Tarbert
Tarbert is a town in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council location. It is developed around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which connects 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 lengthy history both as a harbour and also as a strategic point player access to Kintyre and also the Inner Hebrides. The name Tarbert is the anglicised form of the Gaelic word tairbeart, which literally translates as "lugging throughout" as well as describes the narrowest strip of land in between two bodies of water over which products or whole boats can be brought (portage). In cargoes were discharged from vessels berthed in one loch, hauled over the isthmus to the various other loch, packed onto vessels berthed there and also delivered forward, enabling seafarers to stay clear of the sail around the Mull of Kintyre. Tarbert was anciently part of the Gaelic overkingdom of Dál Riata and also secured by 3 castles-- in the village centre, at the head of the West Loch, and on the south side of the East Loch. The wreck of the last of these castles, Tarbert Castle, still exists and dominates Tarbert's skyline. Around the year 1098 Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, had his longship lugged throughout the isthmus at Tarbert to represent his possession of the Western Isles. Despite its distinction as a calculated garrison throughout the Middle Ages, Tarbert's socioeconomic prosperity came throughout the Early Modern period, as the port turned into an angling community. At its elevation, the Loch Fyne herring fishery attracted hundreds of vessels to Tarbert.