stewart, and subsequently passed to John's descendants, who became the Earls of Bute in 1703. Inherited sheriffdoms were abolished by the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746, after which sheriffs were appointed by the crown. The Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 then placed Buteshire under a joint sheriff with neighbouring Argyll. Meanwhile, in 1667 Commissioners of Supply were established for each shire, which would serve as the main administrative body for the area until the creation of county councils in 1890. Elected county councils were created in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, taking most of the functions of the Commissioners of Supply. The County of Bute Council was based at the Rothesay Town Hall and County Buildings at 31 High Street in Rothesay, which had been built in 1835 and served as the meeting place for Rothesay Town Council and the Commissioners of Supply, as well as being the courthouse for Buteshire. The County of Bute was abolished for local government purposes in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which replaced Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts, with upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. The County of Bute was included in the

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Welsh language, Welsh; in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic, meaning 'strath

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

of the River Clyde') was one of nine former Local government in Scotland, local government Regions and districts of Scotland, regions of Scotland cre ...

region, with the Isle of Bute being placed in the Argyll district, and the

and the Cumbraes being placed in Cunninghame district. Strathclyde region was abolished in 1996 when the regions and districts were replaced by unitary

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Ac ...

s, with

becoming a council area, and Cunninghame being renamed to become the North Ayrshire council area. The County of Bute historic boundaries are still used for some limited official purposes connected with land registration, being a registration county.

Geography

The County of Bute consisted of two main islands in the

separated by the Sound of Bute - Arran (also including the much smaller Holy Island, Hamilton Isle and Pladda off the south-east coast) and Bute (including the small isle of Inchmarnock off its west coast) - and also the Cumbraes between Bute and

on the mainland, comprising Great Cumbrae, Little Cumbrae and the islets of The Eileans, Broad Islands, Castle Island and Trail Island. Arran is Scotland's 7th largest island and is a popular tourist destination, often referred to as 'Scotland in miniature' due to the wide variety of scenery and geographical features that can be found here. The island is roughly peanut-shaped, being flatter in the south and more mountainous in the north, culminating in Goat Fell, the tallest mountain in Buteshire at 874 metres (2,866 ft). It is separated from the Kintyre Peninsula by the Kilbrannan Sound. Bute is in contrast is a much flatter though somewhat hilly island, especially in the north; it is separated from the Cowal Peninsula by the narrow Kyles of Bute. A number of lochs lie in the centre of the island, most notably Loch Fad, Loch Quien and Loch Ascog.

Transport

The Isle of Bute is connected by ferry to Wemyss Bay on the mainland; a ferry also connects the island with the Cowal Peninsula from the north-east of the island. An A-road runs along Bute's east coast and loops around the island's southern half; the northern half of the island is less well-served and can mostly only by traversed by foot or bike. Arran is also connected to the Scottish mainland by ferry; from the north one can reach Tarbert and Claonaig in Kintyre, and from Brodick ferries depart for Ardrossan in Ayrshire and Campbeltown further down the Kintyre Peninsula. A road goes around the edge of the island, with a B road cutting east–west across. A ferry also connects Great Cumbrae with Largs in Ayrshire. Millport - Great Cumbrae

Parliamentary constituency

There was a Buteshire constituency of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

from 1708 to 1800 and of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

from 1801 to 1918. Between 1708 and 1832 it was an alternating constituency with

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

: one constituency elected a Member of Parliament (MP) to one parliament then the other elected an MP to the next. Between 1832 and 1918 it was a separate constituency, electing an MP to every parliament. The population of Buteshire in 1841 was 15,740. In 1918 the constituency was combined with the Ayrshire North constituency to form the Bute and Northern Ayrshire constituency, a constituency which straddled the boundary between the

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

counties of Bute and Ayrshire. In 1983, eight years after Scottish local government counties had been abolished, the Bute and Northern Ayrshire constituency was divided between the

constituency and the Cunninghame North constituency. In 2005, both constituencies were enlarged as part of the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. The name "Argyll and Bute" was retained, while the enlarged Cunningham North was renamed North Ayrshire and Arran. Constituencies with similar boundaries to the pre-2005 constituencies, and also called

and Cunninghame North, are used by the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

Civil parishes

* North Bute * Rothesay * Kingarth * Cumbraes or Great Cumbrae * Kilbride, Arran * Kilmory, Arran *

Lochranza Lochranza () is a village located on the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. The population, somewhat in decline, is around 200 people. Geography Lochranza is the northernmost of Arran's villages and is located in the northwestern c ...

List of places

Towns and places in Buteshire include:

Isle of Arran

* Blackwaterfoot * Brodick * Catacol * Cladach * Corrie *Corriegills, Arran * Dippen * Kildonan * Kilmory *Kings Cross, Arran * Lagg * Lamlash *

* Machrie * Pirnmill * Sannox * Shiskine * Sliddery * Whitefarland * Whiting Bay

Isle of Bute

* Ardbeg * Cladach * Kilchattan Bay * Kingarth * Port Bannatyne * Rhubodach * Rothesay

The Cumbraes

* Millport

Gallery

File:RothesayCastleNW.JPG, Rothesay Castle, Bute, with the 16th century forework in the centre, and the 13th century "Pigeon Tower" on the right File:Brodick Castle Main Building East 01.jpg, Brodick Castle, Arran File:Meikle Kilmory Farm Bute - geograph.org.uk - 1529884.jpg, Kilmory Castle is incorporated into Meikle Kilmory Farm, Bute File:Machrie Moor Stone Circle - geograph.org.uk - 94982.jpg, Machrie Moor Stone Circle, Arran File:Isle of Arran OS OpenData map.png, Isle of Arran File:Blaeu - Atlas of Scotland 1654 - ARANIA - The Isle of Arran.jpg, Blaeu Atlas. Arania File:Blaeu - Atlas of Scotland 1654 - BUTHE INSULA - The Isle of Bute.jpg, Blaeu Atlas. Buthe Insula File:Shire of Bute.jpg, Shire of Bute. by H. Moll File:Kerrycroy Bay Bute - geograph.org.uk - 1529785.jpg, Kerrycroy Bay, Bute File:Bute, Ardbeg Junction - geograph.org.uk - 61360.jpg, Ardbeg, Bute File:Lighthouse, Holy Island, Arran - geograph.org.uk - 185791.jpg, Lighthouse on Holy Island File:Scotland, Pladda Island and Ailsa Craig, seen from Isle of Arran.JPG, The isle of Pladda as seen from Arran, with Ailsa Craig in the distance File:MachrieMoorStones.jpg, Machrie Moor Standing Stones on Arran File:Goatfell from Brodick Harbour.jpg, Goat Fell on Arran, the highest point of Buteshire

References

External links

*
NLS map of Buteshire
John Thompson's Atlas of Scotland. 1832. Counties of Scotland Former counties of Scotland Counties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922) {{purge