Argyll books and maps

Maps and guide books Argyll

Argyll books: Travel Guides
	Argyll and the Isles Price: £5.95 Publication: April 15, 2003
	The Glens of Argyll (Scottish Glens S.) This text aims to provide the mountainbiker and walker with information on an intended route so that they know something of what to expect. One of the problems facing the mountainbiker, and to a lesser extent the walker, is that the Ordnance Survey maps give no indication as to whether an "other road" is metalled or whether it is a mere forest fire break. Many bridges shown on Ordnance Survey maps do not exist, and rivers are difficult to judge in size. This text provides all this information, and also includes gradient profiles to help assess the difficulty of a route. Price: £6.99 Publication: June 18, 2004

Argyll books: History & Heritage
	Argyll, 1730-1850 It was dominated by the State's attempts to pacify and civilize the Highlands, which intensified after the Jacobean defeat at Culloden. Part of this process was the landed elite's efforts to promote economic growth by transforming the traditional agrarian system, and by encouraging new industries. The most dramatic aspect of this process was the rapid growth of sheep farming. This led to the wholesale evictions which earned notoriety as the Highland Clearances, and to mass emigration and migration from the Highlands. Drawing on a wide range of sources and little known material, Robert McGeachy's book analyses the impact of these changes in Argyll, the Highland county where the landed elite's commitment to promoting economic growth was most intense. There is little doubt that these changes were both devastating and traumatic for the common people. Robert McGeachy's perceptive study examines how these changes affected the Highlanders' culture and traditional way of life, and details the patterns of popular resistance which emerged to the agricultural improvements and to the Clearances. His book will be of interest both to students of Highland history wishing to understand more about the process of social and economic change, and to readers with a general interest in the history of the Highlands. Price: £14.00 Publication: August 4, 2005
	Ferry Tales of Argyll and the Isles This work is a record of the ferries that ply the waters off the coast and along the lochs of Argyll and the Isles, and which have been the fabric of life in that part of Scotland for generations. It covers stories of the boats and crossings, and places and personalities through archives. Price: £6.99 Publication: July 31, 2003
	Lost Argyll Poltalloch House, for example, built in the 1840s as a monument to commerce and investment lies ruinous, its owners having stripped it of its roof to avoid paying crippling rates; Campbeltown once bristled with distilleries until a cocktail of economic factors left it with only two whilst others have been subsumed into the modern townscape; little remains of even the jetties at Loch Awe and West Loch Tarbert, two of the busiest waterways in times past. This largely rural county has seen its fair share of forts, castles and mansions rise and fall. Some were destroyed in battle; others simply lost the financial battle to remain standing in the face of increasing taxation. Vernacular architecture has also disappeared: the houses of the fishermen and those in agricultural settlements crumbled in the wake of depredations, clearances, afforestation and government demands on landlords to house tenants in fitting conditions. Earlier marks of man were frequently cannibalised to build cottages, enclosure walls or castle extensions. Industries have come and gone in this area as transport methods changed or transport costs soared. The quays which were built to receive boats disappeared as modern roads removed the necessity for ferries. Industrial buildings have sometimes been converted, sometimes demolished. Armies, sheep and sitka spruce have changed the landscape of Argyll down the centuries and today the ruins of many of its treasures must be found in forests. The cradle of British Christianity today hides its crumbling cille in deep bracken on remote hillsides and schools which saw the foundation of a universal education system are no more than folk memories. In this fascinating yet poignant study, Marian Pallister introduces the many varied aspects of lost Argyll, showing how ancient and even relatively modern landscapes have changed inexorably, often with little thought for conservation or preservation. Price: £16.99 Publication: October 27, 2005
	Villages of Northern Argyll Argyll's historical importance goes back well over 1,500 years. As the centre of the kingdom of Dalriada the area was of seminal importance in terms of Gaelic culture, and was also of extreme significance in the spread of Celtic Christianity. Geographically it is a region of wild coastline, open moorland and rugged mountains separated by deep lochs and fast flowing rivers, with little cultivable ground. There are considerable mineral resources and the forests have always been coveted by Lowlanders, but lines of communication are difficult and were, until recently, often dangerous. Even so, for 2,000 years and more people have struggled to make a living here and one of the questions this book address is how, and why. Price: £6.99 Publication: August 1, 2004
	Villages of Southern Argyll For 5,000 years, southern Argyll has been home to people of culture, ideas, skills and power. The standing stones, cairns and cists of Mid Argyll signal an area of importance in ancient times almost unequalled throughout the British Isles. In the first millennium of the Christian era, the south of Argyll became the heart of Celtic Christianity and its missionaries influenced the whole of Scotland. It was also the cradle of a nation as the kings of Dalriada pushed east to create a united kingdom of Scotland. It is an area which is more geographically accessible than northern Argyll, but in the past that access was achieved more often by water than over land. Only the drovers pushed their black cattle through passes in the spines of rolling hills which mark each of its many peninsulas. Settlements arose where there was fertile land, access to a generous sea, a need for strategic protection - and sometimes all three. Price: £6.99 Publication: August 1, 2004

Argyll books: Art & Culture

Argyll These books are not simply pictures of what we can see from our car window, nor simply misty landscapes but photography which gets to the heart of both the landscape and its human component. While covering all the main attractions in an area the photographers have sought out the quirky, the curious and the unknown to give a new dimension to a land we all thought we knew. Argyll - the enduring heartland - with a coastline longer than that of France is one of the most beautiful counties in Scotland and also one of the most varied. From holiday towns on the Clyde to the stark grandeur of Ardnamurchan, from the great inland sea of Loch Awe to the flat plain of the Add - the Great Moss, its range of scenery is astonishing. The seat of the reputed Dark Age capital of the Kingdom of Scots, of romantic castles such as Stalker and Kilchurn, of great houses such as Inveraray, it is a landscape moulded by man from earliest times. This is the first photographic study to concentrate on a county which in many ways remains still a kingdom apart. Price: £9.99 Publication: July 2005

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