Ordnance Survey large scale Scottish town plans, 1847-1895
NAIRN (surveyed in 1867-8)
Nairn is situated
around the estuary of the River Nairn on the Moray Firth coast, about fifteen
miles north-east of Inverness. The word 'Nairn' is believed to be of pre-Celtic
origin, and its meaning is unknown, although it is known that the name belonged
first to the river, and was later applied to the town. Around 1200 the town was
known as 'Invernaren', (meaning mouth of the Naren or Nairn), but by the
sixteenth century this had been shortened to 'Narne', later Nairn. Nairn was
chartered as a royal burgh in 1189, and replaced nearby Auldearn as the caput
or centre of the small Sheriffdom of Nairnshire in 1204. Like its neighbours
Inverness, Forres and Elgin, Nairn was affected by the raiding and feuding that
went on among nearby Highland clans and landowners, suffering theft and the
destruction of some of its buildings. It developed less successfully as an
economic centre than the three nearby royal burghs, although by the mid
nineteenth century it had a fairly significant fishing industry. The population
of the parliamentary burgh of Nairn in 1861 was measured at 3,435.
The centre of Nairn
is atypical of early Scottish planned burghs, in that its High Street, or main
street, is of a consistent width for most of its length, rather than broadening
out to an open marketplace at one end. The existing courthouse and county
buildings (sheet I.16.2.), built in 1818, are situated halfway down the High
Street, apparently on the site of the original tolbooth, which was first
mentioned in records of Nairn in the sixteenth century. A replacement for the
original market cross stands outside the courthouse, suggesting that the
marketplace was situated in the centre of the High Street, in front of the
tolbooth. A royal castle existed in Nairn until the fourteenth century, and is
believed to have stood between the north-east end of the High Street and the
river, just a few yards to the south-west of the principal crossing over the
Nairn (sheet I.12.23).
The Statistical Account of 1845 points out
that 'The landward trade of Nairn must always be circumscribed by the nearness
of the Highlands on the south, and by the vicinity of Inverness on the west,
and of Forres and Findhorn on the east'. Modest produce markets were held on
Tuesdays and Fridays, and a corn market on Thursdays; horse and cattle fairs
were held five or six times a year. The main imports into Nairn in the 1850s
were coal, lime and groceries, and the main exports were fish and fir timber.
By the 1860s there was a brewery in the town, but there was little other
significant industry in the town itself, other than that connected with the
maintenance of the fishing fleet and processing of catches.
Probably the best
farming land in the parish of Nairn was that immediately adjacent to the burgh,
and this was the land that commanded the highest rents. As with much of the
rest of Scotland, the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries saw much
land improvement in Nairnshire, and the chief improver in the area is named in
the Statistical Account as William
Mackintosh of Geddes, who acquired lands in 1822 and found that the fields of
the tenant farmers had been badly neglected by the previous owner. Mackintosh's
improvements included draining, liming and enclosing fields, building proper
farm-steadings and planting trees, and in addition to increasing the overall
productivity of the land, he also added thirty newly cultivated areas to his
property. The staple crops in the area appear to have been corn and wheat, and
corn and flour mills stood on the River Nairn. Fishing was probably a more
significant industry than farming in Nairn's hinterland. By 1850, over 400
fishermen and 60 fishing vessels operated out of Nairn. Haddock and cod were
the predominant types of fish caught in the waters around Nairn, but during the
herring season many members of the Nairn fleet went further north to
participate in the Caithness herring fishings, which were extremely lucrative
during various periods of the nineteenth century. There was also a small salmon
fishery on the River Nairn.
The parish church
which existed when Nairn was surveyed occupied a site by the river, south east
of the High Street (sheet I.16.3). Built in 1811 to replace an earlier church
on the same site, the parish church was eventually abandoned when it developed
structural problems in the 1880s, and new one built on a different site. Other
denominations represented in Nairn during the 1850s included the Free Church,
United Presbyterians, Independents, Scottish Episcopalians and English
Episcopalians.
The principal school
in Nairn in the mid-nineteenth century was Rose's Academical Institution,
founded in 1832 after a bequest from a local naval man, Captain James Rose, and
later known as Nairn Academy. Other schools included a parish school, a General
Assembly school, a Free Church academy, a monitory school and two girls'
boarding schools. Nairn Town and County Hospital, still in existence today, had
opened by the time the town was surveyed in 1867-8. Financial institutions
included branches of the Caledonian Bank, the Linen Company Bank and the
National Bank, a national security savings bank and seven insurance offices.
The town had one newspaper, entitled the Nairnshire
Telegraph, which was published on alternate Thursdays. Rail arrived in the
town in 1855, with the opening of the Inverness and Nairn Railway, which was
later extended to link Inverness with Aberdeen.
At the time of
the survey, social amenities still appear to have been quite limited in Nairn.
The town had several friendly societies, the Nairnshire farmer's society and a
masonic lodge. The courthouse was occasionally used as a ballroom, and the town
had quite sophisticated facilities for sea-bathing which included shower
blocks. After the improvement of rail links in the late nineteenth century,
Nairn began to develop its identity as a seaside resort. Large hotels were
built, a bandstand was opened on the links and the town had two fine 18-hole
golf courses by the end of the nineteenth century. This development was partly
arrested, however, by the opening of the southern rail link from Inverness to
Aviemore in 1898.
A
View of Nairn in 1845
'There is an
excellent well kept hotel in the burgh, at which three public coaches stop
every day. There is a Temperance Society in the burgh, which promises to be
productive of good.' (from the Statistical
Account)
Groome,
Francis H. (ed.), 1894-5. The Ordnance
Gazetteer of Scotland; a survey of Scottish topography, statistical,
biographical, and historical, 2nd ed., (London: William Mackenzie)
Mackay,
George, 2000. Scottish Place Names
(New Lanark: Lomond)
Smith, Robert,
2001. The Making of Scotland: a
comprehensive guide to the growth of its cities, towns and villages (Edinburgh:
Canongate)
Wilson, Rev.
John Marius (ed.), 1857. The Imperial
Gazetteer of Scotland or Dictionary of Scottish Topography (Edinburgh: A.
Fullarton & Co.)
Edina Website –
Online Statistical Accounts of Scotland - http://edina.ac.uk/statacc/