Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire (/ˈrɛnfruːʃɪər, -ʃər/) (Scots: Renfrewshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
For the historic county and lieutenancy area, see Renfrewshire (historic).
Renfrewshire
Siorrachd Rinn Friù
United Kingdom
Lorraine Cameron
Iain Nicolson (SNP)
101.0 sq mi (261.5 km2)
179,940
1,800/sq mi (690/km2)
S12000038
GB-RFW
The council area has the same name as the historic county of Renfrewshire, which had been abolished for local government purposes in 1975, but the modern council area only covers the central part of the historic county. The eastern part of the pre-1975 county is covered by the East Renfrewshire council area, and the western part by the Inverclyde council area.
Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City council area, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde. The current council area of Renfrewshire was established in 1996.
The term Renfrewshire may also be used to refer to the larger historic county, which was established in the fifteenth century. The three council areas of Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, and East Renfrewshire together form the Renfrewshire lieutenancy area. The same area also has a joint valuation board area for electoral registration and local tax valuation purposes. The three council areas together are sometimes referred to as Greater Renfrewshire to distinguish them from the council area called Renfrewshire.
The town of Paisley is the area's main settlement and centre of local government. The area also contains the historic county town of Renfrew.
Toponymy[edit]
The name Renfrewshire derives from being the shire (the area controlled by a sheriff) administered from the royal burgh of Renfrew. The name Renfrew has been attested since the Roman occupation of Britain. The name is believed to originate from Common Brittonic/Cumbric, from ren, as in Scottish Gaelic: rinn, or as in Welsh: rhyn (a point or cape of land) and from frew, as in Welsh: fraw, or ffrau (flow of water). This suggests a point of land near the flow of water, such as at the confluence of the Cart and Clyde rivers.[1]
Wider politics[edit]
UK Parliament[edit]
The two parliamentary constituencies covering Renfrewshire are Paisley and Renfrewshire North and Paisley and Renfrewshire South, being represented by Gavin Newlands and Mhairi Black respectively. Created in 2005, both seats and their predecessor constituencies had traditionally been safe seats for the Labour Party, until the Scottish National Party gained them with swings of over 26% in the SNP landslide at the 2015 general election. Although both constituencies were only marginally held by the party over Labour at the 2017 snap election, they returned to safe SNP majorities in the 2019 general election.