Perthshire. Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; its borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. It was a local government county from 1890 to 1930. Perthshire is known as the big county, owed to its roundness and status as the 4th largest historic county in Scotland. It has a wide variety of landscapes, from the rich agricultural straths in the east, to the high mountains of the southern Highlands. Perthshire was an administrative county between 1890 and 1975, governed by a county council. From 1930 onwards, a joint local government council was formed with the small neighbouring county of Kinross-shire, linking the two. In 1975, the administrative county was superseded by the Local Government Act 1973 and split between the Central and Tayside Regions: West Perthshire was included in the Stirling District of the Central Region. The parish of Muckhart and Glendevon was made part of Clackmannan District Council, also in the Central Region. Longforgan was included in the City of Dundee District, in the Tayside Region. The remainder of Perthshire was combined with Kinross-shire and the Angus parish of Kettins to form the Perth and Kinross District Council in Tayside. The two-tier system introduced in 1975 was superseded by a system of unitary authorities in 1996. The districts of Tayside and Central Scotland all became unitary authorities, with Longforgan being transferred from Dundee to Perth and Kinross. The majority of historic Perthshire lies in Perth and Kinross. The exceptions are the southwestern part that is now in the Stirling council area and a few parishes that are now in Clackmannanshire. Perth and Kinross also contains some areas that were not historically in Perthshire, such as Kinross-shire. The lieutenancy areas in the same area are mostly coterminous with the council areas. Perthshire still exists as a registration county. Prior to the 1890s Perthshire's boundaries were irregular: the parishes of Culross and Tulliallan formed an exclave some miles away from the rest of the county, on the boundaries of Clackmannanshire and Fife; while the northern part of the parish of Logie formed an enclave of Stirlingshire within the county. Following the recommendations of the council boundary commission appointed under the Local Government Act 1889, Culross and Tulliallan were transferred to Fife, and the entire parish of Logie was included in Stirlingshire. The coat of arms of the County of Perth appears to have been granted for use on the colours and standards of the volunteer and militia units of the county raised at the end of the eighteenth century. The Earl of Kinnoull, a native of Perthshire, and commanding officer of the Perthshire Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry, was also Lord Lyon King of Arms at the time, and he presented the arms to the county in 1800. The grant document was discovered in the Lyon Office in 1890, and forwarded to the newly formed Perth County Council. The shield is very similar to the Scottish royal arms, reflecting that Perthshire was the home county of the House of Dunkeld and contains the former royal capital, Scone. Further royal references are made on the canton, which shows Scone Palace surmounted by the Crown of Scotland. The crest is a Highland soldier, reflecting that the famous Black Watch were formed in the county. The supporters are an eagle and a warhorse, the former from the arms of the city of Perth. By the 1890s the county contained the following burghs, which were largely outside the county council's jurisdiction: Royal Burgh of Perth. Burgh of Auchterarder. Burgh of Aberfeldy. Burgh of Abernethy. Burgh of Alyth. Burgh of Blairgowrie. Burgh of Rattray. Burgh of Callander. Burgh of Coupar Angus. Burgh of Crieff. Burgh of Doune. Burgh of Dunblane. The Local Government Act 1929 divided burghs into two classes from 1930: large burghs, which were to gain extra powers from the county council, and small burghs which lost many of their responsibilities. Of the twelve burghs in Perthshire, only Perth was made a large burgh. There were ten small burghs: Blairgowrie and Rattray being united into a single burgh.