Nairnshire, the fourth smallest county of Scotland, is washed on the north for 10 miles by the Moray Firth, and elsewhere bounded by Elgin and Inverness shires. Till 1891 it consisted of a main body, with a maximum length of 18 miles, a mean breadth of 11, and an area of 169 sq. m., and also of five detached portions situated in Elgin, Inverness, and Ross shires, which, having a total area of 31 sq. m., were annexed to Nairnshire in 1476, but disjoined therefrom by the Boundary Commissioners in 1891. The chief rivers are the Nairn and the Findhorn, the former rising in Inverness-shire, and flowing 38 miles north-eastward to the Moray Firth. The surface has a generally southward ascent from the fertile and well-wooded 'laich of Moray' near the coast, till at Carn Glas on the southern boundary it attains 2162 feet. Loch Loy ( by mile) is the largest of seven small lakes. Less than one-fifth of the entire area is in cultivation, more attention being paid to stock than to crops. The chief antiquities are Kilravock (1400) and Cawdor Castle (q.v.); at Auldearn, near Nairn, Montrose (q.v.) won his fourth victory. With Elginshire the county returns one member; and with Inverness, &c. Nairn town returns another. Pop. (1801) 8322; (1841) 9217; (1881) 10,455; (1891) 10,019—1900 Gaelic-speaking.
NAIRN, the county town, stands on the west bank of the river Nairn at its mouth in the Moray Firth, 16 miles by rail ENE. of Inverness. A pleasant little watering-place, with a small harbour, it was constituted a royal burgh by William the Lion. Grant, the African traveller, was a native. Pop. (1841) 2388; (1891) 4014.