Kinross-shire, officially the County of Kinross, was a county of Scotland. Its county town was Kinross. To the north it bordered Perthshire, to the east and south Fife, and to the west Clackmannanshire. Abolished in 1975, it became part of the former Tayside Region. Since 1996 it has been part of Perth and Kinross council area.
The county was dominated by Loch Leven, a large inland loch, with 2 islands and home to an internationally important nature reserve. One of the islands contains a castle, where Mary Queen of Scots was once held prisoner. Much of the land in Kinross–shire is fertile agricultural land and most of the inhabitants were originally employed on the land. The gently-rolling farmland surrounding Loch Leven gives way to steep, more rugged terrain.
The sherrifdom of Kinross was formed in the thirteenth century when the two parishes of Kinross and Orwell were removed from the Fothriff area of Fife. From 1426 the county returned one member to the Parliament of Scotland. Cleish, Portmoak and Tullibole were added by act of parliament in 1685.
The county suffered a decline in population in the 19th century as its inhabitants migrated to the city to find work in manufacturing etc. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 had created a joint county council for Perthshire and Kinross. The 1971 census recorded a population of 6,423 in the county.
The county became something of a backwater, as the railways were closed in the postwar years. However, in recent years, construction of the M90 motorway north of the Forth Road Bridge has resulted in the area becoming more prominent. Tourism has increased, with visitors attracted by the unspoiled country villages and gently rolling hills reaching the shores of Loch Leven. The villages of Kinnesswood and Scotlandwell are attractive, and there are ancient standing stones at Orwell.
