THE number of Orange walks in Scotland are still increasing after a decline caused by Covid-19 restrictions - but how many of them will be in your local council area this year?
We told in an exclusive Sunday National investigation how Orange walks in Scotland are still on the rise, but marches are declining in Glasgow as they see a boost in neighbouring local authorities.
And now, we can reveal exactly how many Orange Order and loyalist processions will be held in each local authority across Scotland in 2023.
Overall, Scotland will see 213 loyalist processions across 16 local authority areas. This is an increase from 184 parades in 2022, held in 15 local authorities.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, there were 414 loyalist parades across Scotland, with almost half (192) in Glasgow, which has historically held a higher number of marches.
While still topping the list this year of the number of processions notified to each local authority, Glasgow has seen a decrease in the number overall to 58 loyalist parades (27%).
In 2022, Glasgow saw 81 Orange walks (44%), and 20 in 2021 (45%), after pandemic restrictions were lifted.
Elsewhere, North Lanarkshire will see 36 Orange walks (+6), 35 in South Lanarkshire (+14), 22 in Falkirk (+10), and 14 in Renfrewshire (+10).
West Lothian, which had 20 loyalist walks registered with the local authority last year and came third in our 2022 rankings, saw the number drop to 11 (-9).
The figures this year also saw Highland appear on the list for the first time since 2019, with two Orange walks scheduled for this year.
The number of loyalist marches in Falkirk have also returned to pre-pandemic levels - with 22 registered this year, the same number as 2019.
The interactive graph above contains figures for 2019 (pre-pandemic) 2021, 2022 and 2023.
You can click each council area individually to see the change in the number of Orange walks over time. There were no parades held in 2020 as the country was under Level 3 and 4 lockdown restrictions during marching season.
Almost all of the council areas which held Orange walks in 2019 have processions scheduled for this year.
Stirling, which had two walks in 2019 and one in 2021, East Renfrewshire, which saw five in 2019 and two last year, and Angus, one loyalist parade in 2019, have none registered to take place in 2023.
