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User:Morwen/counties of Scotland

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Scotland was, until 1975, divided into counties for the purposes of local government and other government functions such as the lieutenancy. The counties originated prior to the Union with England, and continued as both administrative and ceremonial units until their abolition in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, when they were replaced with regions and districts and the areas for Lieutenancy.

The counties remained in use as postal counties until 1996; now their main use is traditional, with official usage limited to the Land Registry. Some of the names have been revived for the post-1996 council areas.

Original counties

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The original counties were as follows:

Counties of Scotland until 1889
  1. Caithness
  2. Sutherland
  3. Ross-shire
  4. Cromartyshire
  5. Inverness-shire
  6. Nairnshire
  7. Morayshire
  8. Banffshire
  9. Aberdeenshire
  10. Kincardineshire
  11. Angus
  12. Perthshire
  13. Argyll
  14. Bute
  15. Ayrshire
  16. Renfrewshire
  17. Dunbartonshire
  18. Stirlingshire
  1. Clackmannanshire
  2. Kinross-shire
  3. Fife
  4. West Lothian
  5. Mid Lothian
  6. East Lothian
  7. Berwickshire
  8. Roxburghshire
  9. Dumfriesshire
  10. Kirkcudbrightshire
  11. Wigtownshire
  12. Lanarkshire
  13. Selkirkshire
  14. Peeblesshire
Not shown:
Shetland Islands
Orkney Islands

It may be noted that the map depicts a large number of exclaves of counties, physically detatched from the county that they were politically deemed to be part of. Cromarty-shire is particularly fragmentary, and its borders were achieved as late as 1685.

Counties from 1890s

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The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established county councils in Scotland. Unlike in England and Wales, where corresponding legislation created new entities called administrative counties, the Act amended the existing counties, including merging Ross-shire and Cromartyshire into Ross and Cromarty, and set up a boundary commission to make further changes as necessary. The only significant exclave left was the part of Dunbartonshire between Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire.

Counties of Scotland from the 1890s to 1975
  1. Caithness
  2. Sutherland
  3. Ross and Cromarty
  4. Inverness-shire
  5. Nairnshire
  6. Morayshire
  7. Banffshire
  8. Aberdeenshire
  9. Kincardineshire
  10. Angus
  11. Perthshire
  12. Argyll
  13. Bute
  14. Ayrshire
  15. Renfrewshire
  16. Dunbartonshire
  17. Stirlingshire
  1. Clackmannanshire
  2. Kinross-shire
  3. Fife
  4. East Lothian
  5. Mid Lothian
  6. West Lothian
  7. Lanarkshire
  8. Peeblesshire
  9. Selkirkshire
  10. Berwickshire
  11. Roxburghshire
  12. Dumfriesshire
  13. Kirkcudbrightshire
  14. Wigtownshire
Not shown:
Shetland
Orkney