Editing Cromartyshire (section)

==History==
Cromartyshire was anciently part of the [[Provinces of Scotland|province]] of [[Ross, Scotland|Ross]]. Ross had been under [[Scandinavian Scotland|Norwegian]] overlordship in the 10th and 11th centuries, but was claimed by the [[Kingdom of Scotland|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 [[Province of Moray|Moray]], Ross was not initially divided into [[Shires of Scotland|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 [[burgh]]s, but the rest of Ross remained under the sheriff of Inverness.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Alexander |editor1-last=Cowan |editor1-first=Edward J. |editor2-last=McDonald |editor2-first=R. Andrew |title=Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages |date=2000 |publisher=Tuckwell Press |location=East Linton |isbn=1-86232-151-5 |pages=98–110 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/albacelticscotla0000unse/page/98/mode/2up |access-date=28 August 2024 |chapter=The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba}}</ref> The position of [[Sheriff of Dingwall]] did not endure, but the [[Sheriff of Cromarty]] did, and became a hereditary post held by [[Clan Urquhart]].<ref name="Mackenzie11" />

The medieval shire or [[sheriffdom]] of Cromarty encompassed a single tract on the north of the [[Black Isle]] peninsula. It comprised the [[List of Church of Scotland parishes|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.<ref name="Mackenzie11" /> 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).<ref name="Mackenzie11" /><ref>{{cite book | title=The Imperial gazetteer of Scotland |volume=I |year=1854 |pages=322–3 |first=John Marius |last=Wilson |author-link=John Marius Wilson |url=https://archive.org/stream/imperialgazettee01wils#page/322/mode/2up |access-date=7 July 2013}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/A1504/3/105|title=Legislation: final legislation published outwith the parliamentary register|date=11 March 1504|work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707|publisher=University of St Andrews|access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alice |title=The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124–1290 |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198749202 |pages=144, 234–235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XvnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 |access-date=30 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="Mackenzie11">Mackenzie 1810, [https://archive.org/details/generalviewagri13britgoog/page/n29 pp.11–13]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1661/1/197|title=Act anent the shire of Ross|date=5 April 1661 |work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland|publisher=University of St Andrews|access-date=30 March 2013|location=Edinburgh}}</ref> In 1662, Kirkmichael and Cullicudden parishes merged to form the parish of [[Resolis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search/?action=do_search&p_type=PARISH&p_name=resolis&id=1209&p_county=ross_and_cromarty|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121105224615/http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search/?action%3Ddo_search%26p_type%3DPARISH%26p_name%3Dresolis%26id%3D1209%26p_county%3Dross_and_cromarty|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2012|title=Resolis Parish|work=ScotlandsPlaces|access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref>

The [[Scottish feudal barony|feudal barony]] of Cromarty, whose [[Barony (geographic)|appurtenant land]] was coterminous with the county, was purchased from the Urquharts in 1682 by the [[Clan Mackenzie|Mackenzie]]s of [[Tarbat]].<ref name="Hayton1690">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/constituencies/cromartyshire|title=Cromartyshire 1690–1715 |last=Hayton|first=D. W.|year=2002|work=History of Parliament Online|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> They owned scattered lands in Ross-shire, including the barony of Tarbat on the [[Moray Firth]] north of the Black Isle.<ref name="Hayton1690"/> In 1685 Sir [[George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie|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.<ref name="Mackenzie15">Mackenzie 1810, [https://archive.org/details/generalviewagri13britgoog/page/n33 pp.15–16]</ref> These were enumerated as:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1685/4/66 |title=Act dissolving the barony of Tarbat from the shire of Ross|date=4 June 1685|work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland|publisher=University of St Andrews|access-date=30 March 2013|location=Edinburgh}}</ref>
:the barony of Tarbat and all therein incorporated, ... also Little Farness and others his lands within the barony of Delny, together with the lands of Wester St Martins, Easter Balblair and the ferry belonging to George Dallas of St Martins 
And:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1685/4/67 |title=Act in favour of Sir George MacKenzie of Rosehaugh, lord advocate|date=4 June 1685|work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland|publisher=University of St Andrews|access-date=30 March 2013|location=Edinburgh}}</ref>
:his lands of Pittonachie, Beneckfield, Avoch, Castleton, Auchterflow, Hauldoks, Killen, Raddery, Balmeechy, Little Suddey and his lands about Chanonry and Rosemarkie
Although this was repealed in 1686 on the grounds that some lands not belonging to Viscount Tarbat had been included,<ref name="Mackenzie15"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1686/4/35 |title=Act rescinding a former act annexing lands in Ross-shire to Cromarty|date=14 June 1686|work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland|publisher=University of St Andrews|access-date=30 March 2013|location=Edinburgh}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Mackenzie15"/><ref>
*{{cite web |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1690/4/108 |title=Act in favour of [George MacKenzie], viscount of Tarbat |date=19 July 1690 |work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=30 March 2013 |location=Edinburgh}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1690/4/119 |title=Act rescinding several acts of parliament |date=19 July 1690 |work=Records of the Parliaments of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=30 March 2013 |location=Edinburgh}}
</ref> The transfers increased the area and [[rateable value]] of Cromartyshire by respective factors of fifteen and three.<ref name="Mackenzie15"/>

[[File:Cromartyshire 1892.jpg|thumb|400px|Detail from 1892 map of Scotland, showing Cromartyshire in purple and Ross-shire in green]]
[[Cromartyshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Cromartyshire]] was the smallest constituency in the [[Parliament of Scotland]], with only five freeholders electing its two [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]]s in 1703.<ref name="Hayton1690"/> After the [[Act of Union 1707]], [[Cromartyshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Cromartyshire sent one MP]] to Westminster alternately with [[Nairnshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Nairnshire]], a nearby small county.<ref name="Hayton1690"/> Only six of 19 votes on the register at the last election, [[1831 United Kingdom general election|in 1831]], were found to be [[40 shilling freehold|genuine freeholders]].<ref name="Fisher1832">{{cite web |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/cromartyshire |title=Cromartyshire 1820–1832|last=Fisher|first=David R. |year=2009|work=History of Parliament Online |access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref>

Following the [[Jacobite rising of 1745]], the government passed the [[Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746]], returning the appointment of sheriffs to the crown in those cases where they had become hereditary positions, as had been the case for the Sheriff of Cromarty.<ref name=whetstone>{{cite journal |last1=Whetstone |first1=Ann E. |year= 1977|title=The Reform of the Scottish Sheriffdoms in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries |journal=Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=61–71 |doi=10.2307/4048219 |jstor=4048219}}</ref> The scope for a major landowner or clan chief to control the office of sheriff, which had been the major cause of Cromartyshire's exclaves being separated from Ross, was therefore greatly reduced. From 1748 the government merged the positions of Sheriff of Ross and Sheriff of Cromarty into a single position under the [[Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747]].<ref name="Walker2001">{{cite book|last=Walker|first=David M.|title=A legal history of Scotland|volume=6|date=2001-12-01|publisher=W. Green|isbn=9780406948540|page=356}}<!--|accessdate=29 March 2013--></ref>

The 1801 census report listed "Shire of Cromarty" and "Shire of Ross" separately, the former including only the old shire and the latter the exclaves.<ref>{{cite book |title=[1801 Census] Abstracts of the Answers and Returns Made pursuant to an Act, passed in the Forty-first Year of His Majesty King George III. Intituled, "An Act for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and the Increase or Diminution thereof." Enumeration. Part II. Scotland. |series=British Parliamentary Papers |volume=1801 vi (140) 813 |date=9 June 1802 |publisher=Lake Hansard |location=Lincoln's Inn Fields, London
|pages=[http://www.histpop.org.uk/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Census%20(by%20date)/1801/Great%20Britain&active=yes&mno=2&tocstate=expandnew&tocseq=7900&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=first-nonblank 518], [http://www.histpop.org.uk/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Census%20(by%20date)/1801/Great%20Britain&active=yes&mno=2&tocstate=expandnew&tocseq=9800&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=first-nonblank 542] }}</ref> The 1811 census report listed "Ross and Cromarty" together on the ground that it was impractical to separate them.<ref>{{cite book |title=[1811 Census] Abstracts of the Answers and Returns Made pursuant to an Act, passed in the Fifty-first Year of His Majesty King George III. Intituled, "An Act for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and the Increase or Diminution thereof." Enumeration Abstract. |volume=1812 xi (316) |series=British Parliamentary Papers |date=2 July 1812 |page=502 |url=http://www.histpop.org.uk/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Census%20(by%20date)/1811/Great%20Britain&active=yes&mno=5&tocstate=expandnew&tocseq=9900&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=first-nonblank |access-date=3 July 2019}}</ref> In 1805, responsibility for maintenance of roads in Ross-shire and Cromartyshire was merged.<ref>{{cite thesis |title=From isolation to integration: the development of roads in the northern highlands of Scotland 1800–1850 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/79fca445bc04f115f569cc4613b613da/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=51922&diss=y |via=ProQuest Dissertations |url-access=limited |language=en |last=Smith |first=John A.R. |publisher=[[University of Aberdeen]] |type=PhD |date=2001 |page=vi }}</ref> In 1810, the [[Militia (Great Britain)|militia]] was for Ross-shire in some exclaves and Cromartyshire in others.<ref name="Mackenzie19">Mackenzie 1810, [https://archive.org/details/generalviewagri13britgoog/page/n37 p.19]</ref> 
The [[Scottish Reform Act 1832]] merged Cromartyshire's constituency with [[Ross-shire (UK Parliament constituency)|Ross-shire's]] to form [[Ross and Cromarty (UK Parliament constituency)|Ross and Cromarty]], returning one MP to Parliament.<ref name="Fisher1832"/> [[Police (Scotland) Act 1857|Police]] and ratings administration were merged similarly in the Victorian period.<ref>Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, [http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gazetteer/vol6page615.htm Vol.6 p.615, Administration] (H.A. Webster)</ref>

[[File:The old court house (geograph 6600836).jpg|thumb|[[Cromarty Courthouse]]: County's courthouse, built 1773, which also served as meeting place for the Cromartyshire [[Commissioners of Supply]] and the town council for the burgh of Cromarty]]
Despite sharing a sheriff from 1748, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire remained legally separate counties. They retained separate [[Commissioners of Supply]], and from 1794 each appointed their own [[lord-lieutenant]]s, with Cromartyshire overseen by the [[Lord Lieutenant of Cromarty]]. From 1860 the commissioners of supply for the two counties were directed to work together on delivering some functions, notably relating to prisons.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Collection of the Public General Statutes |date=1860 |page=784 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cGFFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA784 |access-date=6 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="gaz1892crom">Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, [http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gazetteer/vol2page310.htm Vol.2 p.310–1, Cromartyshire]</ref>

The [[Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889]] provided that "the counties of Ross and Cromarty shall cease to be separate counties, and shall be united for all purposes whatsoever, under the name of the county of Ross and Cromarty." The new county of [[Ross and Cromarty]] came into being from the passing of the act in August 1889. The act also established elected county councils, which came into being in May 1890. The 1889 Act also triggered a review of boundaries to eliminate remaining exclaves and cases where parishes straddled county boundaries, which saw Ross and Cromarty absorb an exclave of [[Nairnshire]] and a near-exclave of Inverness-shire; the former was the barony of [[Ferintosh, Black Isle|Ferintosh]] and the latter an exclave of [[Kilmorack]] parish around [[Muir of Ord railway station]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Shennan |first=Hay |title=Boundaries of Counties and Parishes in Scotland: as settled by the Boundary Commissioners under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 |year=1892 |publisher=William Green & Sons |location=Edinburgh |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_meygAAAAMAAJ/page/n169/mode/2up |pages=132–134  |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>