Southend (, ) is the main settlement at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies south of Campbeltown, the main town in the area. The civil parish of Southend comprises the village and the surrounding land, used mainly for farming and forestry. The population of the parish is 497.
History
The village is located beside Dunaverty Bay, which at one end has a rocky promontory called Dunaverty Rock, where Dunaverty Castle was located. Historically the local inhabitants may be first mentioned by Ptolemy as the Epidii (horse people), whose main town may have been named later in the Ravenna Cosmography as Rauatonium. During the early medieval period Dunaverty became the location where Saint Columba first set foot in Scotland. Above the cemetery at Keil are two carved human footprints (Petrosomatoglyphs) similar to that seen at Dunadd, now called Columba's Footprints. Here it is claimed Columba first preached on Scottish soil, after being banished from Ireland.
The Annals of Ulster report a siege in 712 by king Sealbach of Dalriada, confirming the importance of Dunaverty Rock as a fortified centre of power. Robert the Bruce sheltered at the castle, which changed hands many times in the later medieval period. During the Dunaverty Massacre of 1647 the Catholic MacDonalds were burned alive in their stronghold at Dunaverty Castle.
Modern Southend
John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll developed the village as "Newton Argyll" in the late 18th century.
Within Southend parish there are St Blaan's church, Southend primary school, a GP's surgery, Dunaverty Hall (the new village hall with a football pitch and children's swing park), Dunaverty Golf Club's well-maintained and affordable 18-hole links course, Machribeg caravan park and camp-site, the Argyll Arms Hotel, the listed Art Deco Keil Hotel, the historic ruin of Keil School, Keil caves,
During the 61 years of operation it was home to three different lifeboats:
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| 1869–1888