History of local government in Scotland

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The History of local government in Scotland is a complex tale of largely ancient and long established Scottish political units being replaced after the mid 20th century by a frequently changing series of different local government arrangements.

Origins

Map of Scotland, c. 580–600. Pictish regions are marked in yellow. Cumbrian regions in white. Gaelic regions in green.

Anciently, the territory now referred to as Scotland belonged to a mixture of

Angles
.

The Picts were based north of the Forth–Clyde line, traditionally in seven kingdoms:

In later legends Albanactus, the legendary founder of Scotland, had seven sons, who each founded a kingdom. De Situ Albanie enumerates the kingdoms in two lists, the first of which locates the seventh kingdom between the Forth and the Earn, while the second additionally replaces Cat with the area that became Dalriada.

The Cumbrians were based in the southwest, in two principal kingdoms:

The Angles were based in the southeast, in the

Kingdom of Northumbria
, which was divided into a number of sub-kingdoms, some of which were located in territory now considered part of Scotland:

When the Irish group

Scotii invaded, they established the Kingdom of Dál Riata in the area between Glen Coe and Loch Long
, which they organised into four geographic kin-groups:

Alba

Map of Scotland, in the time of the early Kingdom of Alba

For reasons which are extremely opaque to historical enquiry, most of the Pictish lands became a Scotii kingdom based at

Scone – the Kingdom of Alba. The status of Fortriu and Dalriada are extremely unclear; it seems that theoretically they were meant to owe some form of vassalage to the King of Alba, but in practice were somewhat independent. The other Pictish kingdoms were divided up, with the King of Alba retaining the more useful coastal parts, while handing the remainder of each former kingdom to a powerful governor. The king controlled his lands through a number of stewards (maer in Gaelic), hence the powerful governors were great stewards (mormaer
in Gaelic).

Northumbrian pressure caused Rheged to collapse, establishing Galloway as an independent state. Strathclyde took the opportunity created by Rheged's collapse to expand towards the southeast, into what is now northern Cumbria. Records are unclear, but it seems that Scotii raids led to Galloway submitting to the authority of Alba, and the transfer of Carrick from Strathclyde to Galloway.

Danish invasions caused the power of Northumbria to collapse, and ultimately its lands to become parts of a unified England. Meanwhile, Norse
invasions of the islands to the north and west of the mainland conquered Cat, and established:

Norse invaders also besieged Dumbarton Rock, the capital of Strathclyde, eventually causing its defeat. As a result, Dunbarton Rock was abandoned, and Strathclyde moved its capital upriver, to Partick. Alba took the opportunity to seize the now-undefended area around Loch Lomond. Similarly, the weakening of Northumbria enabled Alba to push south and take over the area around Stirling.

By the 10th century, the governance of the area now known as Scotland thus broke down as follows:

Former ethnicity Former area Outcome Status
Pictish Cat Caithness Norse jarldom
Sutherland Norse jarldom
Ce Buchan
Mormaerdom
Banff Stewardry
Mar
Mormaerdom
Circinn Mearns Stewardry
Angus
Mormaerdom
Fib Fothriff Stewardry
Fife
Mormaerdom
Fotla Gowrie Stewardry
Atholl
Mormaerdom
(possibly Fidach) Menteith
Mormaerdom
Strathearn
Mormaerdom
Fortriu Ross
Mormaerdom
Moray
 Quasi-independent
Cumbric (Scottish) Rheged Galloway Quasi-independent vassal
Strathclyde
Lennox
Mormaerdom
Strathclyde (remainder) Independent
Anglian Lothian Stirling Stewartry
Lothian (remainder) English ealdormandom
(Scottish) Bernicia (Scottish) Bernicia English ealdormandom
Gaelic nÓengusa Islay Norse jarldom
Loairn Mull Norse jarldom
Lorn Quasi-independent vassal
nGabráin Argyll Quasi-independent vassal
Comgaill

Middle ages

Provinces

Main article: Provinces of Scotland
Provinces or Lordships in 1689.

In the

John Macdonald II to the crown in 1493 after discovering his plans for an alliance with the English.[1]

The

shire of Roxburgh), whilst other formed from combinations of provinces (e.g. the shire of Ayr consisting of Cunninghame, Carrick and Kyle
).

Founding of the Burghs

Main article: Burgh
Reverse side of the burgh seal of Crail, a Fife fishing port

The first

Flemish settlers.[7] They were able to impose tolls and fines on traders within a region outside their settlements.[7] Most of the early burghs were on the east coast, and among them were the largest and wealthiest, including Aberdeen, Berwick, Perth, and Edinburgh, whose growth was facilitated by trade with other North Sea ports on Continental Europe, in particular in the Low Countries, as well as ports on the Baltic Sea. In the south-west, Glasgow, Ayr and Kirkcudbright were aided by the less profitable sea trade with Ireland and to a lesser extent France and Spain.[8]

Burghs were typically settlements under the protection of a castle and usually had a market place, with a widened high street or junction, marked by a mercat cross, beside houses for the burgesses and other inhabitants.[7] 16 royal burghs can trace their foundation to David I traced to the reign of David I (1124–53)[9] and there is evidence of 55 burghs by 1296.[10] In addition to the major royal burghs, the late Middle Ages saw the proliferation of baronial and ecclesiastical burghs, with 51 created between 1450 and 1516. Most of these were much smaller than their royal counterparts. Excluded from foreign trade, they acted mainly as local markets and centres of craftsmanship.[8] Burghs were centres of basic crafts, including the manufacture of shoes, clothes, dishes, pots, joinery, bread and ale, which would normally be sold to "indwellers" and "outdwellers" on market days.[7] In general, burghs carried out far more local trading with their hinterlands, on which they relied for food and raw materials, than trading nationally or abroad.[11]

Early Modern Scotland

From the sixteenth century, the central government became increasingly involved in local affairs. The

Viscount of Tarbat and later elevated to Earl of Cromartie, secured two Acts of the Parliament of Scotland transferring his lands in Easter Ross from Ross-shire to Cromartyshire,[14]
making Cromartyshire the last of the shires to be established.

From the seventeenth century the function of shires expanded from judicial functions into wider local administration,

Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each sheriffdom or shire to collect the cess land tax.[15]
From this point shires came to be regarded as the main division of the country in preference to the former provinces.

The parish also became an important unit of local government, pressured by Justices in the early eighteenth century, it became responsible for taking care of the destitute in periods of famine, like that in 1740, in order to prevent the impoverished from taking to the roads and causing general disorder.

court baron remained important in regulating minor interpersonal and property offences. They were held at the behest of the local baron when there was a backlog of cases and could appoint birleymen, usually senior tenants, who would resolve disputes and issues. The combination of kirk sessions and courts baron gave considerable power to local lairds to control the behaviour of the populations of their communities.[17]

From the eighteenth century the shires (used for administration) began to diverge from the sheriffdoms (used for judicial functions) (see Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms).[18]

Modern era

As a result of the dual system of local government,

Commissioners of Supply
and County Road Trustees and many of the administrative powers and duties of the Justices of the Peace and parochial boards.

Between 1890 and 1929, there were parish councils and town councils, but with the passing of the

Nairnshire
, but retained residual Nairnshire and Kinross-shire county councils.

This system was further refined by the passing of the

postwar Britain reduced due to the Labour Party's social and economic reforms, which nationalized many functions traditionally performed by them such as healthcare and electricity.[19]

A Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland in 1969 (the

regions and districts
in 1975.

The system was only to last for 21 years as with the passing of the

council areas
.

Local Government Acts

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-415-12231-7
    , p. 179.
  2. ^ John of Fordun wrote that Malcolm II introduced the shire to Scotland and also the thane class. Shires are mentioned in charters by the reign of King Malcolm III, for instance that to the Church of Dunfermline, AD 1070–1093.
  3. ^ Wallace, James (1890). The Sheriffdom of Clackmannan: A sketch of its history with a list of its sheriffs and excerpts from the records of court compiled from public documents and other authorities with preparatory notes on the office of Sheriff in Scotland, his powers and duties. Edinburgh: James Thin. pp. 7–19.
  4. ^ The earliest sheriffdom south of the Forth which we know of for certain is Haddingtonshire, which is named in a charters of 1139 as Hadintunschira (Charter by King David to the church of St. Andrews of the church of St. Mary at Haddington) and of 1141 as Hadintunshire (Charter by King David granting Clerchetune to the church of St. Mary of Haddington). In 1150 a charter refers to Madolyn Stirlingshire (Striuelinschire).(Charter by King David granting the church of Clackmannan, etc., to the Abbey of Stirling)
  5. ^ J Mackay, The Convention of Royal Burghs of Scotland, From its Origin down to the Completion of the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, Co-operative Printing, Edinburgh 1884, p.2
  6. ISBN 074860104X
    , p. 98.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , pp. 136–140.
  8. ^
    ISBN 0415278805
    , p. 78.
  9. ISBN 0198206151
    , pp. 38–76.
  10. ISBN 0333567617
    , pp. 122–23.
  11. ISBN 0748602763
    , pp. 41–55.
  12. ^
    ISBN 0748602763
    , pp. 162-3.
  13. ISBN 0748602763
    , pp. 164-5.
  14. ^ Mackenzie 1810, pp.15–16
  15. ^
    ISBN 0521891671
    , p. 202.
  16. ^
    ISBN 074860233X
    , p. 144.
  17. ISBN 074860233X
    , pp. 80-1.
  18. ^ Owen Ruffhead, The statutes at large: from Magna Carta to the end of the last parliament, 1761 [i.e. 1763], M. Baskett (1765 [1763]) p. 104.
  19. ISBN 978-0-333-56081-5
    .
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