Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Lannraig, Scots: Lanrikshire) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically, Lanarkshire was the most populous county in Scotland and, in earlier times, had considerably greater boundaries, including neighbouring Renfrewshire until 1402. In modern times, it was bounded to the north by Stirlingshire and a detached portion of Dunbartonshire, to the northeast by Stirlingshire, West Lothian, to the east by Peeblesshire, to the southeast and south by Dumfriesshire, to the southwest by Dumfriesshire and Ayrshire and to the west by Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire.

Lanarkshire was historically divided between two administrative areas then, in the mid-18th century, was divided again into three wards: the upper, middle and lower wards with their administrative centres at Lanark, Hamilton and Glasgow respectively and remained this way until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. Other significant settlements include East Kilbride, Motherwell, Airdrie, Coatbridge, Blantyre, Cambuslang, Rutherglen and Wishaw.