Perthshire

Perthshire or the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically Perthshire extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. Prominent settlements include the city of Perth, the county town, as well as smaller towns such as Auchterarder, Blairgowrie and Rattray, Crieff, Dunblane and Scone. Perthshire is known as the "big county", or "the Shire", due to its roundness and status as the fourth largest historic county in Scotland. It has a wide variety of landscapes, from the rich agricultural straths in the east, to the high mountains of the southern Highlands. Perthshire was formerly an administrative county until being combined in 1930 with neighbouring Kinross-shire under a joint county council, prior to the administrative counties being abolished in 1975. Today, much of the two counties form part of the Perth and Kinross council area.