Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BUR
177
BUT
This island is composed of sandstone, sandstone-flag,
and schistose clay. The inhabitants, in 1801, were
271; in 1831, 357; whose chief employment is fish-
ing. See South Ronaldsay.
BURROWMUIR. See Boko ugh- Moor.
BUTE,* an island in the frith of Clyde, separated
from CoAval, in Argyllshire, by a very narrow chan-
nel called the Kyles or Bute: see that article. It
extends in length about 16 miles, and is from 3 to
5 in breadth. The general direction is from south-
east to north-west. The northern parts of the island
are rocky and barren, but the southern extremity is
fertile, well-cultivated, and enclosed. The coast is
rocky, and indented with bays, several of which form
safe harbours. The bays of Rothesay, Karnes, and
Kilchattan, indent its eastern shore; those of Stra-
vannan, Scalpsie, Ettrick.and Kilmichael, its western.
Stravannan bay, and that of Kilchattan, run so far in
as to make the south end of Bute an oval peninsula,
in the centre of which rises Mount Blair, a hill whence
a noble prospect may be enjoyed. The intervening
space is a low sandy plain, and there is another low
plain between Kames and Ettrick bay. — Near the
middle of the island are several small sheets of water,
viz. Lochs Fad, Ascog or Askaig, Quien, and Auch-
enteery. Of these, Loch Fad is the most extensive
and the most interesting. See that article. Pike,
perch, and trout, are found in most of them. Mount
Stewart, the fine seat of the Marquess of Bute, is
situated on the coast, about 2 miles south-east of
Rothesay. See article Mount Stewart Port
Bannatyne, on the bay of Kames, 3 miles north-east
of Rothesay, is a pleasant village, much frequented
as a bathing-place. See article Port Bannatyne.
A little to the north of it is Kames' castle, long a
seat of the Bannatynes. At Wester Kames stands
another castle, formerly belonging to the Spences.
At Askaig, north of Mount Stewart, was also a
castle, destroyed about the year 1646 by the Mar-
quess of Argyle. The climate, though damp, is mild
and temperate, and the soil is favourable for agricul-
ture. Freestone of a reddish colour abounds in the
island, and limestone is met with in every part of
it. Coal has been discovered near Ascog; but it
has not been thought worth while to work it. — This
island, conjoined with the islands of Arran, the
Greater and Lesser Cumbrae, and Inchmarnock, forms
a county under the name of the shire of Bute. It
has one royal burgh, Rothesay, which is also the
chief town of the shire: see Rothesay. The island
of Bute contains two parishes. See Kingarth
and Rothesay. There are several remains of an-
tiquity on the island. See articles St. Blane's
Chapel, and Dungyle. Bute gives the title of
Marquess to a branch of the family of Stuart, who
is proprietor of the greater part of the island. Popu-
lation of the whole island, in 1791, 6,470; in 1801,
6,106; in 1831, 6,830. Houses, in 1831, 889. As-
sessed property, in 181.5, £13,066 The western
* As the island itself is in Gaelic called Oilean a' Mhoide, or
■ the Island wliere the Cuurt of justice sits,' and the town of
Rothesay Bailea Mhoide, — one might suppose that this desig-
nation indicated the origin of the name Bute; the word Mhoido
being pronounced, in this connection, as if it were Voide. But
it is evident that it must have had a similar name long before
we can reasonably suppose il to have been the seat of justice.
For the ancient geographer Ptolemy calls it Bajr-.i, which, if
the Greek termination be thrown away, nearly assumes the
form of the Gaelic name — which it still bears— Bold. 'lhe same
term, when not used as a name, signifies a vow or oath. Whe-
ther, in this primary sense, it referred to any religious circum-
stance connected with the history of this island, perhaps in the
Drtiidical period, we have no data whence we cau form so
much as a conjecture. By Norwegian writers it is written
Bot, The learned Camden had been misinformed as to the
meaning of the name Bictke, or Boot, which, he says, had been
denominated " from the sacred cell which Brendan erected
there, a cell being thus named in Scottish." But the Gaelic
loth properly signifies a hut or cottage.— See article Ronn:sAV.
1.
isles of Scotland, Man, Shetland, and Orkney, ap-
pear to have been frequently infested by armies of
Scandinavians, from the year 738 till about the
year 875, when those islands fell under the dominion
of Norway, to which they in general remained sub-
ject, with little interruption, for many ages. Bute
and its neighbouring islands formed a subject of fre-
quent dispute between the Scots and the Norwegi-
ans, if not during the whole time that the power of
the latter subsisted in these countries, yet for a long
period before the Ebudoa or Western isles were
ceded to the Crown of Scotland. By their situation,
so near the heart of the Scottish kingdom, descents
could be made from these insular stations by the one
power upon the territories of the other. They were,
in this view, more particularly important to the Nor-
wegians ; as they could, from hence, more easily an-
noy the Scots, than from any other place where they
had a regular established footing. Accordingly, it
appears from monuments whereof vestiges can still
be traced out, that great solicitude was shown to
defend the island of Bute. The castle of Rothesay
was a stronghold of such antiquity that neither re-
cord nor tradition seem even to offer a conjecture as
to the time of its original erection. Malcolm II.
made a grant of Bute sometime before the year
1093, to Walter, the first Lord-high-steward, who
gave it to a younger son, with whom and his pos-
terity it remained about a century, when it was re-
annexed to the patrimony of the Lord-high-stew-
ard, by the intermarriage of Alexander Steward
with Jean, daughter and heiress of James, Lord of
Bute. In 1228, Husbec, or Ospac, the feudatory
king of the Isles, laid siege to the castle of Rothesay ;
but, being bravely repulsed, was killed in the course
of the enterprise, and his people were obliged to
retire after suffering a considerable diminution of
their number. Olave, his successor, procured from
the Norwegian monarch a fleet and army, wherewith
he proceeded against Dungad, who had set himself
up as a competitor in the Isles, and having seized
upon his person at Kiarara, near the sound of Mull,
he from thence came to Bute with 80 ships, and laid
siege to Rothesay castle. The garrison defended it
bravely; and, by various methods, destroyed about
300 of the besiegers; but the force of the Norwegians
and islanders was so great, that, after persevering
some time, they took the castle by sapping, and
found in it a rich booty. How long after this Bute
remained subject to the Norwegians is not precisely
known. When Haco of Norway invaded Scotland
in 1263, this and the other islands in the frith of
Clyde were in the hands of the Scots. These isles
he reduced; but being defeated at Largs, the whole
Western isles were soon afterwards ceded to Alex-
ander III., king of Scotland. In the fatal battle
fought at Falkirk betwixt the English and Scots, in
1298, the men of Buteshire — known at that time by
the name of the Lord-high-ste ward's Brandanes —
served under Sir John Stewart, where they were
almost wholly cut off with their valiant leader.
Edward of England having obtained possession of
Bute, kept it until 1312; when Robert Bruce took
the castle of Rothesay, and recovered the island.
Thither Edward Baliol came in person, anno 1334,
took the castle, and strengthened its fortifications.
It was, however, soon retaken by the faithful Bran-
danes of the Lord-high-steward, and this was one of
those occurrences which first gave a favourable turn
to the affairs of King Robert Bruce. Next year the
king of England took an opportunity of repaying
the Brandanes with usury, the ills they ha'i done
him. With a view to the extending and securing
his conquests in Scotland, he fitted out a fleet from
Ireland, consisting of 56 ships. The most signa
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