Administrative Boundary of Aberdeenshire

About Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is a council area in north-east Scotland, surrounding the city of Aberdeen on three sides and stretching from the North Sea coast to the Grampian Mountains. Covering approximately 6,313 square kilometres, Aberdeenshire had a population of approximately 261,000 at the 2022 Census, with Aberdeen city itself administered separately. The Castle Trail and Royal Deeside Aberdeenshire has the highest concentration of castles anywhere in Britain, with more than 300 surviving castles and tower houses forming the basis of the region's official Castle Trail. Balmoral Castle, on Royal Deeside near Ballater, has been a private residence of the British Royal Family since Prince Albert purchased the estate for Queen Victoria in 1852; the surrounding 20,000-hectare Balmoral Estate remains a working estate and the Royal Family's Scottish home, and the nearby Royal Lochnagar distillery holds a royal warrant dating from an 1848 visit by Victoria and Albert. Dunnottar Castle, a dramatically ruined clifftop fortress near Stonehaven, is where the Honours of Scotland — the Scottish Crown Jewels — were hidden and successfully protected from Oliver Cromwell's invading army during an eight-month siege in 1651–52. Fishing Villages and Whisky Aberdeenshire's coastline is dotted with historic fishing villages, including Pennan and Crovie, whose harbours and cottages are wedged dramatically beneath sea cliffs. The region also forms part of Speyside's whisky-producing hinterland, and its fertile farmland supports one of Scotland's most productive agricultural sectors alongside a growing renewable energy industry. GIS and Boundary Data The administrative boundary of Aberdeenshire Council is available for free download in GeoJSON and KML formats, sourced from the OS Open Geography portal (Crown copyright 2024). Compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, Mapbox, and Google Earth, the dataset supports castle heritage mapping, royal estate research, coastal planning, and demographic analysis across the Aberdeenshire council area.

📍 Administrative boundary of Aberdeenshire county