PORTNAHAVEN, a port and quoad sacra parish (for a time),
in the parish of Kilchoman, district of
IsLAY, county of Argyll, 18 miles (S. W. by W.) from
Bowmore; containing 1271 inhabitants. This place was
separated from Kilchoman for ecclesiastical purposes,
and erected into a quoad sacra parish, after the building
of a church here by parliamentary grant, for the accommodation
of the inhabitants in this distant part of the
parish. The district comprises about 5000 acres, of
which one-half are in tillage or in pasture. The village
is situated at the southern extremity of the Rhinns of
Islay, opposite to the islands of Chenzie and Noarsa,
from which it is divided by a narrow firth. Its inhabitants
are employed during the autumn in the fisheries,
and at other times in agriculture; the fish taken here
are cod, ling, and coal-fish, which they cure, and send
in great quantities to the Irish markets. The port is
accessible to vessels of considerable burthen, but only
during favourable weather, the swell of the Atlantic at
other times rendering it unsafe: a lighthouse was erected
on the isle of Noarsa, in 1824, by the Commissioners of
Northern Lights. A good road has been constructed
by the parliamentary commissioners from this place to
Bridgend; and it is there connected with another to
Portaskaig, previously made at the sole expense of Walter
Campbell, Esq. Together they afford an easy communication
from the south to the north of the island of
Islay. Ecclesiastically Portnahaven is within the limits
of the presbytery of Islay and Jura, synod of Argyll;
and the patronage is vested in the Crown: the stipend
of the minister is £120, with a manse, and a glebe
valued at £8 per annum. A parochial school has been lately
endowed by government.