Witch's Pool

This is one of the lagoons that make up the Merkinch Nature Reserve in Inverness. On the left is an embankment carrying the railway with Beauly Firth beyond. On the right a narrow embankment carries a path and there is another lagoon behind it but not visible. Near the far end of the pool is a box-like structure known, according to the Nature Reserve signs as the "witch's coffin". close-up here. No really satisfactory explanation is given for the name except possibly to scare children from a dangerous area. In a description of walks in the area they say the "coffin" is the foundations of a crane that off-loaded coal from boats onto a "puggy" railway to a local distillery which is no longer there. The lagoon is tidal as there is a gap to the sea with a bridge for the trains. But it seems to me the boats would have to be pretty small. The coffin is covered at high tide.