Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BERNERA
BERVIE
Bernera, an island of Barra parish, Outer Hebrides,
Inverness-shire. It is the southernmost island of the
parish, and lies 14 miles SSW of the southernmost point
of Barra proper. It measures about 1 mile in length
and about f in breadth. It consists of gneiss rock ; and
rises in Barra Head, on the SE side, to a height of 530
feet. Its cliffs on that side have a diversified structure
and a romantic appearance ; are now inclining, now
vertical, now projecting ; here smooth and there fissured ;
in one place massive and continuous, in another pierced
with a cavern and cut into a cove ; and in the summer
months they are inhabited by prodigious numbers of
kittiwakes, guillemots, auks, and puffins. The natives
of the island derive much of their subsistence from the
eggs and the young of these birds ; but in obtaining it,
they do deeds of great daring on the cliffs. Pop. (1861)
34, (1871) 38, (1881) 72.
Bernera, an island and a quoad sacra parish in Harris
parish, Inverness-shire. The island lies in the Sound of
Harris, about 1 mile N of the nearest part of North Uist,
and 5 miles SSW of the nearest part of Harris ; and it
measures about 3J miles in length from NE to SW,
and about 2 miles in breadth. Pop. (1861) 315, (1871)
373, (1881) 452. The parish includes all the other
Harris islands in the Sound of Harris ; was constituted
in 1S45 ; had, in 18S1, a population of 454; and is in
the presbytery of Uist and synod of Glenelg. Its post-
town is Lochmaddy. Stipend, £120. The church is
a Government one, and was built in 1829. There is a
Free Church mission for Bernera and Boreray.
Bernera, Large and Little, two islands of Uig parish,
Outer Hebrides, Ross-shire, in Loch Roag, on the W
of Lewis, 23 miles W of Stornoway. Large Bernera
measures 5§ miles from NW to SE, and from 1£ to 3 J
miles from E to W ; has a jagged outline, with alter-
nations of bays and headlands ; and is surrounded by
an archipelago of islets. Inland the surface, sown with
over 30 lochs, nowhere exceeds 223 feet above sea-level.
A remarkable assemblage of ancient standing stones,
rivalling those of Callernish, crowns the brow of one of
its promontories, and looks in the distance like a ceme-
tery of thickly clustered tombstones. The allignment
of it resembles that of a Roman cross, with a circle
at the intersection ; and is computed to have originally
measured about 6S0 feet along the main line, over 204
along the transverse line, and 189 round the peri-
phery of the circle. Thirty-six stones are still stand-
ing in some or other of its several parts ; but numerous
others lie prostrate in positions showing them to have
been formerly erect, while a good many more are pre-
sumed to have been destroyed ; and all those still on
ground are, more or less, of a megalithic character.
Another stone circle now incomplete, and still another
with a double oval row, are in the neighbourhood of the
great cruciform assemblage ; but they consist of much
smaller stones. Pop. of Large Bernera (1861) 453, (1871)
539, (1881) 596. Little Bernera is a mere islet (1 j x f
mile) lying to the NW of Large Bernera. — Ord. Sur.,
shs. 104, 105, 1858.
Bernisdale, a hamlet, with a public school, in Snizort
parish, Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire. The school, with
accommodation for 120 children, had (1879) an average
attendance of 98, and a grant of £89, 10s.
Berriedale (Old Norse Berudalr), a river of Latheron
parish, SE Caithness, formed 2J miles NW of Morven
(2313 feet) by two head-streams, Feith Gaineimh Mhor
and Feith Chaorunn Mhor, which rise near the Suther-
land border at 1300 feet above sea-level, and have a
respective easterly course of 5 and 3| miles. Thence
it flows 16§ miles E, SE, S, and SE again, receiving 42
burns and rills, and at 3 furlongs from the sea uniting
with Langwell "Water. Small in summer, in winter large
and impetuous, it contains salmon, grilse, and little
trout ; its valley is deep and beautifully wooded. — Ord.
Sur., shs. 109, 110, 1876-77.
Berriedale, a village and a quoad sacra parish in
Latheron, SE Caithness. The village is finely situated
on the northern bank of the confluent Berriedale and
Langwell Waters, within 3 furlongs of the rock-bound
150
coast, and 10 miles NE of Helmsdale station. It has
a post office under Wick, an Established church (1826 ;
312 sittings), and a Free church ; near it are Lang-
well House (Duke of Portland) and the ruins of two
old castles. In one of these, according to tradition,
dwelt William Sutherland, alias ' Big William the son
of Hector, ' who, starting on a raid to the Orkneys with
one of the Earls of Caithness, and knowing that he was
fated never to return, lay down on the greensward above
Berriedale Inn, near the churchyard, and there had the
length of his body cut out in the form of a grave, which
to this day retains the name of the ' Long Grave, ' and
measures 9 feet 5 inches. To the Sinclair Earls of Caith-
ness Berriedale has given the title of Baron since 1455.
The quoad sacra parish, with a stipend of £132, was
constituted in 1846, and had a pop. of 1264 in 1851, of
1194 in 1871, and of 1186 in 1881.
Berry Head, a magnificent rocky promontory at the
southern extremity of Walls, in Orkney. It corresponds,
in some respects, to the opposite promontory of Dunnet
Head, in Caithness.
Berryhill, a place, with a public school, in Canibus-
nethan parish, Lanarkshire. The school, with accom-
modation for 400 children, had (1879) an average attend-
ance of 300, and a grant of £270, 6s.
Berryhill, an estate in Kilsyth parish, Sthiingshire,
If mile NNE of Kilsyth town. Auchinreroch and
Auchenvalley, to the SE of it, belong to the same pro-
prietor. The working of lime was carried on upon it,
but has been relinquished.
Berryhill, an estate, with a mansion, in Peterhead
parish, Aberdeenshire, 2i miles W of Peterhead town.
An ancient camp, J mile NE of the mansion, was almost
obliterated by a road-maker in 1829.
Berryhillock, a village in Deskford parish, N Banff-
shire, 4J miles S of Cullen.
Bertha, a quondam ancient town in Redgorton parish,
Perthshire, on the left bank of the river Almond, at its
influx to the Tay, 2£ miles N by W of Perth. It
appears, on tolerable evidence, to have sprung from the
Roman station of Orrea ; it is regarded by some writers,
but not on good authority, to have been the original
Perth, or, as they call it, Old Perth ; and it was desolated
by a flood in the time of William the Lyon, and has
long been utterly extinct. The flood which destroyed
it imperilled the king's life, and drowned his infant son
and many of the inhabitants. Numerous Roman relics
have been found on its site ; traces of a bridge at it
across the Tay, on the line of the Roman road from
Ardoch to Scone, are still discernible in very low states
of the river ; and a farm on the opposite bank still bears
the name of Rome.
Bertram-Shotts. See Shotts.
Bervie (Gael. bir-bJiuidJic, ' pleasant stream '), a river
of Kincardineshire, formed by four head-streams that
rise in the NE corner of Fordoun parish at an altitude
of some 1200 feet above sea-level. To Bervie Bay it
takes a course of 19£ miles, all of it east-south-eastward,
excepting the 3| miles from Mondynes Bridge to near
Fordoun station, where it bends to the SSW ; and on its
right it has Fordoun, Garvock, and Bervie parishes, on
its left Glenbervie, Arbuthnott, and KinnefT. Its waters
contain trout (running up to 1 lb. ) and sea-trout, with
occasional salmon and grilse ; and its banks are adorned
by the parks of Glenbervie, Kair, Arbuthnott, and Allar-
dice.
Bervie, a coast town and parish of Kincardineshire.
The town, called sometimes Inverbervie, stands on the
southern bank of Bervie Water, 3 furlongs from its
mouth in Bervie Bay, and at the terminus of a section
of the North British railway, 13J miles NNE of Mon-
trose ; while a good bridge across the river, 80 feet high
and of 103 feet span, leads 10 miles north-north-eastward
to Stonehaven. A royal and parliamentary burgh, a
market town, and nominally a seaport, it mainly con-
sists of three small irregular streets, forming three side3
of a rectangle ; and it has a post office under Fordoun,
with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph depart-
ments ; branches of the Aberdeen Town and County