KINROSS-SHIRE, county of Scotland, bounded on the north and west by Perthshire, on the south-west by Clackmannan shire, and on the south and east by Fife; area (excluding water) 52,392 acres. Excepting Clackmannanshire it is the smallest county in Scotland in point both of area and of population. In the north and west it includes several summits of the Ochil hills, con sisting of volcanic lava and agglomerates of lower old red sand stone age. In the east are the Lomond hills and in the south Be narty and the Cleish hills, where hard caps of intensive basalt have preserved the soft sandstones and marls of the upper old red sandstone which have been denuded to a lower level in the central lowland or plain of Kinross. Gravel, sand and other glacial de tritus overlie wide areas. The lowland borders Loch Leven (q.v.), which is less noted for scenic beauty than for its historical asso ciations and trout fishing. On the river Devon, which forms part of the boundary with Perthshire, there is beautiful scenery, no tably at the gorge of the Devil's Mill, at Rumbling Bridge (where actually one bridge surmounts another of earlier date), and at Caldron Linn.
The parishes of Kinross and Orwell, previously part of Fife, seem to have been constituted a shire about the middle of the i3th century. At the date of Edward I.'s ordinance for the
government of Scotland (1305) this shire had become an heredi tary sheriffdom, John of Kinross then being named for the office. Close to the town of Kinross, on the margin of Loch Leven, stands Kinross house, built in 1685 by Sir William Bruce for the duke of York (James II.) in case the Exclusion bill should debar him from the throne of England, but the mansion, however, never was occupied by royalty.
More than half of the holdings exceed 5o ac. each. Much of the land has been reclaimed. Oats are the principal crop and wheat is grown. Turnips and potatoes are the chief green crops. The raising of livestock is widely pursued. Many cattle are pas tured on the lowland farms. The number of sheep is high for the area. Tartans, plaids, and other woollens, and linen are manu factured at Kinross and Milnathort (a centre for livestock sales). The L.N.E. railway runs through the county via Kinross with a branch line from Mawcarse Junction.
The population was 7,454 in 1931. The only town, Kinross, had a pop. in 1931 of 2,525. Kinross is the county town and of con siderable antiquity. The county unites with Perthshire to return two members to parliament. It forms a sheriffdom with Fife shire and a sheriff-substitute sits at Kinross.