The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and

registration county A registration county was, in Great Britain and Ireland, a statistical unit used for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and for the output of census information. In Scotland registration counties are used for land registration pur ...

in eastern Scotland, administered as part of

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland ...

since 1930. Surrounding its largest settlement and

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Kinross Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinross's origins are c ...

, the county borders

Perthshire Perthshire ( locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the nort ...

to the north and

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

to the east, south and west. Scotland's second smallest county, Kinross-shire is dominated by

Loch Leven Loch Leven may refer to: ;Bodies of water in Scotland * Loch Leven (Kinross), a freshwater loch in Perth and Kinross ** Loch Leven Castle, a fortress on the loch ** William Douglas of Lochleven, later the 6th Earl of Morton * Loch Leven (Highlands ...

, a large inland

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spell ...

, with two islands and an internationally important

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

. One of the islands contains a castle, where

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

was once held prisoner. Much of the land in Kinross-shire is fertile agricultural land and most of the inhabitants were originally employed in farming. The gently-rolling farmland surrounding Loch Leven gives way to steep, more rugged terrain at the outskirts of the county.

History

Kinross-shire Offices and War Memorial (geograph 2406703)

The

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

sheriffdom A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland, led by a sheriff principal. Since 1 January 1975, there have been six sheriffdoms. Each sheriffdom is divided into a series of sheriff court districts, and each sheriff court is presided over by a r ...

of Kinross was formed in the thirteenth century when the two parishes of Kinross and Orwell were removed from the

Fothriff Fothriff or Fothrif was a province of Scotland in the Middle Ages. It is often paired with Fife, not only in ''De Situ Albanie'', but also in early charters. The exact extent of early Fothriff is unclear, but in around 1300 the Deanery of Fothri ...

area of Fife. Cleish,

Portmoak Portmoak is a parish in Kinross-shire, Scotland. It consists of a group of settlements running north to south: Glenlomond, Wester Balgedie, Easter Balgedie, Kinnesswood, Kilmagadwood and Scotlandwell. The name derives from the Port of St ...

and Tullibole were added by

act of parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

in 1685. As

local government in Scotland Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as councils. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning. Councils receive the major ...

evolved, Kinross-shire gained a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

in 1890, which was later amalgamated with Perth County Council under the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo 5 c. 25) reorganised local government in Scotland from 1930, introducing joint county councils, large and small burghs and district councils. The Act also abolished the Scottish poor law syst ...

. Kinross County Council was based at County Buildings, Kinross. The county suffered a decline in population in the 19th and 20th centuries, as its inhabitants migrated to the cities to find work in manufacturing, etc. The population in 1891 was 6,673; in 1971 it was 6,423. The decline was hastened by the closure of the railways in the county soon after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. However, in recent years, construction of the M90 motorway north of the Forth Road Bridge has resulted in the area becoming more prominent. Tourism has increased, with visitors attracted by the unspoiled country villages and gently rolling hills reaching the shores of Loch Leven. The villages of Kinnesswood and

Scotlandwell Scotlandwell is a village in Portmoak, Kinross-shire, Scotland. It is within the Perth and Kinross council area. It lies to the east of Loch Leven, at the junction of the A977 and B920 roads, approximately west of Glenrothes and east of Kin ...

are attractive, and there are ancient standing stones at Orwell. The

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused B ...

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

was held in Balado from 1993 to 2014. The economic outlook of Kinross-shire has improved and was recorded in 2009 as having an estimated population of 12,997. In addition, it outperformed both the Perth and Kinross area and Scotland averages in economic performance. The area is promoted by the Kinross-shire Partnership, a body bringing together local government, tourist organisations and local organisations.

Geography

Kinross-shire is landlocked and is generally flat, except in the north-west where the

Ochil Hills The Ochil Hills (; gd, Monadh Ochail is a range of hills in Scotland north of the Forth valley bordered by the towns of Stirling, Alloa, Kinross, Auchterarder and Perth. The only major roads crossing the hills pass through Glen Devon/ Gle ...

are located, and along the southern boundary where the

Cleish Hills Cleish is a rural hamlet off the B9097 between Crook of Devon and the M90 motorway, three miles south-west of Kinross in central Scotland. It lies in the historic county of Kinross-shire. At the last census (2011), the population of the civil ...

can be found. The Ochils contain Innerdouny Hill, Kinross-shire's highest point at 497 m (1,631 ft). The most notable geographic feature of the county is

which is also an important nature reserve; there are also several islands within the loch, the largest of which is St Serf's Inch (the others are Alice's Bower, Castle Island, Reed Bower, Roy's Folly and Scart Island). A much smaller body of water – the Arnot Reservoir – is located to the east of Loch Leven. On the far northern border a portion of the Glenfarg Reservoir lies within the county.

Subdivisions

Burgh of Kinross

Kinross-shire contained only one burgh, Kinross. The burgh was originally created a

burgh of barony A burgh of barony was a type of Scottish town ( burgh). Burghs of barony were distinct from royal burghs, as the title was granted to a landowner who, as a tenant-in-chief, held his estates directly from the crown. (In some cases, they might also ...

in 1540/1 and became a burgh of regality in 1685. In 1864 it became a police burgh with an elected town council. It continued to exist until 1975.

Civil parishes

The county was anciently divided into a number of parishes: Cleish, Orwell (containing the market town of Milnathort), Kinross and Portmoak were entirely in Kinross-shire. The parishes of Arngask, Fossoway, Tulliebole and

Forgandenny Forgandenny (Scottish Gaelic ''Forgrann Eithne'', 'Over-Bog of Eithne' n ancient female Gaelic name is a small village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, located four miles south of Perth, Scotland, Perth. Perth is a 20-minute bus ride from Forg ...

were partly in Perthshire. From 1845 they were used for local government purposes and governed by parochial boards. The

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland. In this it foll ...

created a boundary commission to ensure that all civil parishes lay within a single county. After the boundary changes the county contained five parishes: Fossoway (No. 1 on map), Orwell (2), Kinross (3), Portmoak (4) and Cleish (5). From 1894 elected parish councils replaced the parochial boards. These in turn were abolished in 1930, and the powers they had exercised passed to the county council. Parishes continue to be used today for statistical purposes, though they no longer have any administrative function.

Settlements

* Carnbo *

Cleish Cleish is a rural hamlet off the B9097 between Crook of Devon and the M90 motorway, three miles south-west of Kinross in central Scotland. It lies in the historic county of Kinross-shire. At the last census (2011), the population of the civil ...

Crook of Devon Crook of Devon is a village within the parish of Fossoway in Kinross-shire about west of Kinross on the A977 road. Its name derives from the nearly 180-degree turn, from generally eastwards to generally westwards and resembling the shape of a s ...

* Dalqueich * Drunzie *

Duncrievie Duncrievie () is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies approximately north of Kinross, to the west of the M90 motorway, south of Glenfarg Glenfarg (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Fairg) is a village in the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinro ...

Glenfarg Glenfarg (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Fairg) is a village in the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Until 14 June 1964, the village had a railway station, Glenfarg railway station, on the main line between Perth and Edinburgh via Kinross. ...

* Glenlomond * Kinnesswood *

Milnathort Milnathort is a small town in the parish of Orwell in the county of Kinross-shire, Scotland and since 1996, the local council area of Perth and Kinross. The smaller neighbour of nearby Kinross, Milnathort has a population of around 2,000 peopl ...

* Stronachie * Tillyrie Jolly Beggars, Milnathort - geograph

Transport

Kinross-shire is bisected north–south by the

M90 motorway The M90 is a motorway in Scotland. It runs from Junction 1A of the M9 motorway, south of the Queensferry Crossing, to Perth. It is the northernmost motorway in the United Kingdom. The northern point goes to the western suburbs of Perth at ...

, which links Kinross to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in the north and

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Acco ...

in the south. The A911 enables west to east travel across the county. There are no train stations; previously there was one at Kinross however this is no longer open.

Parliamentary constituency

Historic

From 1426 the county returned one member to the

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

United Kingdom parliament

Following the Act of Union, Kinross-shire returned members to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in Westminster. Due to its small population, it was never a constituency in its own right: instead it alternated with Clackmannanshire, a member being returned for one county at one parliament and for the other at the next. The Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832 merged the two counties into a single constituency, Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire. In 1918, House of Commons seats were redistributed, and Kinross-shire was combined with part of Perthshire to form the constituency of Kinross and Western Perthshire. This constituency continued in existence until 1983.

Coat of arms

The Kinross County Council received a grant of arms from

Lord Lyon King of Arms The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants ...

on 18 May 1927. The arms depict

Loch Leven Castle Lochleven Castle is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven, in the Perth and Kinross local authority area of Scotland. Possibly built around 1300, the castle was the site of military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–13 ...

. The motto adopted was "for all time": at the time of the grant the county council was campaigning to retain its independence from its larger neighbour Perthshire. When

District Council was granted arms in 1977, the Kinross-shire arms were placed on an ''inescutcheon'', or small shield, in the centre of the new arms.R.M. Urquhart, ''Scottish Civic Heraldry'', London, 1979 These arms continue in use by the current Perth and Kinross Council.

Places of interest

Cleish Castle Cleish Castle is a 16th-century tower house in Kinross-shire, Scotland. It is sited south-west of Kinross and west of the hamlet of Cleish. It was built by the Colville family, who owned it until 1775. It was restored and remodelled in the mid ...

References

External links

Perth & Kinross CouncilA Vision of Britain Through Time: A vision of Perth and Kinross
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinross-Shire Counties of Scotland Counties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)