Churches (continued)

Kilberry Parish Church
Kilberry Parish Church ground is linked with Tarbert Parish Church, and is a small Georgian style category B listed building dating back to 1821. The church itself is set in farming and forestry surroundings and is situated 12 miles from Tarbert, and 4 miles short of Kilberry.

St. Brendan's Church
St Brendan's Church is a small country church, designed by Bertram Vaughan Johnson around 1896–7. It is C listed. It has walls of local grey stone with red sandstone margins. The east gable is ornamented with a small Celtic cross. The lancet windows have leaded lights. It is situated beside the Skipness River, within sight of the sea, and the end of the first section of the Kintyre Way. It is 13 miles from Tarbert, with magnificent views of the Arran hills. It is linked with Tarbert Parish Church.

Old Free Church
The Free Church congregation in Tarbert dates from 1843, when the Free Church broke away from the Church of Scotland in a long-running dispute over landowners appointing ministers to parishes against the wishes of the congregations. Many landowners were hostile to the new church because of this and the local lairds, the Campbells of Stonefield, refused to allow the new congregation to meet in any building or barn on their land. As a result, the congregation met for two winters in the local graveyard. When, eventually, a site for a church was obtained, against the laird's wishes, he then refused to allow the congregation to use the stone from his quarries. However, the congregation who were mostly fishermen, decided to cut the stone themselves on the other side of the loch, and carry it back to Tarbert in boats. A church was then built to the rear of the present day Anchor Hotel. At the same time, teachers who joined the Free Church were dismissed from the parish schools, and so the congregation set up its own school. This was handed over to the School Board in 1872 and the building, now enlarged many times over, is the present day Tarbert Academy.

The Free Church
By the 1880s, sites were no longer a problem, and it was decided that a much bigger church was needed. Legend has it that Sir William MacKinnon, founder of the British India Steam Navigation Company, offered to provide a larger building for the Free Church, which had just been built in Clachan, but ironically, this offer was turned down as it did not have a steeple. In 1896 the present church was opened with seating for 700, complete with a steeple, which rose to a height of 110 feet. There were 3 services each Sunday; two in English, and one in Gaelic with many people attending all three. The steeple, however, was constructed from red sandstone, and suffered from water ingress. Tragically, a local tradesman was killed when he fell while trying to repair it. In the interwar years, it was decided to remove the upper part of the steeple, and finally, in the 1950s, the remainder. Today, the congregation is smaller, with Gaelic services long discontinued. The tradition of singing psalms unaccompanied, which many people associate with the Free Church, is still maintained, but hymns and musical instruments now form part of the congregation's weekly worship.

The United Free Church
The United Free sometimes called the ‘Established Church’ in Church Street, built in 1908, has a modest Arts and Crafts gabled nave by Alexander Cullen of Hamilton and is now a private dwelling. This church is now a private dwelling.