Inverness-shire

Inverness-shire
Historic county
Country	Scotland
County town	Inverness
Area
• Total	4,211 sq mi (10,906 km2)
	Ranked 1st of 34
Chapman code	INV

Inverness-shire (

Inverness-shire is Scotland's largest county and the second largest in the UK as a whole after

Its mainland section covers a large area of the

• An t-Eilean Meadhoin
• Brinacory Island
• Eilean a' Ghiuthais
• Eilean a' Phidhir
• Eilean Bàn
• Eilean Choinneach
• Eilean nam Breac

Inner Hebrides

• 
  Coast of Eigg
• 
  Dùn Caan mountain on Raasay
• 
  Oronsay
• 
  Landscape of northern Skye

Outer Hebrides

• 
  Standing stone on Barra
• 
  The 'lazy beds' of Harris
• 
  Lakes of North Uist
• 
  Beach on Benbecula
• 
  Mountains on South Uist
• 
  Eilean na Cille (at right), Triallabreac and Wiay from the air

St Kilda and Rockall

• 
  Soay
• 
  Rockall
• 
  Boreray with Stac and Armin (left) and Stac Lee (right)

Coat of arms

Inverness-shire's coat of arms is blazoned:

Azure, in sinister chief a stag's head and in dexter chief a bull's head both erased and in base a galley, sails furled, oars in action and flagged, all Or. Beneath the shield is an escrol bearing this motto: Air son Math na Siorrachd.

The galley represents Clan Chattan, who aligned themselves under the banner of Somerled, Lord of the Isles. The stag's head comes from the crest of the Frasers of Lovat, while the bull's head comes from the crest of the MacLeods of that Ilk. The motto is in Gaelic and means "For the Good of the County".

Local government

1890–1975

Inverness-shire 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, transferring several exclaves of other counties to Inverness-shire.

Although the new boundaries were supposed to be valid for all purposes (unlike earlier boundaries, which really defaulted boundaries and not necessarily those used for any particular purpose), the burghs of Inverness,

Inverness-shire County Council was originally based at Inverness Castle but moved to new offices in Ardross Street in 1963.^[2][3]

1975–1996

The old county councils were abolished by the

• 1. The burgh of Inverness and the Aird and Inverness districts were merged to form the Inverness Local Government district of the Highland region.
• 2. The burgh of Fort William and the Lochaber district were merged with areas from the
  Lochaber
  district of the Highland region.
• 3. The Skye district was merged with an area from the
  Skye and Lochalsh
  district of the Highland region.
• 4. The
  Badenoch and Strathspey
  district of the Highland region.
• The Barra, Harris, North Uist, and South Uist districts were merged with areas from the county of
  burgh of Stornoway
  and Lewis district) to form the Western Isles council area.

Within the Highland region, local government functions were divided between the regional and district councils. For example, education was a regional responsibility, and housing was a district responsibility.

1996–present

In 1996, under the

The new unitary

In 2007, at the time of further changes to ward boundaries, which created 22 multi-member wards instead of 80 single-member wards, the council created a new management structure, with three new corporate management areas and 16 new ward-level management areas. Also, four of the ward-level management areas, covering the seven wards, were grouped to form an Inverness city (or Inverness and Area) management area.

The total number of Highland councillors is 80, elected by the

The city area has the Nairn ward-level management area to the east, the Badenoch and Strathspey ward-level management area to the east and south, the Ross, Skye and Lochaber corporate management area to the south, west and north, and the Moray Firth to the north.

The city area is similar but not identical to the former district of Inverness.

Civil parishes

Civil parishes are still used for some statistical purposes, and separate census figures are published for them. As their areas have been largely unchanged since the 19th century this allows for comparison of population figures over an extended period.

In 1854 in Inverness-shire there were 29 civil parishes; 7 part civil parishes; and 5 parliamentary parishes.^[5]

Many changes have taken place since the Reformation period:

• North Uist was a union of the ancient parishes of Kilmuir and Sand; South Uist of the parishes of Benbecula, Howmore, and Kilpeter.^[7]
• Croy and Dalcross, and Kiltarlity and Convinth, were united c. 1500.^[8][9]
• Abernethy and Kincardine, and Urquhart and Glenmoriston, were united at the Reformation.^[10] At the same time Petty was formed by the union of the ancient parishes of Petyn and Bracholy (or Brackley).^[11]
• Boleskine and Abertarff, and Inverness and Bona, and Daviot and Dunlichity, were united in 1618.^[12][13][14] At the same time Kirkhill was formed by a union of the ancient parishes of Wardlaw and Farnua.^[15]
• Duthil and Rothiemurchus were united in 1630.^[16]
• Small Isles was created from Sleat in 1726; unusually, there was no parish church and the congregation met in the schoolhouse on Eigg.^[17] There are some indications that Canna and Kildonan (Eigg) may have been medieval parishes at an earlier date.^[18][19]
• At some point in the 19th century Arisaig and Moidart were created out of Ardnamurchan parish (the rest of this parish lay in Argyllshire). Arisaig (aka Kilmorie) and another parish, Eilean Fhianain, were medieval parishes united to Ardnamurchan at the Reformation.^[20]
• Portree was created out of parts of Snizort and Kilmuir parishes in 1726.^[21]
• Kingussie and Insh, and Moy and Dalarossie, were united at an unknown date.
• Minginish (Skye) was absorbed into Bracadale; Trumpan was absorbed into Duirinish; Uig was absorbed into Snizort;^[22] Rodel was absorbed into Harris;^[7] Kilmaluoc (Raasay) was absorbed into Snizort or Kilmuir.^[23]

Transport

The

The Isle of Skye is connected to the mainland by a bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh in Ross-shire.

Various bus companies serve the larger towns of the county, such as Stagecoach Group and Scottish Citylink. Shiel Buses operate local buses in the Fort William area. Stagecoach operates several bus routes on the Isle of Skye.^[24]

Numerous ferries connect the islands of the Outer Hebrides, the Inner Hebrides, and the Scottish Mainland.

There are three airports in the county: Inverness, Benbecula, and Barra. All three operate flights within Scotland, with Inverness also providing flights to other cities in the UK as well as some destinations in Europe. Barra Airport is famous within aviation circles as it is the only airport in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway.^[25]

Settlements

Mainland

Islands

Parliamentary constituencies

There was an

In 1999 the areas of the Westminster constituencies became also constituencies of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). The boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies have not altered since then. The Holyrood constituencies are within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.

Since 1983, Inverness has appeared in the names of Westminster and Holyrood constituencies as tabled below.

Westminster constituencies

Holyrood constituencies

See also

• Politics of the Highland council area

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Inverness-shire.