Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/72

Rh NIGHTINGIRLE. 60 IONIAN'S, ST. with a quadrangular tower. There are a parochial school, and three others. There is a holy well, called Downy Well, in the Bay of Nigg, much frequented hy visitors from Aberdeen in the month of May. At Abbot's Walls have been found some silver medals struck in 1559, on the marriage of Queen Mary. NIGHTINGIELE, a vil. in the par. of Trevetham, co. Monmouth, 1 mile from Pontypool. It is situated near the river Afon and the Brecon canal. . NIGHTON, ST., a chplry. in the par. of St. Winnow, hund. of West, co. Cornwall, 2 miles N.E. of Lostwithiel. The chapel-of-ease is dedicated to St. Neeton. NILTJEEN GRANGE, a par. in the bar. of Tipper Antrim, co. Antrim, prov. of Ulster, Ireland, 3 miles E. of Antrim. It lies along the Six-mile Water. The living is a vie. in the dioc. of Connor, val. with Done- gore, 295, in the patron, of the bishop. There are a Sunday and three day schools. NINEBANKS, a chplry. in the par. of Allendale, S. div. of Tindale ward, co. Northumberland, Smiles S.W. of Allendale, and 10 from Haydon Bridge. The chapelry is of large extent, and is intersected by a branch of the river Tyne. It was anciently the property of the Earls of Auckland, who had a castle here, the tower of which is still remaining. There are several lead mines, onee very productive, and quarries of building stone. The living isaperpet. cur.* in the dioc. of Durham, val. 125, in the patron, of the Incumbent of Allendale. The church was rebuilt in 1813, when the cemetery was en- larged. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. There is a National school. NINEBARROW, one of the chalk downs in the Isle of Purbeck, co. Dorset, 3 miles E. of Corfe Castle. NINE-ELMS, a hmlt. in the par. of South Lambeth, adjoining Vauxhall, 3 miles S.S.W. of St. Paul's. It is a large goods station on the South- Western railway out of London, and a steamboat pier on the S. bank of the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge. NINEHEAD. See NYNEHEAD, co. Somerset. NINE-MILE-BURN, a vil. in the par. of Pennycuick, co. Edinburgh, Scotland, 3 miles S.W. of Pennycuick. It is situated on the new road from Edinburgh to Dumfries. NINE-MILE-HOUSE, a vil. in the bar. of Slievar- dagh, co. Tipperary, Ireland, 9 miles E. of Fethard. It is situated under the Slievenaman Mountains. NINFIELD, a hund. in the co. of Sussex, contains the pars, of Catsfield, Hooe, and Ninfield, comprising an area of 7,420 acres. NINFIELD, or NINEFIELD, a par. in the above hund., rape of Hastings, co. Sussex, 5 miles W. by S. of Battle, its nearest railway station, and post town, and 7 N.E. of Hailsham. The village, which is chiefly agricultural, is situated on an eminence near the road leading from Lewes to Battle and Hastings, and E. of the river Ashbourne. The land is chiefly arable, but there is a considerable proportion of common and woodland, and 60 acres of hop grounds. The highest spot in tbe parish is Standard-hill, on which the famous hat tie of Hastings was fought. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of 420. The living is a vie. in the dioc. of Chichester, val. 244, in the patron, of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has a low square tower con- taining one bell. There is a National school. The Independents and Wesleyans have each a place of wor- ship. NINGWOOD, a hmlt. in the par. of Shaltfleet, Isle of Wight, co. Hants, 5 miles W. of Newport. NINIAN'S, ST., a seat in the par. of Wopler, ward of East Glendale, co. Northumberland, 43 miles N. by W. of Newcastle. It is situated under the Cheviot Hills, and is the property of Sir H. St. Paul, Bart. N1N FAV.s, ST., or liONAN'S, an islet in Scull Bay, forming one of the South Shetland Isles, coast of Scotland, 3 miles N.W. of Dunrossness. NINIAN'S, ST., a par. in the co. of Stirling, Scot- land. It is an extensive parish, originally called Eceles, occupying part ofvthe valleys of the Forth and Clyde in the central district of Stirlingshire. Its greatest length from E. to W. is 13 miles, and its greatest breadth 8. It is bounded on the E. by the par. of Airth, on the W. by Fintry and Gargunnock, on the S. by Denny, Duni- pace, KUsyth, and Larbert, and, on the N., by the par. of Stirling and the banks of the Forth. It contains a suburb of the burgh of Stirling, the quoad sacra pars, and vils. of Bannockburn and Plean, the post town of St. Ninian's, and the vils. of Auchinbowie, Bellfield, Cam- busbarron, Charteris-Hall, Greenyards, Newhouse, Tor- brcx, and Whins of Milton. The surface of the parish, like that of the adjacent districts, is divided into the carse, dryfield, and muir lands. The carse, which com- prises all the low lands in the E. by the " links of Forth," was, until a recent period, a flat morassy wilderness, being only a few feet above the level of the sea, but is now one expanse of rich luxuriance, producing abundant crops. The dryfield district adjoins the carse, rising abruptly towards the S. and W. It is chiefly undulating, and is enclosed and well cultivated. The muirland com- prises the remainder of the parish, extending from the dryfield to the western boundary, and consists chiefly of hilly moorland, with some excellent pasture in the southern part. The principal summits are Dundaff, Craigannet, and Earl's Hill, which form the eastern extremity of the Lennox range, and attain an elevation of about 1000 feet above the sea level. There are also a minor range of basaltic columnar hills branching off as spurs towards the Stirling heights, and connecting the Lennox and Ochil hills. It is thought that the Koyal Forest of Dundaff once covered the high lands, as they are still called by the inhabitants the " Lands of Dun- daff." The parish is watered by the rivers Forth und Bannock, besides the Touch, Earl's-Burn, Carron- Water, and numerous other trout streams, falling into the Forth and Clyde. On the southern border is the moorland lake of Loeh Coulter, about 2 miles in circum- ference, abounding with perch, peel, and eels. This lake is remarkable for its volcanic properties, the surface of the water having suddenly fallen 12 feet at the Lisbon earthquake in 1755, and, ten years afterwards, when the shock of an earthquake was felt in this part of the country, a stone, weighing nearly a ton, was thrown out some yards on its bank. Two cascades, called Auchentillen's-sprout and Gilmour's-linn, occur in this parish, the former on the Carron-water, and the latter on Touch-burn. The soil, as well as the surface of the carse, dryfleld, and muirland districts, differ vastly in character. In the first the alluvial soil is 20 feet deep, resting on a layer of moss, sand, or shale, with sand- stone and carboniferous rocks beneath. The dryiield rests entirely on rocks of the carboniferous formation, comprising a coalfield of great value, which has been extensively worked at Bannockburn, Auchinbowie, Greenyards, and Plean, producing about 60,000 tons of coal a-year. The prevailing rocks in the muirland dis- trict arc columnar trap, with underlying strata of sand- stone, clay-slate, mountain limestone, and shale, which occasionally crop out. Sandstone is extensively quarried at Blackcraig, Catscraig, and Craigbeg, and, in other parts of the parish, freestone, ironstone, and limestone are found. The parish is traversed by the Scottish (.'- n- tral railway, which has a station at Bannockburn, and by the Forth and Clyde railway, also by the roads fr< >in Stirling to Airth, Falkirk, Glasgow, and Balf'ron. The village of St. Ninian's is comprised within the parliamen- tary boundaries of Stirling, and is almost connected with that borough by the straggling villages of Newhouse and Bellfield, which skirt the great south road from Stirling. Many of the houses are old and curiously carved, some of considerable antiquity, but others with the tools of the tradesmen, to whom they originally belonged. Ex- tensive manufactures of curtains, carpets, and woollens, have long been carried on in several parts of the parish, particularly at Bannockburn, St. Ninian's, and Cambus- barron. There are likewise several tanneries, nail- making establishments, brick and tile works, nialting- hmises, a brewery, und distilleries, though this last in- dustry is not so extensively carried on as formerly.