The Gizzen Briggs is a large sand bank stretching out from Dornoch Point and almost linking up with the Morrich More region on the opposite side of the Dornoch Firth at low tide. When fully covered and there is a good breeze or a groundswell, usually when a storm is on its way, white tipped breakers form a large white band revealing its position and a roaring sound can be heard in Tain if the wind direction is right. According to the Rev. Mackintosh in the New Statistical Account, the “gizzen” part of the name is thought to be a form of a sound imitating word, “gizzing” similar to the word “whizzing”, hence the “whizzing bridges”. However, Watson in his “Place Names of Ross and Cromarty”, attributes it to the Norse “gisnar bryggja” meaning leaky bridge.