County Dossier
Sutherland
A Highland county of wild coasts and Norse roots.
Sutherland is a maritime county at Scotland’s northern tip, stretching from the Atlantic to the North Sea. Its rugged Highlands feature mountains, moorlands, and a dramatic coastline.
At a glance
Sutherland at a glance
A Highland county of wild coasts and Norse roots.
- Norse “southern land”
- Shire from the 13th century
- Dornoch = county town
- Area: 2,028 sq miles / 5,252 sq km
- Population: 12,803
- County Top: Ben More Assynt (3,274ft / 998m)
County Geography
Sutherland meets Caithness to the north-east and Ross-shire and Cromartyshire to the south and south-west, while the Atlantic and North Sea frame the county’s western, northern, and eastern sides. The county is shaped by Cape Wrath and the north coast, the Dornoch Firth and Kyle of Sutherland on the east, the west-coast sea lochs, and the inland mass of moor and mountain.
Long coast, sea-loch indentation, and vast interior moorland give Sutherland a strong Highland county form.
Map Reference
View Sutherland on the map
Sutherland is the county. The map also shows lieutenancies and council areas that use the county name.
The county.
The lieutenancy.
Council areas.
Places and routes
Dornoch, Tongue, Durness, Lochinver, and Lairg show the county from east-coast cathedral town and north-coast settlements to the west-coast side and the inland loch country.
Connections
The county’s routes have long followed the east coast, touched the north-coast inlets, and crossed the interior around Loch Shin and the upper straths. Movement follows the same coast, firth, loch, and interior pattern.
Names
- Sutherland
- County of Sutherland
- Cataibh
Cataibh is the Gaelic form of Sutherland. County of Sutherland is the formal historical style, while charters preserve forms such as Sudrland and point back to the county’s Norse naming from a northern viewpoint.
The shire took shape in the thirteenth century, with Dornoch as its county town in the east-coast part of the county. Coast, loch, and inland geography still give Sutherland a clear historic-county shape.