Sutherland
This article is about the Sutherland area of the highlands of Scotland. For other uses of the name, see Sutherland (disambiguation).Sutherland (
Cataibh in
Gaelic) is a
committee area of the
Highland Council,
Scotland, a
registration county, and a
lieutenancy area.
Sutherland was formerly a
local government county, until 1975. The county had its own
county council from 1890 to 1975, and the name was used also for a district of the
Highland region (1975 to 1996), and the
Sutherland constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1708 to 1918). The boundaries of
Sutherland are not identical in all contexts.
The county had the county of
Caithness to the north and east, and the county of
Ross and Cromarty to the south.
In 1975, under the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the county was divided between new administrative districts named
Sutherland and
Caithness, with
Tongue and
Farr areas of the county of Sutherland becoming part of the Caithness district (which also included the area of the county of Caithness). Also, the
Kincardine area of the county of
Ross and Cromarty was merged into the new Sutherland district. Shortly after its creation, however the boundary between the districts of Sutherland and Caithness were redrawn to follow that between the counties.
The district belonged to a two-tier system of local government, with local government functions divided between the
district council and the Highland regional council. In 1996 the region became a unitary authority and the district was abolished, but the unitary Highland council continues to use the name for a committee area.
The constituency consisted of the county, minus the
parliamentary burgh of
Dornoch.
Sutherland (by any definition) is very sparsely populated. Its only
burgh is the
county town,
Dornoch. Other settlements include
Lairg,
Brora,
Durness,
Tongue,
Golspie,
Helmsdale,
Lochinver and
Kinlochbervie.
See also: Politics of the Highland council areaThe
committee area consists of six out of the 80
Highland Council wards. Each ward elects one
councilor by the
first past the post system of election. The area is represented by six
independent councillors.
One ward, named for
Tongue and
Farr, includes the village of
Reay, which is within the traditional county of Caithness. New boundaries are planned for the next round of local government elections, in 2007, when elections will be by the
single transferable vote system.
:''Main article
Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)The Sutherland constituency of the
House of Commons of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom represented the county from 1708 to 1918. At the same time however the county town of
Dornoch was represented as a component of the
Northern Burghs constituency.
In 1918 the Sutherland constituency and Dornoch were merged into the then new constituency of
Caithness and Sutherland. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
The
Scottish Parliament constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was created in 1999 and now has boundaries slighly different from those of the House of Commons constituency. In the
Scottish Parliament Sutherland is represented also as part of the
Highlands and Islands electoral region.
*
Sutherland derives from a
Norse perception of the land as 'southern' (
Suðrland meaning "Southland"). The Norse referred similarly to the
Western Isles as
Suðreyjar (the "Southern Isles"), southern in relation to the "Northern Isles" of
Orkneys,
Shetlands and
Faroes).
* Sutherland has two main names in the county's indigenous
Scottish Gaelic:
Cataibh may be used for the whole county, but tended historically to apply to the south east, and
Dùthaich MhicAoidh (MacKay Country) which was used for the north west, sometimes referred to as
Reay Country in English.
Cataibh can be read as meaning
land of the Cat people and the
Cat element appears as
Cait in
Caithness. The Scottish Gaelic name for Caithness, however, is
Gallaibh, meaning
land of the foreigner or
of the Norse.
*
Subdivisions of Scotland.
