Cromarty

Cromarty, the county town of Cromartyshire, on the southern shore of the Cromarty Firth, 2 miles from its entrance, and 19 NNE. of Inverness. Nothing remains of the old stronghold of the Urquharts, the most famous of whom was Rabelais' translator, Sir Thomas. From him the estate came to the second son of that Sir George Mackenzie who in 1685 was created Viscount Tarbat, and in 1703 Earl of Cromarty—a title forfeited by the third earl for his share in the '45, but revived in 1861 in favour of his descendant, the Duchess of Sutherland, who, dying in 1888, was succeeded therein by her second surviving son, Francis. In 1859 a statue was erected of Hugh Miller (q.v.). The population has dwindled from 2215 in 1831 to 1338 in 1891, though with Wick and four other burghs Cromarty still returns a member to parliament.—CROMARTY FIRTH, a land-locked inlet on the north-east coast of Scotland, extends 19½ miles north-eastward and eastward to the Moray Firth, and is inclosed by the counties of Ross and Cromarty. It forms a noble harbour, 1 mile to 7½ miles broad, and 5 to 35 fathoms deep; receives at its head the Conon; and narrows at its entrance to 7 furlongs, between the beetling North and South Sutlors, 400 and 463 feet high. On its shores are the towns of Dingwall, Invergordon, and Cromarty (the last has declined with the rise of the second); the old red sandstone near its mouth is classic as Hugh Miller's hunting-ground.—CROMARTYSHIRE, once a Scottish county, 369 sq. m. in area, consisting of ten detached portions scattered up and down Ross-shire (q.v.), with which it was incorporated by the Local Government Act of 1889. It comprised the ancient sheriffdom of Cromarty, and outlying bits annexed thereto towards the close of the 17th century at the instigation of Viscount Tarbat, who wished thus to hold jurisdiction over every part of his estates.—See Sir W. Fraser's Earls of Cromarty (2 vols. 1876).