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Cromartyshire
57°36′N 4°00′W / 57.6°N 4.0°W
Cromartyshire (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Chromba) was a county in the Highlands of Scotland, comprising the medieval "old shire" around the county town of Cromarty and 22 enclaves and exclaves transferred from Ross-shire in the late 17th century. The largest part, six times the size of the old shire, was Coigach, containing Ullapool and the area north-west of it. In 1889, Cromartyshire was merged with Ross-shire to become a new county called Ross and Cromarty, which in 1975 was merged into the new council area of Highland.
Cromartyshire was anciently part of the province of Ross. Ross had been under Norwegian overlordship in the 10th and 11th centuries, but was claimed by the Scottish crown in 1098. It took many years for Scottish authority to become fully effective in the area. Unlike other areas absorbed into Scotland around that time, such as Moray, Ross was not initially divided into shires. Instead, the area was placed under the nominal authority of the Sheriff of Inverness. By the mid-thirteenth century there were two small shires within Ross, based at Dingwall and Cromarty, to enforce Scottish laws in the immediate vicinity of those two burghs, but the rest of Ross remained under the sheriff of Inverness. The position of Sheriff of Dingwall did not endure, but the Sheriff of Cromarty did, and became a hereditary post held by Clan Urquhart.
The medieval shire or sheriffdom of Cromarty encompassed a single tract on the north of the Black Isle peninsula. It comprised the parish of Cromarty; most of the adjacent parish of Kirkmichael (excluding a portion at Balblair where a ferry crossed the Cromarty Firth to Invergordon); and a single farm in Cullicudden parish. As late as the mid-nineteenth century, the boundary between Ross-shire and Cromartyshire was uncertain on the moor of Millbuie (in the centre of the Black Isle).
Cromartyshire originally bordered Inverness-shire, but in 1504 an act of parliament purported to create the county of Ross-shire covering the rest of the old province of Ross. In practice, that act was not fully brought into effect. It was not until a subsequent act in 1661 and the appointment of the first permanent sheriff of Ross in 1662 that Ross-shire properly functioned as a shire. In 1662, Kirkmichael and Cullicudden parishes merged to form the parish of Resolis.
The feudal barony of Cromarty, whose appurtenant land was coterminous with the county, was purchased from the Urquharts in 1682 by the Mackenzies of Tarbat. They owned scattered lands in Ross-shire, including the barony of Tarbat on the Moray Firth north of the Black Isle. In 1685 Sir George Mackenzie, recently made 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. These were enumerated as:
And:
Although this was repealed in 1686 on the grounds that some lands not belonging to Viscount Tarbat had been included, it was re-enacted in 1690 to include only "the said barony of Tarbat and all other lands in Ross-shire belonging in property to the said viscount". The transfers increased the area and rateable value of Cromartyshire by respective factors of fifteen and three.
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Cromartyshire AI simulator
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Cromartyshire
57°36′N 4°00′W / 57.6°N 4.0°W
Cromartyshire (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Chromba) was a county in the Highlands of Scotland, comprising the medieval "old shire" around the county town of Cromarty and 22 enclaves and exclaves transferred from Ross-shire in the late 17th century. The largest part, six times the size of the old shire, was Coigach, containing Ullapool and the area north-west of it. In 1889, Cromartyshire was merged with Ross-shire to become a new county called Ross and Cromarty, which in 1975 was merged into the new council area of Highland.
Cromartyshire was anciently part of the province of Ross. Ross had been under Norwegian overlordship in the 10th and 11th centuries, but was claimed by the Scottish crown in 1098. It took many years for Scottish authority to become fully effective in the area. Unlike other areas absorbed into Scotland around that time, such as Moray, Ross was not initially divided into shires. Instead, the area was placed under the nominal authority of the Sheriff of Inverness. By the mid-thirteenth century there were two small shires within Ross, based at Dingwall and Cromarty, to enforce Scottish laws in the immediate vicinity of those two burghs, but the rest of Ross remained under the sheriff of Inverness. The position of Sheriff of Dingwall did not endure, but the Sheriff of Cromarty did, and became a hereditary post held by Clan Urquhart.
The medieval shire or sheriffdom of Cromarty encompassed a single tract on the north of the Black Isle peninsula. It comprised the parish of Cromarty; most of the adjacent parish of Kirkmichael (excluding a portion at Balblair where a ferry crossed the Cromarty Firth to Invergordon); and a single farm in Cullicudden parish. As late as the mid-nineteenth century, the boundary between Ross-shire and Cromartyshire was uncertain on the moor of Millbuie (in the centre of the Black Isle).
Cromartyshire originally bordered Inverness-shire, but in 1504 an act of parliament purported to create the county of Ross-shire covering the rest of the old province of Ross. In practice, that act was not fully brought into effect. It was not until a subsequent act in 1661 and the appointment of the first permanent sheriff of Ross in 1662 that Ross-shire properly functioned as a shire. In 1662, Kirkmichael and Cullicudden parishes merged to form the parish of Resolis.
The feudal barony of Cromarty, whose appurtenant land was coterminous with the county, was purchased from the Urquharts in 1682 by the Mackenzies of Tarbat. They owned scattered lands in Ross-shire, including the barony of Tarbat on the Moray Firth north of the Black Isle. In 1685 Sir George Mackenzie, recently made 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. These were enumerated as:
And:
Although this was repealed in 1686 on the grounds that some lands not belonging to Viscount Tarbat had been included, it was re-enacted in 1690 to include only "the said barony of Tarbat and all other lands in Ross-shire belonging in property to the said viscount". The transfers increased the area and rateable value of Cromartyshire by respective factors of fifteen and three.