Kinross

Coordinates: 56°12′N 3°25′W / 56.20°N 3.42°W / 56.20; -3.42

Kinross (Gaelic: Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It was originally the county town of Kinross-shire. The site of the original parish church and churchyard are located down a small wynd overlooking Loch Leven, a little away from the town.

This attractive former market town was originally linked by railway to Perthshire, Fife and Clackmannanshire until the rail links gradually disappeared. At one time three independent railway companies had their termini at the town. The Fife and Kinross Railway came from the east, the Kinross-shire Railway came from the south and The Devon Valley Railway came from the west. Recently Kinross has expanded considerably, especially since the construction of the M90 motorway - the main north-south artery which bypasses the town. Many people working within a commuting radius of Kinross have settled in the town owing to its convenient central location and excellent local amenities. Loch Leven is also a popular holiday base for tourists, who especially appreciate its proximity to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Perth and St Andrews (all lying within an hour's drive of Kinross). The burgh is attractively located on the shores of Loch Leven, and there are boat trips around the loch and to Loch Leven Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots was famously held prisoner in 1567.

Kinross-shire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)

Before the Acts of Union 1707, the barons of the shire of Kinross elected commissioners to represent them in the unicameral Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of the Estates.

History of the constituency

The small barons and freeholders were first authorised to elect "commissioners of the shire" to represent them in Parliament by an act of King James I in 1428; the sheriffdom of Kinross was to be represented by one commissioner. This act, however, remained inoperative, and the representation of the shires was not established until 1587.

For many years the majority of Kinross-shire was owned by the Earl of Morton and the Lord Balfour of Burleigh, who already sat in Parliament as peers. There was therefore no commissioner for the shire, except during the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland when the sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross were jointly represented by one Member of Parliament at Westminster from 1654 to 1659. This situation continued until the 1670s when Lord Morton's estate of Kinross, comprising most of the shire, was purchased by Sir William Bruce of Balcaskie. Having been elected commissioner, Bruce was allowed to represent the shire according to former custom, by Royal Letter of 13 August 1681.

Kinross (disambiguation)

Kinross is a town in Scotland.

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