Sutherland () is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Viking era when the area was ruled by the Jarl of Orkney; although Sutherland includes some of the northernmost land on the island of Great Britain, it was called ("southern land") from the standpoint of Orkney and Caithness.
From the 13th century, Sutherland was a provincial lordship, being an earldom controlled by the Earl of Sutherland. The earldom just covered the southeastern part of the later county. A shire called Sutherland was created in 1633, covering the earldom of Sutherland and the neighbouring provinces of Assynt to the west and Strathnaver to the north. Shires gradually eclipsed the old provinces in administrative importance, and also become known as counties.
The county is generally rural and sparsely populated. Sutherland was particularly affected by the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the population has been in decline since the mid-19th century. As at 2011 the population of the county was 12,803, being less than half of the peak of 25,793 which was recorded in 1851. Only one town held burgh status, being Dornoch, where the county's courts were held. Between 1890 and 1975 Sutherland had a county council, which had its main offices in the village of Golspie.
The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975, when the area became part of the Highland region, which in turn became a single-tier council area in 1996. There was a local government district called Sutherland from 1975 to 1996, which was a lower-tier district within the Highland region, covering a similar but not identical area to the pre-1975 county. The pre-1975 county boundaries are still used for certain functions, being a registration county. The neighbouring counties prior to the 1975 reforms were Caithness to the north-east and Ross and Cromarty to the south.
The Sutherland lieutenancy area was redefined in 1975 to be the local government district. The registration county and the lieutenancy area therefore have slightly different definitions; the registration county does not include Kincardine, but the lieutenancy area does.
Geography
Many of the c. 13,000 inhabitants live in small coastal communities, such as Helmsdale and Lochinver, and until very recently they made much of their living from sea fishing. Much of Sutherland is poor relative to the rest of the UK, with few job opportunities beyond government-funded employment, agriculture and seasonal tourism. Further education is provided by North Highland College, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, which has campuses in Dornoch.
The inland landscape is rugged and very sparsely populated. Despite being Scotland's fifth-largest county by area, Sutherland has a smaller population than a medium-sized Lowland Scottish town. It stretches from the Atlantic in the west, up to the Pentland Firth and across to the North Sea in the east. The west and north coasts have very high sea cliffs and deep sea lochs. The east coast contains the sea lochs of Loch Fleet and Dornoch Firth. Cape Wrath is the most northwesterly point in Scotland. There are several peninsulas along the north and west coasts, most notably Strathy Point, A' Mhòine, Durness/Faraid Head (these two formed by the Kyle of Durness, Loch Eriboll and the Kyle of Tongue), Ceathramh Garbh (formed by Loch Laxford and Loch Inchard), and Stoer Head. The county has numerous beaches, a remote example being Sandwood Bay, which can only be reached by foot along a rough track.
Sutherland has many mountains such as Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro, and Ben More Assynt, the tallest peak in the county at 998 m (3,274 ft). The western part comprises Torridonian sandstone underlain by Lewisian gneiss. The spectacular scenery has been created by denudation to form isolated sandstone peaks such as Foinaven, Arkle, Cùl Mòr and Suilven. Such mountains are attractive for hill walking and scrambling, despite their remote location. Together with similar peaks to the south in Wester Ross, such as Stac Pollaidh, they have an unusual structure with great scope for exploration; but care is needed in bad weather owing to their isolation and the risks of injury.
The county contains numerous lochs, some of which have been enlarged to serve as reservoirs. The larger inland lochs are:
Loch Assynt Loch Choire Loch Hope Loch Loyal Loch Meadie Loch More Loch Naver Loch Shin
Sutherland includes numerous small islands, mainly near the coast. None are now inhabited, although some formerly were, notably including Eilean Hoan in Loch Eriboll, Eilean nan Ròn off the north coast near Skerray, and Handa Island in Eddrachillis Bay.
Environment
Landscape Sutherland has a coast to the east onto the Moray Firth and a coast to the north-west onto the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the county is mountainous, and the western and northern coasts include many high sea cliffs.
The importance of the county's scenery is recognised by the fact that four of Scotland's forty National Scenic Areas (NSAs) are located wholly or partly within it. The purpose of the NSA designation is to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development. The areas protected by the designation are considered to represent the type of scenic beauty "popularly associated with Scotland and for which it is renowned". The four NSAs within Sutherland are: The Assynt-Coigach NSA has many distinctively shaped mountains, including Quinag, Canisp, Suilven, Cùl Mòr, Stac Pollaidh and Ben More Assynt, that rise steeply from the surrounding "cnoc and lochan" scenery. These can often appear higher than their actual height, due to their steep sides and the contrast with the moorland from which they rise. Assynt lies within Sutherland, whilst Coigach lies within Ross and Cromarty. The Dornoch Firth NSA also straddles the boundary between Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty, and covers a variety of landscapes surrounding the narrow and sinuous firth. The Kyle of Tongue NSA covers the mountains of Ben Hope and Ben Loyal, as well as woodlands and crofting settlements on the shoreline of the kyle itself. The North West Sutherland NSA covers the mountains of Foinaven, Arkle and Ben Stack as well as the coastal scenery surrounding Loch Laxford and Handa Island.
Flora and fauna For millennia forests of Scots pine, oak and birch grew across much of Sutherland, but climate change and human activity progressively reduced their extent. Today there are only a few remnant pine trees around Ben Hope.Bain, Clifton (2013), The Native Pinewoods of Scotland: A Traveller's Guide, Sandstone Press, Dingwall, p. 47, The ancient birchwoods at Creag Shomhairle and Leathad na Surraig South of Loch Eriboll and the oak woodlands at Ardvar and Loch Mhuilinn are the most northerly examples of temperate Atlantic rainforest in Scotland.Bain, Clifton (2015), The Rainforests of Britain and Ireland: A Traveller's Guide, Sandstone Press, Dingwall, pp. 67 - 71,
Pollen analysis suggests the planting of oak at Reidchalmai in Rogart parish in the south-east of the county early in the first millennium AD, at a location where the species had not grown naturally for two thousand years. The mature trees appear to have been clear-felled in a single event towards the end of the sixth century.Oram, Richard D. (2025), A Land Won from Waste: Scotland AD 400 - 1400, John Donald, Edinburgh, pp. 80 & 81, Tipping, R., Davies, A.L. & McCulloch, "Introduced Oak Woodlands in Northern Scotland: pollen analytical evidence for early historic plantations", in Woolf, Alex (ed.) (2006), Landscape and Environment in Dark Age Scotland, The Committee for Dark Age Studies, University of St. Andrews, pp. 29 - 47,
Owing to its isolation from the rest of the country, Sutherland was reputedly the last haunt of the native wolf, the last survivor being shot in the 18th century. However, other wildlife has survived, including the golden eagle, sea eagle and pine marten amongst other species which are very rare in the rest of the country. There are pockets of the native Scots Pine, remnants of the original Caledonian Forest.
History In Gaelic, the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: (or ) (MacAoidh's country) in the north (also known in English as Mackay Country), (Assynt) in the west, and in the east. is also sometimes used to refer to the area as a whole.
Much of the area that would become Sutherland was part of the ancient Pictish kingdom of Cat, which also included Caithness. It was conquered in the 9th century by Sigurd Eysteinsson, Jarl of Orkney. The Jarls owed allegiance to the Norwegian crown. It is possible that Sigurd may have taken Ross to the south as well, but by the time of his death in 892 the southern limit of his territory appears to have been the River Oykel. The Scottish crown claimed the overlordship of the Caithness and Sutherland area from Norway in 1098. The Earls of Orkney thereafter owed allegiance to the Scottish crown for their territory on the mainland, which they held as the Mormaer of Caithness, but owed allegiance to the Norwegian crown for Orkney.
The Diocese of Caithness was established in the 12th century. The bishop's seat was initially at Halkirk, but in the early 13th century was moved to Dornoch Cathedral, which was begun in 1224. Around the same time, a new earldom of Sutherland was created from the southern part of the old joint earldom of Orkney and Caithness.
In terms of shires (areas where justice was administered by a sheriff), the north of mainland Scotland was all included in the shire of Inverness from the 12th century. An act of parliament in 1504 acknowledged that the shire of Inverness was too big for the effective administration of justice, and so declared Ross and Caithness to be separate shires. The boundary used for the shire of Caithness created in 1504 was the diocese of Caithness, which included Sutherland. The Sheriff of Caithness was directed to hold courts at either Dornoch or Wick. That act was set aside for most purposes in 1509, and Caithness (including Sutherland) once more came under the sheriff of Inverness.
In 1633 a new shire called Sutherland was created. It covered the earldom of Sutherland plus the provincial lordships of Strathnaver on the north coast and Assynt on the west coast. Dornoch was declared to be the head burgh of the new shire. The position of Sheriff of Sutherland was a hereditary one, held by the Earls of Sutherland.
Over time, Scotland's shires became more significant than the old provinces, with more administrative functions being given to the sheriffs. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were established for each shire, which would serve as the main administrative body for the area until the creation of county councils in 1890. Following the Acts of Union in 1707, the English term 'county' came to be used interchangeably with the older term 'shire'.
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 in Sutherland. From 1748 the government merged the positions of Sheriff of Sutherland and Sheriff of Caithness into a single post. Although they shared a sheriff after 1748, Caithness and Sutherland remained legally separate counties, having their own commissioners of supply and, from 1794, their own lord lieutenants.Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747
The sheriff courts for Sutherland were held at Dornoch Castle until 1850, when they moved to the purpose-built Dornoch Sheriff Court, also known as 'County Buildings', which also served as the meeting place for the Sutherland Commissioners of Supply.
Highland Clearances