Tarbertshire, or the

sheriffdom A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland, led by a sheriff principal. Since 1 January 1975, there have been six sheriffdoms. Each sheriffdom is divided into a series of sheriff court districts, and each sheriff court is presided over by a r ...

of Tarbert, was a shire of Scotland until 1633, when it was annexed to Argyll.RPS, 1633/6/91 It comprised the mainland peninsula formed by Knapdale and

Kintyre Kintyre (, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East Loch Tarbert, Argyll, East and West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, West Loch Tarbert in t ...

, together with the southern

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides ( ; ) is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides compri ...

to the west.Mitchell 1886 p.46

History

It has been suggested that

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

, who extended Tarbert Castle, created or intended a sheriffdom there; however, the first reference to Tarbertshire is in 1481, when Knapdale (back then including the lands between Loch Awe and Loch Fyne) was transferred to it from

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

. The shire town was Tarbert, but the

sheriff court A sheriff court () is the principal local civil and criminal court in Scotland, with exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to , and with the jurisdiction to hear any criminal case except treason, murder, and ra ...

was latterly at Inveraray in Argyllshire. The

Earl of Argyll Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

family of Campbells often supplied the Sheriff of Tarbert and other officials of both Argyll and Tarbert. Although shires elected

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

s to the

Parliament of Scotland In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 1590, it was not until the 1628–33 Parliament of Charles I that Tarbert is known to have sent one: Sir Lachlan Maclean of Morvern. Since this was the Parliament that abolished Tarbertshire, Maclean was its last commissioner. (In the 1630 session roll, Sir Coll Lamont, laird of Lamont, is said to represent "Argyll and Tarbert".)

References

Sources

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Citations

{{reflist Counties of Scotland Kintyre Argyllshire History of Argyll and Bute History of the Inner Hebrides 1633 disestablishments in Scotland