Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

NANT, LOCH
■witches, the place most infested with them being the
neighbourhood of Auldearn. A crazy woman named
Isobel Gowdie made, in 1662, a long confession of the
delinquencies in this connection of herself and many
others. She declared that the body was ' so numerous,
that they were told off into squads and covines, as they
were termed, to each of which were appointed two
officers. One of these was called the Maiden of the
Covine, and was usually like Tam o' Shanter's Nannie,
a girl of personal atti'actions whom Satan placed beside
himself, and treated with particular attention, which
greatly provoked the spite of the old hags, who felt
themselves insulted by the preference. When assembled
they dug up graves ' to possess themselves of the dead
bodies for the purpose of making charms and salves from
the bones. They also metamorphosed themselves into
different forms — crows, cats, and hares, seeming to have
been those most common — and rode on straws, bean-
stalks, and rushes, though seemingly more for their own
pleasure than on business. Satan, according to poor
Isobel's tale, proved but a hard master, scom\ging and
beating them sometimes without mercy, but this not-
withstanding they were always ready to obey his behests,
and do all kind of harm to their neighbours, stealing
their crops, shooting at them with elf-arrows, and
forcing their mischievous way into all houses not fenced
against them by vigil and prayer.
Nant, Loch, a lake in Lorn district, Argyllshire, on
the mutual border of Kilchrenan and Muckairn parishes,
4 mQes NW of Port Sonnachan on Loch Awe. Lying
605 feet above sea-level, it has an utmost length and
breadth of 7J and 2| furlongs, and sends off a rivulet
6J miles northward to Loch Etive. This stream,
running nearly parallel to the river Awe, along a nar-
row thickly-wooded glen, with precipitous sides, makes
several waterfalls, passes Taynuilt village, and during
the lower part of its course takes down the road from
Port Sonnachan to Oban. Like the lake it affords good
trout-fishing. — Ord. Sur., sh. 45, 1876.
Na-Nuagh, Loch, a sea-loch on the mutual border of
Arasaig and Moydart districts, Inverness-shire. Open-
ing opposite Eigg island, it penetrates the land 6J mUes
cast-north-eastward ; has a maximum breadth of 3J
miles ; and sends off, at an acute angle, from its SE
side, a bay, Loch Aylort. See Boerodalb.
Naughton, a mansion in Balmerino parish, Fife, 4J
furlongs S of the Firth of Tay, and 44 miles SW of
Newport. Built towards the close of last century, and
since much altered and improved, it is the seat of Mrs
Duncan-Morison, who holds 1691 acres in the shire,
valued at £3421 per annum. Naughton Castle, to
the N of the mansion, is said to have been built by a
natural son of William the Lyon ; and is now reduced
to a few fragments of the lower parts of the side walls.
Dolhanha, a Culdee establishment, in connection with
that of St Andrews, is stated by Sibbald to have stood
near the Castle's site. The estate belonged so early as
the time of Alexander IIL to the Hays, ancestors of
the noble family of Errol ; went by marriage, in 1494,
to the Crichtons ; and passed by sale, in 1737, to the
Morisons. —Orrf. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.
Naunt, Loch. See Nant, Loch.
Navar. See Lethnot.
Nave or Noamh, an islet of Kilchoman parish, Islay
island, Argyllshire, to the W of the mouth of Loch
Gruinnard, 10 miles N by W of Bowmore. Its name
signifies 'Holy,' and alludes to an ancient church and
a large burying-ground. The church is still repre-
sented by some ruins, and the burying-ground contains
some clay-slate grave-stones, with curious sculptures.
Naver, a lake and a river of Farr parish, Sutherland.
Lying 247 feet above sea-level, and commencing near
Altnaharrow inn, 21 miles N by W of Lairg station
and 17 S by W of Tongue, Loch Naver extends 6J
miles east-north-eastward, and has a maximum breadth
of 4J furlongs. Its depth in some parts is 30 fathoms,
aud Bbnclibrick rises from its southern shore to a
height of 3154 feet. It receives at its head the River
of MuDALE, is fed by sixteen other streams and rivulets,
NEIDPATH CASTLE
and contains near its SE shore a tiny islet, on which is
a circular Pictish tower, built of large stones without
any cement. Its waters are stocked with salmon, grilse,
sea-trout, and trout, but, whilst the trout-fishing is
poor, 52 salmon have been killed by a single rod in
seven weeks. Parts of the shore are pebbly, others
rocky and sandy. The surrounding scenery is of great
beauty. The immediate banks are well tufted with
natural wood, and the surface behind rises generally
into abrupt rocks or low hUls, but soars on the S into
alpine Benclibrick, the second highest mountain in
Sutherland, whilst the backgrounds to E and W are
formed by the gi'and summits of Kildonan and the Reay
country.
The river Naver (the Naharus of Ptolemy) issues from
the foot of Loch Naver, and winds 18J miles north-by-
eastward through broad green meadows or between steep
birch-clad slopes, till it falls into Torrisdale Bay, 9 fur-
longs W of Bettyhill of Farr. It is joined, | mile below
its mouth, by the Abhainn a' Mhail Aird, running 7J
miles north-by-eastward from Loch CoRR, and, lower
down, by forty-six lesser streams and rivulets. The
Naver, as a salmon river, is the earliest and by far the
best of aU the rivers in the N of Sutherland, its six
' beats ' letting each for £100 a year. Its vale, Strath-
naver, the finest strath perhaps in the county, contains
a considerable extent of fertile haughland, a mixture of
sand, gravel, and moss, which for many years prior to
1820 was cultivated by upwards of 300 families. But
since the famous Sutherland 'evictions,' brought freshly
to mind by Prof. Blackie and Mr SeUar, Strathnaver
has been wholly pastoral. — Ord. Sur., shs. 108, 109, 115,
114, 1878-80.
Navity, a mansion in Cromarty parish, 2J miles S o'
the town.
Neartay, a small island in the Sound of Harris, Outer
Hebrides, Inverness-shire, 2J miles N of North Uist,
and 3 E of Bernera.
Neaty, Loch. See Kiltaelity.
Needle's Eye. See Gambib.
Neidpath Castle, an old baronial fortalice in Peebles
parish, Peeblesshire, on the Tweed's N bank, 1 mile to
the W of Peebles town. It is the strongest and most
massive of the numerous feudal strengths still extant in
Peeblesshire ; and, though ruinous and partly fallen, it
still exhibits an imposing quadrangular pile. Its walls
are 11 feet thick, and consist of grey^vacke stones held
together by a cement as hard almost as themselves.
The castle stands on a rock at the lower end of a wide
semicircular bend of the murmuring Tweed. The con-
cave bank, or that on the side of the castle, is very
steep, and of great height ; the convex bank commences
with a little plain half encircled by the river, and rises
in a bold and beautiful headland, which seems to stand
sentinel over the bend. Amidst this scene, the castle
commands, on the NW side, an important pass ; and,
on the E, it overlooks the opening vale of the 'Tweed
and the bridge and town of Peebles. Sings Pennicuik
in his Descri2Mon of Twecddale : —
' The noble Nidpatli Peebles overlooks.
With its fair bridge, and Tweed's meandering brooks.
Upon a rock it proud and stately stands,
And to the fields about gives forth commands.'
The woods which embowered the castle were felled by
'Old Q.,' the last Duke of Queensberry, either meanly
to impoverish the estate before it should faD to the heir
of entail, or to iling what he could in the lap of his
natural daughter. Wordsworth, who came hither with
his sister Dorothy on 18 Sept. 1803, has thus denounced
this act of vandalism :
* Degenerate Douglas ! thou unworthy Lord,
Whom mere despite of heart could so far please,
And love of havoc (for with such disease
Fame taxes him), that he could send forth word
To level with the dust a noble horde,
A brotherhood of venerable trees.
Leaving an ancient dome and towers like these,
Beggar'd and outraged ! Many hearts deplored
The fate of those old trees ; and oft with pain