County
The county, also known as Invernessshire, or Siorrachd Inbhir Nis in Gaelic, acquired a county council in 1890, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, and, under the same legislation, boundaries were altered to make the county a single contiguous area (except, of course, for island areas of the county).
Although the new boundaries were supposed to be valid for all purposes (unlike earlier boundaries, which were really default boundaries and not necessarily those used for any particular purpose), the burgh of Inverness, the burgh of Fort William, and the burgh of Kingussie, which had their own town councils, retained autonomous status and were generally beyond the writ of the new county council. The town of Inverness had been established as a royal burgh since the mid 12th century, Fort William, originally a Fort of that name built by the Government to keep the Highlanders in their place, around which grew up a village which became in turn Gordonsburgh, Maryburgh, Duncansburgh and laterly the town/burgh of Fort William which had been established as a burgh of barony since 1618 and Kingussie had been established as a burgh of barony since 1464. Also, use of the new boundaries for parliamentary elections was specifically excluded.
The Boundary Commissioners for Scotland, a body created by the 1889 act, transferred part of the parish of Cawder and part of the parish of Croy and Dalcross from the county of Inverness to the county of Nairn, part of the parish of Petty and two parts of the parish of Daviot and Dunlichty from the parish county of Nairn to the county of Inverness, part of the parish of Kilmallie and part of the parish of Small Isles from the county of Argyll to the county of Inverness, and part of the parish of Kilmorack from the county of Inverness to the county of Ross and Cromarty. Thus the county of Inverness covered a large mainland area and various island areas off the west coast. The mainland area had coastline in both the east and the west and included the towns of Kingussie, Fort William, and Mallaig. The island areas included North Uist, South Uist and Harris in the Outer Hebrides and Skye and the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides. The county had neighbouring counties as follow: Ross and Cromarty to the north, Nairn, Moray, Banff and Aberdeen to the east and Perth and Argyll to the south.
In 1972, the Isle of Rockall Act was passed, formally incorporating the tiny island of Rockall into Scotland as part of the Isle of Harris, Inverness-shire. Harris is now within Na h-Eileanan Siar, formerly known as the Western Isles local government area.
Read more about this topic: Inverness (boundaries)
Famous quotes containing the word county:
“Hold hard, my county darlings, for a hawk descends,
Golden Glamorgan straightens, to the falling birds.
Your sport is summer as the spring runs angrily.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“I believe the citizens of Marion County and the United States want to have judges who have feelings and who are human beings.”
—Paula Lopossa, U.S. judge. As quoted in the New York Times, p. B9 (May 21, 1993)
“It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat—at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)