NIGG

Nigg lies on Nigg Bay near the mouth of the Cromarty Firth. The village faces Cromarty and there is a ferry linking the two during the summer which carries 4 cars and 50 passengers. The village is most notable for a 9th century carved Pictish stone called the Nigg Stone, housed in Nigg Old Church, which, though dating from the 18th century, stands on a site going back to at least the 8th century. The stone is considered to be one of Scotland's greatest art treasures. The bay, which is an RSPB reserve, consists of mudflats, salt marsh and wet grassland. Springtime is the time to come for pink-footed geese and skylarks, while summer brings large numbers of breeding birds such as lapwings and redshanks. From the reserve it is possible to walk over the cliffs to North Sutor, where what remains of the 12th century Dunskeath Castle can be found a mile to the east of Nigg Ferry. Starting out as a motte castle, it was fortified by King William the Lion in 1179. The castle, as well as recalling countless conflicts from the far past, has a reminder of a more recent conflict in the form of a gun emplacement from the Second World War.

Map of the area.

Nigg Ferry Pier - geograph.org.uk - 19216. Photo by Bob Jones, via Wikimedia Commons.