Bute lies in the Firth of Clyde. It is approximately 15miles long by 5 miles wide with a population of just over 7000. The main town of Rothesay accounts for about 6500 of the population and has many shops, pubs and restaurants, plus a hospital, dental surgery, law firms and estate agents.
Villages/suburbs on the island include:
Ascog, Ardbeg, Kerrycroy, Kilchattan Bay, Kildavanan, Kingarth, Port Bannatyne, Rhubodach and Straad although some of these are a little more than collections of cottages.
GEOGRAPHY
Geographically, Bute is divided in two by the Highland Boundary Fault. North of the fault the island is hilly and largely uncultivated with extensive areas of forestry. The highest hill is Kames Hill at 267 metres (about 876 feet). To the south of the fault the terrain is smoother and highly cultivated although in the far south is to be found the island’s most rugged terrain around Glen Callum. Loch Fad is Bute’s largest body of freshwater and runs along the fault line.
The western side of Bute is known for its beaches, many of which enjoy fine views over the Sound of Bute towards Arran and Bute’s smaller satellite island Inchmarnock. Settlements on the western side of the island include Straad, around St. Ninian’s Bay, and Kildavanan on Ettrick Bay.
In the north, Bute is separated from the Cowal peninsula by the Kyles of Bute. The northern part of the island is sparsely populated, and the ferry terminal at Rhubodach connects the island to the mainland at Colintraive by the smaller of the island’s two ferries. The crossing is one of the shortest, less than 300 metres (330 yd), and takes only a few minutes but is busy because many tourists prefer the scenic route to the island.
North Bute forms part of the Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.
HISTORY
The human occupation of Bute dates from prehistoric times. The Queen of the Inch necklace is an article of jewellery made of jet found in a cist that dates from circa 2000 BC. Bute was absorbed into the Cenél Comgall of Dál Riata and colonized by Gealic peoples. Later during the Viking period the island was known as Rothesay, a name deriving from a personal name and Old Norse ey, ‘an island’. This name eventually came to refer to the main town on the island, which was later also known in Gaelic as Baile Bhòid, or in Scots the toun of Bute in the sixteenth century – that is to say ‘the town of the island of Bute’. It was, indeed, the only town on the island. But the town itself has never actually been called ‘Bute’.
After the Viking period the island was not granted to the Lord of the Isles, as were most of the islands off Scotland’s west coast. Instead Bute became the personal property of the Stewart family and the current Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart still owns huge tracts of the island.
In the 1940s and 1950s Bute served as a large naval headquarters. During World War II it housed a large camp for officers and NCOs of the Polish Armed Forces in the West.
EDUCATION
The island has one secondary school, Rothesay Academy, which moved to a new modern joint campus with Rothesay Primary in 2007. The largest of the island’s three primary schools is Rothesay Primary, the smallest school (with roughly 50 pupils) is North Bute Primary in Port Bannatyne. The third primary school, St Andrews Primary, is a Catholic School aligned with St Andrew’s Church, the only Catholic Church on the predominantly Protestant island.
SPORT
Bute has many sports clubs and activities available. There are three golf courses: Rothesay Golf Club, Kingarth Golf Club and Port Bannatyne Golf Club. The most successful sporting club on the island is Bute Shinty Club who play at the highest level of shinty (the Marine Harvest Premier League). In 2006 Bute won promotion to the Premier League by winning the South Division One. Bute also won the Ballimore Cup and were runners up in the Glasgow Celtic Society Cup in 2006. The local amateur football team are known as the Brandanes, and the junior team are the Brandane Rovers. Bute also has facilities for fishing, rugby, tennis, bowls, and cricket. Petanque is played at Port Bannatyne; boules may be hired from the Post Office there.
The centre for sailing on Bute is at Port Bannatyne with two boatyards and the new marina, and a club which organises private moorings in these particularly protected waters of Kames Bay. There is Bute Sailing School with its own dinghies.
ECONOMY
Farming and tourism are the main industries on the island, along with fishing and forestry. Privately owned businesses include a call centre, Port Bannatyne Marina and Boat Yard, the Ardmaleish Boatbuilding Company, Bute Fabrics Ltd, (an international weaver of contemporary woollen fabrics for upholstery).
