Family holidays in Argyll

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Argyll (sometimes anglicised to Argyllshire) was a county of Scotland until 1975, when Scottish counties were abolished. At the time of abolition the county had boundaries as shown in the map. Argyll's neighbouring counties were Inverness-shire, Perthshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Bute. Renfrewshire and Ayrshire were the other side of the Firth of Clyde. Bute was a county of islands in the firth.

The county town was historically Inveraray, which is still the seat of the Duke of Argyll. Lochgilphead later claimed to be the county town, as the seat of local government for the county from the nineteenth century. Other places in the former county were Oban, Campbeltown, Dunoon and Inveraray.
The Small Isles were part of the county, until they were transferred to Inverness-shire in 1891, by the boundary commission appointed under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.

In 1975 the County of Argyll was abolished, with its area being split between Highland and Strathclyde Regions. A local government district called Argyll and Bute was formed in the Strathclyde region, including most of Argyll and the Isle of Bute from former county of the same name. The Ardnamurchan, Ballachulish and Kinlochleven areas of Argyll became part of Lochaber District, in Highland.

In 1996 a new unitary council area of Argyll and Bute was created, with a change to boundaries to include part of the former Strathclyde district of Dumbarton.