Editing Ross and Cromarty (section)

===Before 1889===
The mainland part of Ross and Cromarty broadly corresponds to the [[Provinces of Scotland|ancient province]] of [[Ross, Scotland|Ross]]. This area was claimed by the [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scottish crown]] from 1098, having previously been under [[Scandinavian Scotland|Norwegian]] overlordship. It was initially included within the [[Inverness-shire|shire of Inverness]] following its incorporation into Scotland.<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>

By the mid-13th century there were [[Sheriff principal|sheriffs]] based at Cromarty and Dingwall, both within the province of Ross, but each appears to have had only a small area of jurisdiction around those towns, rather than the larger territories usually given to sheriffs. The [[Sheriff of Inverness]] was therefore still responsible for most of Ross. The position of [[Sheriff of Dingwall]] did not endure.<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> After a couple of abortive attempts, the rest of Ross was eventually separated from Inverness-shire in 1661, being given its own [[Sheriff of Ross]] and becoming Ross-shire.<ref name=Kennedy2014>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Allan D.|title=Governing Gaeldom: The Scottish Highlands and the Restoration State, 1660-1688|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjJnAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|access-date=30 August 2024 |date=2014|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004269255|pages=155–156}}</ref>

[[File:Ross-shire and Cromartyshire 1861 map.png|thumb|1861 map of Cromartyshire and mainland Ross-shire]]
The interests of landowners led to some variations in the 1661 definition of Ross-shire from the old province of Ross. In particular, the Isle of Lewis had not been in Ross but was included in Ross-shire on account of being owned by [[Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth]], a major landowner in Ross. Conversely, an area north of the [[River Beauly]] including [[Beauly]] and [[Kilmorack]] had been in Ross but was excluded from Ross-shire on account of being owned by [[Clan Fraser of Lovat]], based in Inverness-shire. Likewise the [[Ferintosh, Black Isle|Ferintosh]] estate on the Black Isle was made an exclave of [[Nairnshire]] on account of being owned by the Forbes family. The small shire of Cromarty (which still just covered that town and its immediate vicinity) retained its independence.<ref name="rps_1661_1_197">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Keith |title=Act anent the shire of Ross |website=The Records of the Parliament of Scotland to 1707 |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1661/1/197 |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=30 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=MacKenzie |first1=George Steuart |title=A General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Ross and Cromarty |date=1810 |publisher=Richard Phillips |location=London |pages=3–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0ND8c7rpg4C&pg=PA3 |access-date=30 August 2024}}</ref> Cromartyshire was significantly enlarged in the late 17th century to gain numerous separate tracts of land scattered across Ross-shire which were owned by [[George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie|George Mackenzie, Viscount of Tarbat]], who owned the barony of Cromarty.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Keith |title=Act dissolving the barony of Tarbat from the shire of Ross, 4 June 1685 |url=https://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1685/4/66 |website=Records of the Parliament of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=6 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Keith |title=Act in favours of my lord advocat, 4 June 1685 |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/mss/1685/4/67 |website=Records of the Parliament of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=6 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Keith |title=Act in favour of [George MacKenzie], viscount of Tarbat, 19 July 1690 |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1690/4/108 |website=Records of the Parliament of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=4 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mackenzie |first1=George Steuart |title=General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Ross and Cromarty |date=1810 |pages=15–19 |url=https://archive.org/details/generalviewagri13britgoog/page/n32/mode/2up |access-date=4 September 2024}}</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 being separated from Ross-shire, was therefore greatly reduced. From 1748 the government merged the positions of Sheriff of Ross and Sheriff of Cromarty into a single position.<ref>[[Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747]]</ref>

Despite sharing a sheriff from 1748, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire remained legally separate counties. They retained separate [[Commissioners of Supply]] (established in 1667),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Keith |title=Act of the convention of estates of the kingdom of Scotland etc. for a new and voluntary offer to his majesty of £72,000 monthly for the space of twelve months, 23 January 1667 |url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1667/1/10 |website=Records of the Parliament of Scotland |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=25 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Scottish Counties and Parishes: their history and boundaries on maps |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/boundaries/history.html |website=National Library of Scotland |access-date=2 September 2024}}</ref> and from 1794 each appointed their own [[lord-lieutenant]]s. 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>