Tain

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Tainan_City :: Tainan :: Tainan_County :: Taino :: Tain :: Tainos :: tainment

Tain (Modern Gaelic: Baile Dhubhthaich, Duthac's town) is a royal burgh in the committee area of Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A9 road which links the south of Scotland with the far north (Caithness). Population, according to the 2001 Census, is 3,972.

Facilities

There is a railway station on the Far North Line. Notable buildings in the town include Tain Tolbooth and St Duthus Collegiate Church, named after Saint Duthus, who was born in the burgh. The town also boasts a museum, Tain Through Time, and the Glenmorangie Distillery.

History

Tain was granted its first royal charter in 1066, making Tain Scotland's oldest Royal Burgh, an event commemorated in 1966 with the opening of the Rose Garden by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The 1066 charter, granted by King Malcolm III, confirmed Tain both as a sanctuary, where people could claim the protection of the church, and an "immunity", whose resident merchants and traders were exempt from certain types of taxes. These important ideas carried through the centuries and led to the development of the town as it is today.

Little is known of the earlier history of the town; even the origin of the name Tain is uncertain. It may come from the Norse "Thing", a place of assembly, or from an older root meaning water or river. However, the town's Gaelic is quite clear, Baile Dubhthaich, Duthac's town, and it is to Duthac that the town owed its early importance. He was an early Christian figure, perhaps 8th or 9th century, whose shrine had become so important by 1066 that it resulted in the royal charter already mentioned. The ruined chapel near the mouth of the river was said to have been built on the site of his birth. Duthac became an official saint in 1419 and by the late middle ages his shrine was established as one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Scotland. The most famous pilgrim was King James IV, who came at least once a year throughout his reign to achieve both spiritual and political aims.

RAF Tain

RAF Tain is a bombing range on the Dornoch Firth. Some parts of the World War II aerodrome close by are still accessible.

Local geographical and visitor features

The Gizzen Briggs are sandbars at the entrance to the Dornoch Firth, and with the right wind conditions, they can be heard over a wide area at low tide. The so-called "million dollar view" to the south-west of Tain, accessible via the A836 Struie moor road, gives a panoramic view of the Dornoch Firth and Sutherlandshire.

There are five important castles in the vicinity - Carbisdale Castle, built for the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland and now a youth hostel; Skibo Castle, once the home of the industrialist Andrew Carnegie and now an exclusive hotel; Dunrobin Castle, ancestral seat of the Duke of Sutherland (castle and gardens open to the public); Balnagown Castle, ancestral seat of the Clan Ross, restored and owned by Mohammed Al Fayed; and Ballone Castle, recently restored by the owners of a local crafts business.

Highland Fine Cheeses, run by the Stone family (the family of Liberal MSP Jamie Stone), have a factory at Blarliath Farm, Tain. Tain is also close to Glenmorangie Distillery.

Tain itself features several amenities, such as a library, community centre, two 4-star hotels, several fast food outlets, a town hall and a popular bookshop.

To the southeast of Tain lies the site of the medieval Fearn Abbey, the current parish church of the same name was dates from 1772.

Parliamentary burgh

Tain was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. Cromarty was added to the list in 1832.

The constituency was a district of burghs known also as Tain Burghs until 1832, and then as Wick Burghs. It was represented by one Member of Parliament. In 1918 the constituency was abolished and the Tain component was merged into Ross and Cromarty.

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