County town: Lanark
Lanarkshire was established as a sheriffdom from the 12th century, centred on Lanark, one of Scotland's oldest burghs. It incorporated the Clyde valley from its upper reaches to Glasgow.
Lanarkshire encompasses the entire Clyde valley from the upper river's dramatic Falls of Clyde at New Lanark to the city of Glasgow. New Lanark, Robert Owen's model industrial village of the early 19th century, is a World Heritage Site — one of the most important early experiments in humane capitalism. The upper Clyde valley was famous for its orchards and market gardens before the industrial revolution transformed it. Glasgow, technically in Lanarkshire, became the second city of the British Empire in the 19th century, its shipyards and heavy engineering at the heart of British industrial power. William Wallace, Scotland's national hero, was born in the county.
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland — the Old Statistical Account (1791–99) and the New Statistical Account (1834–45) — provide detailed parish-by-parish descriptions of Lanarkshire at two moments of transformation. Aubrey draws on these accounts when generating reports for Scottish locations, providing historical context specific to the parish and county.
Scotland's 33 traditional counties, established as sheriffdoms from the 12th century onward, were the administrative framework of the country until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 replaced them with regional councils. They remain the reference framework for historical records, genealogy, and cultural identity.
This page introduces the historic county of Lanarkshire. A full Aubrey report for a location within it pulls together everything the record actually holds about that ground, from the geology beneath it to the last coin dropped in a field:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Read in-depth research reports on notable historical places across the UK — explore →
Lanarkshire contains 215 scheduled monuments — sites of national importance protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Browse scheduled monuments in ScotlandAn Aubrey report for a specific location in Lanarkshire draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data, Statistical Account records, and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.