Kintyre

Kintyre, or CANTIRE (Gael. ceann-tir, 'headland'), a long, narrow peninsula of Argyllshire, between the Atlantic and the Firth of Clyde, extending 42 miles south by westward, and $4\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ to $11\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ miles broad. At the north end it connects with the mainland by the isthmus of Tarbert, $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ mile broad, between East Loch Tarbert, a bay of Loch Fyne, and West Loch Tarbert. The surface is diversified by a ridge of low, moorish hills, with many lochs, the highest point being Ben-an-Thirc (1491 feet). Coal is found at Drumleble, 4 miles to the west of Campbeltown (q.v.). Machrihanish Bay, on the west coast, just beyond, possesses noted golfing links. A fair proportion of the soil is in cultivation. A lighthouse (1787), 297 feet above sea-level, stands on the Mull of Kintyre (the Epidum Promontorium of Ptolemy), which is overhung by Ben-na-Lice (1405 feet), and is only 13 miles distant from Ireland. The ancient seat of the kingdom of Dalriada (q.v.), Kintyre ranked till the 17th century as part of the Hebrides, being held successively by Norsemen, by the Macdonalds of the Isles, and by Campbells. Its antiquities include the ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Saddell, of the castles of Dunaverty, Duudonald, Saddell, and Skipness, and of many forts and pre-Reformation chapels. See T. P. White's Archæological Sketches in Kintyre (1873).