Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

NAIRNSHIRE
Grass, Root Crops, etc. — Acres.
Year.
Hay, Grass, and
Permanent Pasture.
Turnips.
Potatoes.
1S54. . .
1S67, . .
1877, . .
1SS3, . .
10,694
11,758
12,418
4467
3S93
4085
4133
1642
666
785
672
■while there are about 300 acres on an average annually
under beans, rye, vetches, fallow, etc. The permanent
pasture not broken up in rotation is a little over 2000
acres. There has been, as in most of the other northern
counties, a very great decrease in the area under wheat,
and if the return for 1854 be correct, there has within the
last 30 years been a decrease of 3000 acres in the area under
cultivation. The farms are mostly worked on the five
shift system, and the average yield of wheat per acre is
28 bushels ; barley, 32 to 40 bushels ; oats, 28 to 40
bushels ; turnips, from 12 to 20 tons ; and potatoes, from
4 to 5 tons, but the latter two are very variable.
The agricultural live stock in the county at different
dates is shown in the following table : —
Tear.
Cattle.
Horses.
Sheep. Pigs.
Total.
1854, . .
1870, . .
1877, . .
1883, . .
8304
6506
6513
5676
1826
1123
1247
1292
28,230
17,278
16,971
16,799
1489
733
932
926
39,849
24,640
25,663
24,693
The early returns seem again faulty. Not much at-
tention is given to the breeding of pure stock, and the
cattle are mostly crosses. The sheep in the lowlands
are mostly Leicesters, though Cheviots are also kept ;
those in the uplands are blackfaced. The farms are
generally held on leases of 19 years. There were in the
county, in 1881, 259 farmers employing 354 men, 90
boj's, 67 women, and 147 girls. There were at the same
time 31 farms under 15 acres, 55 between 15 and 60
acres, 59 between 50 and 100 acres, 92 between 100 and
500 acres, and 21 of larger size. There are in the
parishes of Ardclach, Auldearn, Cawdor, and Nairn, 15
proprietors holding each an annual value of £500 or
upwards, 23 holding each between £500 and £100, 30
holding each between £100 and £50, and 63 holding
each between £50 and £20. The principal mansions,
most of which are separately noticed, are Achareidh,
Boath, Cawdor Castle, Coulmony, Delnies House, Fir
Hall, Geddes House, Glenferness House, Househill, Ivy-
bank, Eilravock Castle, Kinsteary, Lethen House, Mill-
bank, Nairngrove, Nairnside, Newton, and Viewfield.
Manufactures there are practically none, except at
Brackla Distillery, 3| miles SW of the town of Nairn ;
and besides agriculture, and those connected with the
town and the coast fishings, the only industries are the
sandstone and granite quarries — the latter at Kinsteary,
opened up in 1872.
Soads, etc. — The Perth and Forres section of the
Highland railway touches the E border of the first
detached section described, and the Forres and Inver-
ness section of the same system traverses the whole
main part of the county from E to W near the coast
for a distance of 8J mDes. The main coast road from
Inverness to Aberdeen passes along near the line of
railway from the town of Nairn ; a good road strikes
south-westward to Croy, and another south-eastward by
Bridge of Logie (Findhorn) to the road from Forres to
Grantown. From a point 1 mile S of Bridge of
Logie a branch goes off to the NE and joins the Forres
road, while another passes S by W to Duthil. General
Wade's military road from the Highland road to Fort
George enters the county i mile W by S of Lochan
Tutach, and, crossing the Findhorn at Dulsie, passes
through the centre of the county in a north-westerly
direction till it enters Inverness-shire, 1 furlong SE of
Fort George railway station. There are also a large
number of good district roads.
NAIRNSHIRE
The only royal or police burgh is Nairn ; the only-
burgh of barony or village with more than 300 inhabi-
tants is Auldearn ; and the principal smaller villages are-
Cawdor, Delnies, and Newton. The civil county com-
prises the three entire quoad dvilia parishes of Nairn,
Auldearn, and Ardclach, the greater part of Cawdor
(shared with Inverness-shire), and smaller portions of
the parishes of Dyke (shared with Elginshire), Moy,
Croy, Petty and Daviot (also shared with Inverness-
shire), and Urquhart (shared with Eoss-shire). The
parishes of Ardclach, Auldearn, Cawdor, Croy, and
Nairn are ecclesiastically in the presbytery of Nairn,
in the synod of Moray ; the portions of Daviot, Moy,
and Petty, in the presbytery of Inverness and the synod
of Moray ; the portion of Dyke, in the presbytery of
Forres and the synod of Moray ; and the part of
Urquhart, in the presbytery of Dingwall, in the synod of
Ross. Within the limits of the county there are 5-
places of worship connected with the Established.
Church, 4 in connection with the Free Church, 1 in con-
nection with the U.P. Church, 1 in connection with the
Scottish Episcopal Church, 1 in connection with the
English Episcopal Church, and 1 in connection with the
Roman Catholic Church. In the year ending Sept. 1882
there were 16 schools (15 public), which, with accom-
modation for 2047 children, had 1590 on the rolls, and.
an average attendance of 1173. Their staff consisted
of 20 certificated and 8 pupil teachers. Nairnshire,
with a constituency of 300 in 1883-84, unites with Elgin
in returning a member to serve in parliament. The
county is governed by a lord-lieutenant, 13 deputy
lieutenants, and 31 justices of the peace. It forms a
part of the sheriffdom of Inverness, Elgin, and Nairn,
but there is now no resident sheriff-substitute, the office
being conjoined with that of Elginshire. Ordinary and
small debt courts are held at Nairn weekly on Friday
during session ; justice of peace courts are held as re-
quired ; and quarter-sessions are held at Nairn on the
first Tuesdays of March, May, and August, and on the
last Tuesday of October. There is a police force of 7
men (1 to each 1493 of the population) under a chief
constable, with a salary of £135 a year. In 1883 the
number of persons tried at the instance of the police
was 109, convicted 99, committed for trial 5, not dealt
with 38. The number of registered poor on the roll at
14 May 1883 was 273, and of casual poor 43. The
expenditure for Poor Law purposes in the same
year was £2641. The Poor-law combination has been
noticed under the parish of Nairn. The proportion of
illegitimate births averages about 10 per cent. The
death-rate averages about 13 per thousand. Valuation
(1674) £1264, (1815) £14,902, (1849) £20,156, (1S62)
£25,982, (1884) £37,143, of which £2085 is for the
railway. Pop. of registration county, which takes in the
part of Croy in Inverness-shire, but gives off all the other
portions of parishes, (1871) 8372, (1881) 8847 ; of civil
county (1801) 8322, (1811) 8496, (1821) 9286, (1831)
9354, (1841) 9217, (1851) 9956, (1861) 10,065, (1871)
10,225, (1881) 10,455, of whom 4979 were males, 5476
females, and 1980 Gaelic-speaking. In 1881 the
number of persons to each square mile was 58, the
number of families 2368, the number of houses 2094,
and the number of rooms 8578. Of the whole popula-
tion 1288 men and 237 women were, in 1881, engaged
in occupations connected with farming and fishing, of
whom 950 men and 128 women were connected with
farming alone, whOe 992 men and 212 women were
engaged in industrial occupations ; and there were 1435
boys and 1463 girls of school age.
The county of Nairn seems to have been separated
from Inverness in the second half of the 13th century.
Such separate history as the district has is noticed for
general purposes in the article Moray and separate
incidents ; and the antiquities are noticed in the articles
on the separate parishes, as well as in those on-
CuLLODEN and Kilravock. During the clan period
the ' laich ' was held by the Earl of Moray, and the
upper districts by the Mackintoshes. In the middle of
the 17th century Nairnshire was celebrated for its
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