The word shire is of Old
English origin and meant office, charge, administration. The Norman
Conquest introduced the word county—through French from the Latin
comitatus, which in mediaeval documents designates the shire. County is
the district ruled by a count, the king’s comes, the equivalent of the
older English term earl. This system of local administration entered
Scotland as part of the Anglo-Norman influence that strongly affected
our country after the year iioo.
The number of counties has not always been the same, nor have the
boundaries always been as they are now. Geographically Kincardineshire
and Forfarshire are one; and in a very old account of the district it is
stated that “Angus and Mearns were united and both called by the same
name.” The official who represented the King’s authority was the
Shire-reeve or Sheriff, but sheriffdoms were modified in number and area
from time to time as was found convenient. Early in the fourteenth
century there were at least twenty-five counties in Scotland, at the
present time there are thirty-three.
The county was manifestly named from Kincardine in Fordoun parish, once
a town with a royal residence. The name Kincardine is taken to mean “the
end of the high land,” i.e. where the Grampians terminate. Kincardine
occurs frequently as a place name along the east of Scotland from
Ross-shire to Fife ; and, with the exception of Kincardine-on-Forth, it
regularly designates a place at the end or the side of hills.
The county is often spoken of as “ The Mearns,” although this is not
strictly accurate. The Mearns constitutes the district of the county
south of the Grampians. The Howe of the Mearns is really a continuation
of the great valley of Strathmore. Like “The Merse” and “The Lothians,”
we say “The Mearns,” not “Mearns” alone. The etymology of Mearns is
disputed. A tradition is that Kenneth II., in the ninth century, divided
this region into two, bestowing them on his brothers AEneas and Mernas,
whence they were called respectively Angus and Mearns.
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