Nairnshire

Nainrshire is one of the smallest of the traditional counties in Scotland, and the smallest of the Highland Counties. It is found in the north of Scotland, between Inverness-shire and Moray. For most of its life, it worked in partnership with the Moray County Council, but this link was broken in 1975 when Nairn became a district of Highland Region and Moray of Grampian Region, it lost its district council status twenty years later.

Geography & Economy

Nairnshire is a very small county, where most of the population have always lived in the county town of Nairn. Indeed, outwith the town only Cawdor and Auldearn can really be called villages, the other larger settlements in the area, such as Croy and Ardersier, being included in Inverness-shire, which has a ragged border here. The town has long been a fishing port, and the rural county to the south a rich farming land. The higher ground now gives way to forestry on the hills, with open moorland beyond.

With the growth of Inverness to the west, the whole county is now firm commuter belt for the Highland Capital, and there are a number of planning proposals for vast new developments, perhaps even a new town, on the A96 corridor between Nairn and Inverness.

Roads

The B9092 looking towards Nairn

Unlike the wild and scenic Highland counties to the west, the low lying county of Nairn does not have to rely on coastal roads and mountain passes. The road network is therefore comparatively dense, with a network of B roads and unclassified routes feeding in to the two main A roads in the county - the A96 and the A939. Nairn itself is a bit of a bottleneck on the A96 trunk road at times, but plans are now progressing for a bypass of the whole A96 route through the county, including a second bypass for Auldearn.

All non-trunk roads within the traditional county are maintained by Highland Council. The A96 is the only Trunk road in the county, and is managed by Transport Scotland.

Route	From	To	Length
A96	Inverness	Aberdeen	101.5 miles	View
A939	Nairn	Ballater	59.6 miles	View
A939	Nairn	Grantown on Spey	23.5 miles	View
A939	Nairn	Ballater	59.6 miles	View
B9006	Inverness	Fort George	15.1 miles	View
B9007	Duthil	Logie	18.5 miles	View
B9090	Nairn	Brackley	8.7 miles	View
B9091	Nairn	Croy	7.0 miles	View
B9092	Ardersier	Delnies	4.6 miles	View
B9101	Auldearn	Geddes	3.7 miles	View
B9111	Auldearn By Pass(W)	Auldearn	0.9 miles	View
T30	Perth	Inverness		View

Key

Motorway

Primary Route

Non Primary Route

Former Motorway

Defunct Route

E Road

Future Motorway

Future Primary

Future Non Primary

Historical Route

Tourist Route

Roman Road

Unbuilt Motorway

Unbuilt Primary

Unbuilt Non Primary

National Cycle Network

Cycle Route

Eurovelo Cycle Route

Junctions

Main Article: Junctions in Nairnshire

Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings

Main Article: Crossings in Nairnshire