page_title: Tarbert, Kintyre
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Tarbert, Kintyre / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph taken by Chris Bazley-Rose and made freely available in accordance with Wikipedia guidelines.
context_page_description: Tarbert is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre to Knapdale and West Loch Tarbert. Tarbert had a recorded population of 1,338 in the 2001 Census.
  Tarbert has a long history both as a harbour and as a strategic point guarding access to Kintyre and the Inner Hebrides. The name Tarbert is the anglicised form of the Gaelic word tairbeart, which literally translates as "carrying across" and refers to the narrowest strip of land between two bodies of water over which goods or entire boats can be carried. In past times cargoes were discharged from vessels berthed in one loch, hauled over the isthmus to the other loch, loaded onto vessels berthed there and shipped onward, allowing seafarers to avoid the sail around the Mull of Kintyre.
  Tarbert was anciently part of the Gaelic overkingdom of Dál Riata and protected by three castles – in the village centre, at the head of the West Loch, and on the south side of the East Loch. The ruin of the last of these castles, Tarbert Castle, still exists and dominates Tarbert's skyline.
context_section_description: The coast of Tarbert Bay is rocky and the cliffs are fringed with young firs, the village itself being an extremely tranquil and beautiful place. The Church of Scotland parish church occupies a fine situation on high ground and has a crown spire. Overlooking the harbour are the ruins of a castle built by Robert I of Scotland in 1326. The isthmus connecting the districts of Knapdale and Kintyre is little more than 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, and boats once used to be dragged across to the head of West Loch Tarbert, a narrow sea loch nearly 10 miles (16 km) long. A proposal to cut a canal across to shorten the sail to Islay and Jura has never progressed further.
caption: Tarbert Harbour
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