Tarbert is a town in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and also Bute council area. It is constructed around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and also crosses the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre to Knapdale as well as West Loch Tarbert. Tarbert had actually a recorded population of 1,338 in the 2001 Census. Tarbert has a long history both as a harbour and also as a calculated point player accessibility to Kintyre and also the Inner Hebrides. The name Tarbert is the anglicised kind of the Gaelic word tairbeart, which literally translates as "lugging across" as well as refers to the narrowest strip of land between 2 bodies of water over which items or entire boats can be lugged (portage). In past times freights were discharged from vessels berthed in one loch, transported over the isthmus to the other loch, loaded onto vessels berthed there and delivered onward, enabling seafarers to prevent the sail around the Mull of Kintyre. Tarbert was anciently part of the Gaelic overkingdom of Dál Riata and secured by 3 castles-- in the town centre, at the head of the West Loch, as well as on the south side of the East Loch. The mess up of the last of these castles, Tarbert Castle, still exists and controls Tarbert's skyline. Around the year 1098 Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, had his longship lugged across the isthmus at Tarbert to symbolize his property of the Western Isles. Regardless of its distinction as a calculated stronghold during the Middle Ages, Tarbert's socioeconomic prosperity came throughout the Very early Modern duration, as the port became an angling town. At its height, the Loch Fyne herring fishery drew in numerous vessels to Tarbert.