Small burgh

Small burghs were units of local government in Scotland created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 in 1930.

The Act reclassified existing burghs into two classes, large and small burghs. While large burghs became largely independent of the county councils of the county in which they lay, small burghs lost many of their powers to the county authority. Small burghs were responsible for such matters as housing, lighting and street cleaning and drainage. Police forces maintained by small burghs were merged with the county force.

Small burghs were abolished in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, with the administration of their areas passing to new district councils within the regions, or to islands area councils established under the Act. In many cases community councils were established to represent the views of the townspeople.

List of small burghs in 1975

This is a list of small burghs as they existed on abolition in 1975, along with the district and region to which the area of the burgh passed. Royal burghs are marked with a dagger†:

Aberdeenshire

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Ballater	Grampian	Kincardine and Deeside
Ellon	Grampian	Gordon
Huntly	Grampian	Gordon
Inverurie†	Grampian	Gordon
Kintore†	Grampian	Gordon
Old Meldrum	Grampian	Gordon
Peterhead	Grampian	Banff and Buchan
Rosehearty	Grampian	Banff and Buchan
Turriff	Grampian	Banff and Buchan

Ayrshire

Small Burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Girvan	Strathclyde	Kyle & Carrick
Irvine	Strathclyde	Cunninghame
Kilwinning	Strathclyde	Cunninghame

Banffshire

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Aberchirder	Grampian	Banff and Buchan
Aberlour	Grampian	Moray
Banff†	Grampian	Banff and Buchan
Buckie	Grampian	Moray
Cullen†	Grampian	Moray
Dufftown	Grampian	Moray
Findochty	Grampian	Moray
Fraserburgh	Grampian	Banff and Buchan
Keith	Grampian	Moray
Macduff	Grampian	Banff and Buchan
Portknockie	Grampian	Moray
Portsoy	Grampian	Banff and Buchan

Caithness

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Thurso	Highland	Caithness
Wick†	Highland	Caithness

Inverness-shire

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Fort William	Highland	Lochaber
Kingussie	Highland	Badenoch and Strathspey

Moray

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Burghead	Grampian	Moray
Elgin†	Grampian	Moray
Forres†	Grampian	Moray
Grantown-on-Spey	Highland	Badenoch and Strathspey
Lossiemouth and Branderburgh	Grampian	Moray
Rothes	Grampian	Moray

Nairnshire

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Nairn†	Highland	Nairn

Orkney

Small burgh	Islands area 1975
Kirkwall†	Orkney Islands

Ross and Cromarty

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Cromarty	Highland	Ross and Cromarty
Dingwall†	Highland	Ross and Cromarty
Fortrose†	Highland	Ross and Cromarty
Invergordon	Highland	Ross and Cromarty
Stornoway	Western Isles islands area
Tain†	Highland	Ross and Cromarty

Sutherland

Small burgh	Region 1975	District 1975
Dornoch†	Highland	Sutherland

Zetland

Small burgh	Islands area 1975
Lerwick	Shetland