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Rothesay ( ; ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Wemyss Bay, which also offers an onward Rail transport link to Glasgow Central Station. At the centre of the town is the 13th-century ruin Rothesay Castle, unique in Scotland for its circular plan.
Rothesay was the county town in the civil parish of Rothesay, which was located in the former county of Bute. The county historically included the islands of Great Cumbrae, Little Cumbrae and Arran. Rothesay Town Hall and County Buildings overlooks the castle.
During the Victorian era, Rothesay became a popular tourist destination. In particular, it was hugely popular with Glasgow going "doon the watter" (literally “down the water” – a reference to the waters of the Firth of Clyde). Its wooden pier was busy with Steamboat traffic. It was home to one of Scotland's many hydropathic establishments, which were in vogue at the time. It also had an electric , the Rothesay and Ettrick Bay Light Railway, which ran across the whole island of Bute and carried passengers to one of the island's largest beaches (the tramway closed in the mid-1930s).
A war memorial designed by Pilkington Jackson was erected in 1922. The Winter Gardens building, erected in 1923, was a centre of many activities in Rothesay in the mid-20th century, hosting some of the best-known music hall entertainers of the day. Rothesay Pavilion, opened in 1938, was another popular attraction. It was an example of International Modernist style architecture, and was designed by the Ayr architect, James Andrew Carrick. Although it later fell into disrepair, it remains a major landmark on the seafront today, and is currently undergoing a complete restoration.
During World War II, Rothesay Bay was the home port of , which was the depot ship for the 7th Submarine Flotilla and the training facility for virtually all the British submariners who served during the war. In 1941 and 1942, the Officer Concentration Station Rothesay was also located here.
By the 1960s, Rothesay's heyday as a tourist mecca had largely ended. Inexpensive foreign had become more popular with UK residents. The Winter Gardens building was closed and lay in disuse for decades. However, it was redeveloped in the 1990s, and is now open as a tourist information and exhibition centre.
Once Robert III had conferred this title on his son, the title continued to be given to every heir of the Scottish throne thereafter. Following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the heir to the British throne was always also formally considered “heir to the Scottish throne” and so acquired the title.
Unlike the title's England equivalent (Duke of Cornwall), the title Duke of Rothesay does not come with any land attached to it in the form of a Duchy. That is because control of the land was instead given to Robert III's half-brother and to the latter's descendants, who acquired the title Marquess of Bute in the 18th century. The current marquess remains the main landlord of the island; his principal seat, Mount Stuart, lies a few miles to the south of Rothesay Castle.
In August 2018, the Donald Campbell Bluebird hydroplane held trials on Loch Fad. It was the first time the vehicle had been in the water since it was recovered from Coniston Water in the Lake District and restored after the 1967 accident in which Campbell was killed.
The town has an amateur football club, Rothesay Brandane A.F.C. (nicknamed " The Danes".) It was founded in 1946. They played in the Scottish Amateur Football League starting in 1947, reached the semi-final of the Scottish Amateur Cup in 1948–49, and won the league in both the 1963–64 and 2000–01 seasons. In 2004, they transferred into the Caledonian Amateur Football League Division 2, and, having won promotion after the 2007–08 season, they currently play in Division 1. They also had a youth team for ages 15 and under, called the Rothesay Brandane Rovers. (In the 19th century, the town had a different football club called the Bute Rangers F.C., which competed for the Scottish Cup.)
The Bute County Cricket Club plays in the Cricket Scotland.
The island has three : the 18-hole Rothesay Golf Club is on the outskirts of the town; the 9-hole Bute Golf Course is near the sands of Stravannan Bay on the west coast of the island; and the 13-hole Port Bannatyne Golf Club sits on the hills behind the town. There are also two putting greens on the town's seafront.
The town hosts the High School of Glasgow rugby camp every summer.
For Bowls enthusiasts, Bute boasts four greens: Ardbeg, Craigmore, Kingarth and Rothesay. The oldest of them, Rothesay Bowling Club, was established in the 1860s. The Bute Bowling Association runs many local club competitions. It also runs an open tournament each August, in which both ladies and gentlemen may compete; as of 2014, that tournament was in its 57th year.
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