Nigg is a village and parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 on the north east shore of Nigg Bay

Nigg Bay

Nigg Bay is a large relatively shallow sandy bay, consisting of mudflat, saltmarsh and wet grassland, located at the north east coast of the Cromarty Firth and is 5 miles to the east of Invergordon, in the district of Ross and Cromarty and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.During low...

 in north east Ross-shire

Ross-shire

Ross-shire is an area in the Highland Council Area in Scotland. The name is now used as a geographic or cultural term, equivalent to Ross. Until 1889 the term denoted a county of Scotland, also known as the County of Ross...

 and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. It lies by the north shore of the entrance to the Cromarty Firth

Cromarty Firth

The Cromarty Firth of Cromarty') is an arm of the North Sea in Scotland. It is the middle of the three sea lochs at the head of the Moray Firth: to the north lies the Dornoch Firth, and to the south the Beauly Firth....

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The present parish church is an 18th century building on an early Christian site dating back to at least the 8th century. The Nigg Stone

Nigg Stone

The Nigg Stone is an incomplete Class II Pictish cross-slab, perhaps dating to the end of the 8th century. The stone was originally located at the gateway to the grounds of the parish church of Nigg, Easter Ross. It is one of the finest surviving Pictish carved stones, and one of the most...

, one of the most elaborate stone monuments of early medieval western Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, is preserved in a room at the west end of the church. This late 8th century Pictish cross-slab formerly stood in the churchyard, but was moved indoors for preservation in recent years.

The nearby manse is one of the oldest to survive in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, dating back to the first half of the 17th century. It is now privately owned and no longer used as the parish minister's residence.

Nigg is the site of an oil storage depot for crude oil from the Beatrice oil field in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 and of a major construction facility built by Highland Fabricators for the oil industry.

The Nigg Ferry Hotel lies to its south (at ) near the pier which provides access to Cromarty

Cromarty

The Royal Burgh of Cromarty is a burgh in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.-History:It was previously the county town of the former county of Cromartyshire...

 during the summer on the MV Cromarty Rose

Cromarty Rose

MV Cromarty Rose a small vehicle ferry operating a summer service across the Cromarty Firth.-History:MV Cromarty Rose is the smallest car ferry in the UK, and the only ferry serving the Black Isle, crossing the Cromarty Firth between Nigg and Cromarty...

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