List of counties of Scotland 1890-1975

This is a list of counties of Scotland created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 and abolished in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The list includes the county town, area, and population density.

The area figure is the closest approximation from the currently available data to that of the county at the time of the 1971 census, from which the population data is taken.

Contents

Counties

County County town[1] Alternative forms and Gaelic name Area (acres)[2] Area (km²)[3] Population[4] Population Density (per km2)[5]
Inverness-shire Inverness 2695094 10915.13 89655 8.21
Argyllshire Lochgilphead Argyll, Argyle, Earra-Ghaidheal 2067034[6] 8364.98 59777 7.15
Ross and Cromarty Dingwall Ross-shire 1977254 8007.88 58284 7.28
Perthshire[7] Perth 1586577[8] 6425.63 127104 19.78
Sutherland Dornoch[9] 1297914 5276.07 13055 2.47
Aberdeenshire Aberdeen 1246585[10] 5172.55 150703[11] 29.14
Ayrshire Ayr 724239[12] 2930.95 361248 123.25
Dumfriesshire Dumfries 688067[13] 2784.56 88215 31.68
Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbright The Stewartry 574024 2324.79 27369 11.77
Angus Forfar Forfarshire 540352[14] 2186.77 97312 44.50
Lanarkshire Hamilton (historically Lanark) 535605[15] 2169.20 626787 288.95
Caithness Wick Gallaibh 438833 1775.93 27792 15.65
Roxburghshire Historically Jedburgh. According to Keay (1994) the county town was Newtown St Boswells. The County Offices had moved there in 1899.[16] However, the county town is usually listed as Jedburgh, e.g. in Encyclopedia II op cit and [17] 425564 1725.24 41960 24.32
Banffshire Banff 403054 1631.14 43500 26.67
Zetland Lerwick Shetland, Sealltainn, Hjaltiland c.352337[18] 142585[19] 17331 12.15
Fife Cupar Fifeshire, Fiobha 322878 1306.67 327126 250.35
Wigtownshire Wigtown The Shire 311984 1262.58 27337 21.65
Moray[20] Elgin Morayshire, Elginshire, Moireabh 304931 1234.97 51502 41.70
Berwickshire Duns (anciently Berwick-upon-Tweed, hence county's name) 292535[18] 1183.84 20778 17.55
Stirlingshire Stirling 288349 1166.90 208958 179.07
Kincardineshire Stonehaven The Mearns, A' Mhaoirne 244428[21] 98993 26066 26.33
Orkney Kirkwall Arcaibh, Orkneyjar c.240848[18] 934.67[22] 17082 18.28
Peeblesshire Peebles 222240 90007 13675 15.19
Midlothian Edinburgh Edinburghshire 203354[23] 823.58 142213 172.68
Selkirkshire Selkirk 171209[24] 692.85 20868 30.12
East Lothian Haddington Haddingtonshire 171044[25] 692.73 55908 80.71
Dunbartonshire Dumbarton Dumbartonshire 154467[26] 625.11 237540 380.00
Renfrewshire Renfrew 143829[18] 578.00 362130 626.52
Bute Rothesay 139711[18] 565.39 13309 23.54
Nairnshire[20] Nairn 104251 422.21 11050 26.17
West Lothian Linlithgow Linlithgowshire 76859[18] 311.03 108484 348.79
Kinross-shire[7] Kinross 52025[27] 210.70 6423 30.48
Clackmannanshire Alloa 34838 140.99 45544 323.03

Cities

Traditionally cities were parts of larger counties. Edinburgh was in Midlothian, Aberdeen in Aberdeenshire, and Glasgow in Lanarkshire (although parts of greater Glasgow extended into other counties, e.g. Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire.

County County town[1] Alternative forms and Gaelic name Area (acres)[2] Area (km²)[28] Population[29] Population Density (per km2)[30]
City of Glasgow Glasgow Glaschu, Glesca, Glasgie 34647[18] 140.21 897484 6401.00
City of Edinburgh Edinburgh Dun Eideann, Embra, Edina, Dunedin, Auld Reekie 32415[18] 131.17 453585 3457.99
City of Dundee Dundee Dun De 12229[18] 49.48 182204 3682.33
City of Aberdeen Aberdeen Obar Dheathain, Aiberdein 16715[31] 67.64 182071 2691.77

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Keay & Keay (1994).
  2. ^ a b Keay & Keay (1994) unless otherwise stated.
  3. ^ Keay & Keay (1994) in cases where the area is provided by this author. Otherwise the figure is a calculation based on the assumed area.
  4. ^ United Kingdom 1971 Census
  5. ^ Calculated from 1971 Census data and 'Area'.
  6. ^ Argyllshire is reduced to a land area of 1,990,521 acres (8055.35 km²) if "waters, marsh and foreshore" are excluded from the total.
  7. ^ a b Perth and Kinross were administered as a "combined county" from 1930-1975.
  8. ^ Reduced from 1,595,804 acres (6,457.99 km2) in 1951.
  9. ^ According to Keay (1994) Dornoch was generally 'considered' to be the county town of Sutherland, although the council offices were in Golspie.
  10. ^ Possibly reduced from 1,263,300 acres (5,112 km2) in 1951 but see 'City of Aberdeen' below).
  11. ^ "Aberdeenshire District: Total Population" A Vision of Britain. Retrieved 27 December 2007.
  12. ^ Increased from 724,232 acres (2,930.86 km2) in 1951.
  13. ^ Reduced from 688,111 acres (2,784.69 km2) in 1951.
  14. ^ Reduced from 546,775 acres (2,212.72 km2) in 1951.
  15. ^ Reduced from 535,862 acres (2,168.56 km2) in 1951.
  16. ^ "Overview of Jedburgh". Gazetteer for Scotland. The Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh. http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst234.html. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  17. ^ "Carnegie Libraries" scotcities.com Retrieved 26 December 2007.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i The areas for Berwickshire, Bute, Orkney, Renfrewshire, West Lothian and Zetland and the three cities are not provided by Keay (1994) and the figures used are from the 1951 census.
  19. ^ The current figure for Orkney Islands Council is 1,466 km2 for the same geographical area.
  20. ^ a b Moray and Nairn were administered as a "combined county" from 1930-1975.
  21. ^ Reduced from 242,460 acres (981.2 km2) in 1951.
  22. ^ The current figure for Orkney Islands Council is 990 km² for the same geographical area.
  23. ^ Increased from 201,922 acres (817.15 km2) in 1951.
  24. ^ Keay (1994) provides the figure of 121,240 acres (490.6 km2). This is probably a typographical error for 171,240 acres (693.0 km2). For example, the 1976 World Book has a figure of 695 km2 for the county. The 1951 Census figure is used in this column.
  25. ^ Increased from 170,971 acres (691.90 km2) in 1951.
  26. ^ Increased from 154,362 acres (624.68 km2) in 1951.
  27. ^ Reduced from 52,392 acres (212.02 km2) in 1951.
  28. ^ Keay & Keay (1994) in cases where the area is provided by this author. Otherwise the figure is a calculation based on the assumed area.
  29. ^ United Kingdom 1971 Census
  30. ^ Calculated from 1971 Census data and 'Area'.
  31. ^ Neither Keay (1994) or Vision of Britain offer a specific statistic. However the latter records a total area of 1,263,300 acres (5,112 km2) for 'Aberdeen'. This is clearly inclusive of Aberdeenshire, which elsewhere in the same database recorded as having an area of 1,246,585 acres (5,044.75 km2). The figure recorded here is the difference between the two. In general terms this is consistent with the Vision of Britain maps for the area.

References