2022

NT0553 : Black Birn

taken 2 years ago, 3 km from Tarbrax, South Lanarkshire, Scotland

This is 1 of 2 images, with title Black Birn in this square
Black Birn
Black Birn
A 'birn' is either something to do with a clarinet mouthpiece, an old Scots contraction of 'burden', or a stem of heather left after the rest of the plant has disappeared due to muirburning. The heather gets burnt in order to promote new growth: this is said to provide more nourishment than the older heathers - some of which get left for shelter - to the grouse in gameshooting areas. It obviously must be the third meaning that gives this small flat-topped hill its name. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language website is often a handy resource for getting to the bottom of old topographical names in Central Scotland..
It is rather hard to determine exactly where the top of the hill is, and I notice it has crossed grid-squares within the last 60 years. The surface is a mix of heather, grass and large round clumps of bouncy moss, and the hill behind the lone conifer is Harrow's Law.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Ian Dodds and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Moorland Primary Subject: Moorland other tags: OS Hill Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Harrows Law [3] · Heather [2] Title Clusters: · Black Birn [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
NT0553, 8 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Ian Dodds   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 1 May, 2022   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 1 May, 2022
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 0518 5399 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:46.1952N 3:30.7774W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 0518 5399
View Direction
South-southeast (about 157 degrees)
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Image Type (about): geograph 
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