Port Bannatyne

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Port Bannatyne is a coastal village on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. It is a popular harbour for yachts.

It is approximately 2 miles north of Rothesay and 6 miles from Rhubodach.

[edit] History

Port Bannatyne started in 1801 with the building of a small harbour on Kames Bay. It was created by the Bannatynes of Kames as a planned village in an attempt to rival Rothesay. Initially known as Kamesburgh, by the mid 1800s steamers were calling there regularly.

In 1860 the Marquess of Bute purchased this part of the island and renamed the village Port Bannatyne in honour of the long historical association of the Bannatyne family with the area and the nearby Kames Castle, which lies on the western outskirts of the village.

In 1879 a narrow gauge horse drawn tram linked Port Bannatyne with Rothesay. This was electrified and extended across the island to Ettrick Bay in 1902.^[1]

In the Second World War midget submarines exercised in the bay and nearby Loch Striven.^[2]

Port Bannatyne developed into the 1900s as a quieter alternative to Rothesay. Boat building became an important local industry, and in the 1920s an unusual 13 hole golf course was opened.

Today Port Bannatyne remains a quiet alternative to Rothesay. The village's focus was the stone pier mid-way along the south shore of Kames Bay, but in 2005 work was started on the new yacht marina which has grown from a small boatyard to a stonebuilt seawall enclosure to part of the bay, shortly to moor hundreds of vessels.