The five Forfar burghs were all located in Forfarshire, to the north of the Firth of Tay, but they differed markedly in character. The largest was Dundee, which had a population of around 12,000 in 1639, and was about the same size as the cities of Aberdeen and Glasgow.
The constituency known as Peebles (or Haddington) Burghs was made up of seven royal burghs spread across five shires in south-east Scotland: Haddington and the ports of Dunbar and North Berwick in Haddingtonshire, Peebles in Peebleshire, Selkirk in Selkirkshire, Lauder in Berwickshire and the border town of Jedburgh in Roxburghshire. The seven burghs varied greatly in size, prosperity and status.
The shires of Elgin (or Moray) and Nairn were situated on the southern coast of the Moray Firth, to the east of Invernessshire and the west of Banffshire. Nairnshire was the smaller of the two, and was assessed at less than a third of the value of Elginshire in 1657. A. and O. Apart from size, the two shires were very similar. Both consisted of a wide coastal plain, rising to mountains in the south, and they were crossed by rivers running from the high ground into the Firth, including the River Nairn, the River Findhorn and the River Lossie.
The three shires of Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty formed a large part of northern Scotland, from the burgh of Cromarty on the Moray Firth to the east to Gairloch on the west coast, and north, through a region of high mountains and deep glens, to the exposed cliffs of Cape Wrath. The shire of Ross also included the Hebridean island of Lewis, to the north west.
Perthshire straddled central Scotland, the northern two-thirds forming part of the highlands and the southern third part of the lowlands. This division gave the shire a strategic importance as a frontier zone. Its main town, Perth (also known as St Johnston) lay at the confluence of the valleys of the Rivers Tay and Earn, which formed the major routes into the highlands through the glens, towards the endemically violent and unstable areas of Invernessshire and Argyllshire to the north and west respectively.
Berwickshire, in the south-eastern corner of Scotland, was separated from England only by the River Tweed. Berwickshire’s strategic importance gave it a distinctive, marcher character. The town of Berwick had been in English hands since the middle ages, and although remaining the most important economic centre in the area, it became isolated from the social and political life of the shire. Without its county town, Berwickshire fell under the sway of powerful noble interests, encouraged by a Scottish crown concerned for the security of its southern border.
County Dublin formed the hinterland of the Irish capital and was comparable to Middlesex in terms of size and economic dependence on its capital city. CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 699. With its good agricultural land and proximity to the markets of Dublin, the county was one of the most prosperous in Ireland, and in the middle ages had become a stronghold of Old English families such as the Fitzwilliams, Barnewalls, Luttrells, Plunketts and Talbots.
Belfast and Carrickfergus were the two most important towns on the east coast of Ulster. Carrickfergus, on the northern side of Belfast Lough, had been an important military outpost and naval base since the Anglo-Normans built a castle there in the twelfth century. The town had been granted a new charter in 1569, and thereafter continued to prosper, especially under the auspices of its Jacobean patron, Sir Arthur Chichester. P. Robinson, Carrickfergus (Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no.
The city of Limerick had been the dominant settlement of south-west Ireland since the middle ages. Its position, straddling the River Shannon between counties Limerick and Clare, and the strength of its walls and castle, gave it strategic, as well as commercial, importance. Granted its charter as a city by James I, thereafter it was governed by a mayor, two sheriffs and 12 aldermen, usually drawn from a small group of Old English families which had come to dominate its trade. J.
The four counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Queen’s and Wexford formed the south-east corner of Ireland, but their similarity was geographical rather than social or political in character. Each county represented a different stage in the history of English colonization in Ireland.
