argyll-1971/01-045

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : GENERAL

The shores rise, in places steeply, to a hinterland of hills showing no very regular pattern.
The highest, Beinn an Tuirc (455 m) with Beinn Bhreac (426 m) and one or two others which
top 400 m, are grouped somewhat south of the mid-point of the peninsula, overlooking
Carradale; another high group, with Cnoc Moy (446 m) and Beinn na Lice (428 m), overlooks
the west coast of the terminal block; and in the north Cnoc a' Bhaile-shìos (422 m) stands
half-way between Tarbert and Skipness. Many of the other summits rise to between 250 m
and 350 m, and between them there extend peat-covered slopes and levels, with a sprinkling of
lochs and bogs. The bulk of the drainage runs eastwards, the larger burns occupying valleys
of pre-glacial origin which were once, no doubt, tributary to a main channel in what is now
Kilbrannan Sound; the Barr and Clachaig Waters fall into the Atlantic Ocean, and the
Conieglen and Breackcrie Waters go south to the North Channel. Between 10 km and 13 km
from Tarbert the peninsula is crossed by a wide saddle, with a greatest elevation of only
127 m; and the southern terminal block is cut off from the rest by a major topographical
division, made up, on the west, by the Machrihanish flats and mosses, and on the east by the
deep indentation of Campbeltown Loch.
Nearly the whole of the peninsula north of a line between Machrihanish and Campbeltown
is formed of Dalradian Schists, as is also the south-west part of the terminal block. A belt of
epidotic schists, possibly representing metamorphosed basic igneous rocks and tuffs, parallels
West Loch Tarbert, about 2 km inland, from Tarbert to beyond Whitehouse, and another
stretch of them appears west of Beinn an Tuirc. Small intrusions of basalt are common all
through the schist. A short distance north of the Machrihanish flats, themselves underlain by
blown sand and recent alluvium, some metamorphic limestone appears, with basalt of
Carboniferous age; and immediately south-west of the flats further Carboniferous formations,
which have been worked for coal. The eastern part of the terminal block is mainly of Old
Red Sandstone, with some Dalradian Schist. Boulder-clay is spread all over the lower ground,
in some glens to considerable depth.
While the bulk of the interior is peat-covered, and classified as rough grazing by the Land
Survey of 1925, areas of arable ground interspersed with grassland are found at the mouths
and on the lower-lying flanks of the valleys, as well as in some coastal bays and on the gentler
seaward slopes. The chief arable areas are marked on the Land Survey map as occupying the
low ground west and south-west of Campbeltown, thence northwards along the west coast to
beyond Tayinloan and in the Barr and Clachaig glens, in lower Glen Lussa, sporadically beside
the seaward part of West Loch Tarbert, on the Claonaig Water and behind the village of
Skipness. This distribution, however, is considerably influenced by physical and climatic
conditions, and not simply by the nature of the soil.
The climate 1 in general tends towards mildness and humidity, rainfall varying with eleva-
tion. The driest region, with Jess than 1270 mm (50 in.) per annum, is a narrow strip on the
west coast, between Whitehouse and Machrihanish, including the Machrihanish flats and the
low-lying farmland south of them. At Largie, in this strip, the wettest month is October (150
mm or 5.90 in.) and the driest April and June (72 mm or 2.85 in.). Another narrow strip with
less than 1270 mm (50 in.) borders the south coast from near Southend to Ru Stafnish. By

1 For the following data the Commisioners are indebted to the Superintendent of the Meteorological Office, Edinburgh.

2