![]() ![]() It is still possible to experience a traditional day out on the PS Waverley which operates from both Glasgow and Ayr during the summer. Today most visitors are daytrippers, mostly due to the growth of foreign package holidays in the 1960s. Tourism grew in the 20th century, and Millport became a popular stop for Clyde steamers and families going ‘Doon the Watter for the Fair’ (Glasgow Fair holidays). In 1999 the final feudal landowner, Le Mans winner Johnny Dumfries, now Bute, of Mount Stuart House, put the island up for general sale, with first refusal given to his farmer tenants. Ballochmartin Bay and Portrye (derived from Gaelic elements meaning “king’s harbour”) are suggested locations for the Norwegian-anchorage.įor many centuries the island was under shared ownership, with the Marquess of Bute in the west and the Earl of Glasgow in the east. In 1263, Haakon IV, King of Norway, may have used the eastern coast of the island as an anchorage for his fleet, before the inconclusive Battle of Largs. The Cathedral of the Isles is reputed to have been built on the site where St Mirin preached. Legend has it that St Mirin, on his return to Scotland from Ireland around AD 710, arrived in Cumbrae and, following the example of St Patrick, rid the island of snakes. The island has been inhabited since the end of the last ice age.
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