Bute, an island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, separated from the coast of Argyll by a narrow winding strait called the Kyles of Bute, mostly under a mile wide, about 6 miles distant from the west coast of Ayrshire, and 8 miles NE. of Arran. It is 15½ miles long, 1¼ to 6¼ miles broad, and 49 sq. m. in area. The surface to the north is high, rugged, and barren, attaining 875 feet in Kames Hill; in the centre and south it is low and undulating, and comparatively fertile. The coast is rocky, and has some bays. Of six small lakes, the largest is Loch Fad (2½ by ¼ mile), in a cottage on whose west shore lived Kean and Sheridan Knowles. The climate is milder than in any other part of Scotland, and though moist, less so than on the west coast generally; hence, Bute is much resorted to by invalids. In the south the soil is sandy; towards the north clay predominates. Most of the arable land is under tillage, and agriculture is in a good state. The chief crops are oats, turnips, and potatoes. The principal town is Rothesay (q.v.). Most of the island belongs to the Marquis of Bute, whose beautiful seat, Mount-Stuart, 5 miles south-south-east of Rothesay, has been rebuilt since the fire of 1877 at a cost of some £200,000. Among the antiquities of Bute are Rothesay Castle, Kames Castle (John Sterling's birthplace), Kilmore Castle, St Blane's Chapel; Dungyle, a remarkable vitrified fort on a high crag on the south-west coast; and the Devil's Caldron, a circular erection, the original purpose of which is not well known. From an early period till 1266 Bute was more or less subject to the Norwegians. The people of Bute are sometimes called Brandanes, presumably after the Saint Brendan (q.v.) whose name appears in Kilbrandon Sound, which separates Bute from Kintyre. Pop. (1801) 6106; (1841) 9499; (1891) 11,735.
BUTESHIRE, a county comprising the isles of Bute, Arran, the Cumbraes, Holy Isle, Pladda, Inchmarnock, and other smaller islands. The area of the whole is 225 sq. m., or 143,977 statute acres. Pop. (1871) 16,977; (1891) 18,408. Buteshire returns one member to parliament. The county town is Rothesay, in Bute. See works by J. Reid (Glasgow, 1864), and Rev. J. K. Hewison (1894).