Tarbat

Last updated

Tarbat
Highland UK parish map showing Tarbat parish.svg
Location of Tarbat parish in Highland
Area10.7 sq mi (28 km2)  [1]
Population870 (2011)
•  Density 81/sq mi (31/km2)
OS grid reference NH9148584020
Civil parish
  • Tarbat
Community council
  • Tarbat
Council area
Lieutenancy area
  • Ross and Cromarty
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Tain
Police Scotland
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
List of places
UK
Scotland
57°49′58″N3°49′46″W / 57.832662°N 3.8294612°W / 57.832662; -3.8294612

Tarbat (Gaelic tairbeart, meaning 'a crossing or isthmus' [2] ) is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner of Ross and Cromarty.

Old parish church of Tarbat Tarbat Discovery Centre - Flickr - S. Rae.jpg
Old parish church of Tarbat

The parish is a promontory between Dornoch Firth to the north-west and Moray Firth to the east, while to the south it borders the parish of Fearn. [3] The peninsula is relatively flat, the highest point being the hill adjacent to Geanies House which reaches 86 metres (283 feet), on the southern border of the parish. [4] [5] [6] The coast along the Dornoch Firth is about eight miles (thirteen kilometres) in length, while the Moray Firth coast is about seven miles (eleven kilometres). The latter coast has a rock-bound front, with progressively higher cliffs south of Rockfield, reaching 100–200 feet (30–60 metres). Along the Dornoch Firth the shore is not steep and near Inver the foreshore is almost 1 mile (1.5 kilometres) wide. The village of Portmahomack, the main settlement in the parish, is sited on the Dornoch Firth 9 miles (14 kilometres) northeast of Tain.

Tarbat Ness, the headland of Tarbat separating the Dornoch and Moray Firth coasts, lies three miles (five kilometres) northeast of Portmahomack. It is 15 metres (50 feet) high and the site of Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, which dates from 1830. [3] Just over one mile (1.5 kilometres) west-southwest of Tarbet Ness lighthouse, is the site of Castlehaven fort, by a creek of that name (Port-Chasteil is Gaelic). Although there is no building remaining, the foundation of a considerable wall is traceable, which defended the fort on the landward side. The title Baron Castlehaven is named after this fort and is held as a subsidiary title by the Earls of Cromartie. [7] [8] [9]

The hamlet of Wilkhaven lies on the east coast 1⁄2 mile (800 metres) southwest of Tarbet Ness lighthouse. The area to its north is known as Wilkhaven Muir. [10]

Situated north of Rockfield on the east coast, Ballone Castle, which was also known as Tarbat castle, was reputedly built by the Earls of Ross, but came into possession of the family of Viscount Tarbat and the Earl of Cromartie. [11] [12] Previously a ruin, it has recently been restored as a private house. [13]

The Geanies House, the only mansion house in the parish, is situated on the eastern coast close by the southern border with the parish of Fearn. Here, coastal cliffs rise from the shore to a height of around 200 feet (60 metres). [4] [11] [14] [5]

In the west of the parish near Inver is Arboll, an area of scattered farms and the site of a former township or hamlet. [15] Arboll is dissected by Arboll Burn, which forms the community council boundary at this point. [16] [17]

At the last census (2011), the population of the civil parish was 870. [18] The area of the parish is 2,760 hectares (6,820 acres). [1] Tarbat parish is also a Community Council area (excludes part of the parish next to Inver). [17] [19]

History

Originally Pictish, Norse speakers were settled in Tarbat in the 10th century and the names Arboll and Bindal are of Norse origin. By 12th century, Gaelic predominated and remained predominant until the 1880s or later. [20] In 1881, 1,244 were Gaelic-speaking out of a population of 1,878, but at the last census in 2011, only 4% had some knowledge of Gaelic. [21]

The name Tarbat was first attested in 1226, when Andrew vicar of Arterbert authored a church document. The Ar- prefix is the same as Ard-, a common prefix meaning 'promontory' (Gaelic: airde). Tarbat is mentioned in the early 16th century referring to a place, farm settlement and parish. [2] [22]

The Battle of Tarbat took place in the 1480s near Portmahomack, when the clan Ross cornered a raiding party from the clan Mackay.

Prior to 1628 Tarbat parish extended from Tarbat Ness to the south of Fearn parish. In that year, the parish of Fearn was established, with the former abbey as the parish church. [23]

Map of Tarbat Parish Pink: Ross-shire Yellow: Cromarty-shire Map of Tarbat Parish 1878 County boundaries.jpg
Map of Tarbat Parish
Pink: Ross-shire Yellow: Cromarty-shire

By 1479 the Tarbat lands were divided into Wester Tarbert and Easter Tarbert. Wester Tarbat belonged to the Bishop of Ross, who later passed it to others. Easter Tarbat was held by the Earl of Ross and passed in 1507 to James Dunbar and family. In 1610 Easter Tarbat, with the adjoining area of Easter Aird, passed to George Monro of Meikle Tarrel, whose combined estate was sold in 1623 to Sir Rorie McKenzie of Coigach. Thus all these lands were united in one family and would later become part of Cromarty-shire. [24] [25] Sir Rorie’s son, John Mackenzie was created baronet of Tarbat in the County of Ross in 1628. When he died in 1654, at Castle Tarbat (i.e. Ballone Castle), he was succeeded by his son, Sir George Mackenzie, 2nd Baronet who was a prominent statesman and judge (including as Secretary of State from 1702 to 1704). In 1685, George Mackenzie was raised to the Peerage of Scotland as Lord MacLeod and Castlehaven and Viscount of Tarbat. [26] In 1703 the viscount was made Earl of Cromartie, but the title Viscount Tarbat continued as the courtesy title of the earl’s eldest son. [27]

In 1698 Viscount Tarbat procured an Act of Parliament transferring the land he owned as Viscount Tarbat from the county of Ross-shire to that of Cromarty-shire (an earlier Act of 1685 to the same effect, in the reign of the deposed James VII, having been repealed). In Tarbat parish these were: (i) Easter Aird and Easter Tarbat comprising all the parish east of the parish church, except the church and the Hillton enclave; (ii) Meikle Tarrel on the eastern coast. [25] As a result, 1,160 hectares (2,870 acres) of the parish (over a third), known as the barony of Tarbat, were in the county of Cromarty-shire, before its amalgamation with Ross-shire. [3]

Related Research Articles

Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to Scandinavian fjord and fjard, with the original meaning of "sailable waterway". The word has a more constrained sense in English. Bodies of water named "firths" tend to be more common on the Scottish east coast, or in the southwest of the country, although the Firth of Clyde is an exception to this. The Highland coast contains numerous estuaries, straits, and inlets of a similar kind, but not called "firth" ; instead, these are often called sea lochs. Before about 1850, the spelling "Frith" was more common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cromartyshire</span> Historic county in Scotland

Cromartyshire is a historic county in the Highlands of Scotland, comprising the medieval "old shire" around the county town of Cromarty and 22 enclaves and exclaves transferred from Ross-shire in the late 17th century. The largest part, six times the size of the old shire, is Coigach, northwest from Ullapool. In 1890, Cromartyshire was merged with Ross-shire into the administrative county of Ross and Cromarty, which in 1975 was merged into the new council area of Highland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tain</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Tain is a royal burgh and parish in the County of Ross, in the Highlands of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross and Cromarty</span> Historic county and registration county of Scotland

Ross and Cromarty, also referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latter of which is 8,019 square kilometres in extent. Historically there has also been a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a local government county, a district of the Highland local government region and a management area of the Highland Council. The local government county is now divided between two local government areas: the Highland area and Na h-Eileanan Siar. Ross and Cromarty border Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross, Scotland</span> Traditional region of Scotland

Ross is a region of Scotland. One of the provinces of Scotland from the 9th century, it gave its name to a later earldom and to the counties of Ross-shire and, later, Ross and Cromarty. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning "headland", perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. Another possible origin is the West Norse word for Orkney – Hrossey – meaning horse island; the area once belonged to the Norwegian earldom of Orkney. Ross is a historical comital region, perhaps predating the Mormaerdom of Ross. It is also a region used by the Kirk, with the Presbytery of Ross being part of the Synod of Ross, Sutherland and Caithness.

Portmahomack is a small fishing village in Easter Ross, Scotland. It is situated in the Tarbat Peninsula in the parish of Tarbat. Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is about three miles from the village at the end of the Tarbat Peninsula. Ballone Castle lies about one mile from the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hill of Fearn</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Hill of Fearn is a small village near Tain in Easter Ross, in the Scottish council area of Highland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan Mackenzie</span> Scottish clan

Clan Mackenzie is a Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional genealogies trace the ancestors of the Mackenzie chiefs to the 12th century. However, the earliest Mackenzie chief recorded by contemporary evidence is Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail who died some time after 1471. Traditionally, during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the Mackenzies supported Robert the Bruce, but feuded with the Earls of Ross in the latter part of the 14th century. During the 15th and 16th-centuries the Mackenzies feuded with the neighboring clans of Munro and MacDonald. In the 17th century the Mackenzie chief was made Earl of Seaforth in the peerage of Scotland. During the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century the Mackenzies largely supported the Royalists. During the Jacobite rising of 1715 the chief and clan of Mackenzie supported the Jacobite cause. However, during the Jacobite rising of 1745 the clan was divided with the chief, Kenneth Mackenzie, Lord Fortrose, supporting the British-Hanoverian Government and his relative, George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie, supporting the Jacobites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easter Ross</span>

Easter Ross is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarbat Ness Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

The Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is located at the North West tip of the Tarbat Ness peninsula near the fishing village of Portmahomack on the east coast of Scotland. It was built in 1830 by Robert Stevenson and has an elevation of 53 metres (174 ft) and 203 steps to the top of the tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross-shire</span> Historic county in Scotland

Ross-shire is a historic county in the Scottish Highlands. The county borders Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire – a county consisting of numerous enclaves or exclaves scattered throughout Ross-shire's territory. Ross-shire includes most of Ross along with Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Dingwall is the traditional county town. The area of Ross-shire is based on that of the historic province of Ross, but with the exclusion of the many enclaves that form Cromartyshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fearn Abbey</span> Monastery in Highland, Scotland, UK

Fearn Abbey – known as "The Lamp of the North" – has its origins in one of Scotland's oldest pre-Reformation church buildings. Part of the Church of Scotland and located to the southeast of Tain, Ross-shire, the historic building ceased to be used for church services in 2023, with remaining local church services and meetings to be held in the adjacent modern church hall. In 2024 the parish, was united with the former parishes of Tarbat (Portmahomack) and Tain to form Easter Ross Peninsula Church of Scotland.

Tarbat Ness is headland that lies at the end of the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, Scotland. The name is from the Gaelic tairbeart meaning "isthmus" and the Old Norse ness, meaning "headland". It lies at the south of the entrance to the Dornoch Firth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arboll</span>

Arboll is a place in the parish of Tarbat, Easter Ross, Highland, northern Scotland made up of several scattered farms. It is situated about 10 km (6.2 mi) to the east of Tain and a short distance inland from Dornoch Firth.

Rockfield is a hamlet in the parish of Tarbat, on the Tarbat Peninsula, near the village of Portmahomack, Easter Ross, Highland, Scotland. There is a small stone jetty and the traditional way of life included fishing and agriculture. Rockfield is generally east-facing, below the level of a raised beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milntown Castle</span>

Milntown Castle was an early 16th-century castle which was situated near Milton, in Easter Ross, in the Scottish Highlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kincardine, Sutherland</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Kincardine is a small hamlet in Sutherland, situated on the west end of the south shore of the Dornoch Firth. The village of Ardgay is less than 1 mile north west of Kincardine along the A836 coast road. It lies within the civil parish of Kincardine and Community council of Ardgay and District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballone Castle</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Ballone Castle was built in the 16th century. It was unoccupied for a couple of centuries and fell into ruin. In the 1990s it was purchased and restored by an architect. The original castle was built on a Z-plan and is unusual in having one round tower and one rectangular tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logie Easter</span> Civil parish in Easter Ross, Scotland

Logie Easter is a civil parish in Easter Ross in the Highland area of Scotland. It is bordered by the parishes of Edderton and Tain in the north and Fearn and Nigg in the east. The Balnagown River on the south forms the border with Kilmuir Easter. It extends about 7.5 miles from east to west.

References

  1. 1 2 Census of Scotland 1931. Preliminary Report. Table 17 - Population and Acreage of Civil Parishes alphabetically arranged. Publ. H.M.S.O. 1931
  2. 1 2 Place-names of Ross and Cromarty, by W J Watson, publ. The Northern Counties Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Inverness 1904; p.45
  3. 1 2 3 Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A survey of Scottish Topography statistical biographical and historical, by Francis H. Groome; publ. Thomas C. Jack, Edinburgh, 1882 - 1885. (Article on Tarbat)
  4. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland Portal website (Article on Geanies House) portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/GDL00217 Retrieved April 2021
  5. 1 2 Ordnance Survey series 1 in. to 1 mile Sheet 22 - Dornoch, Publ. 1965
  6. ↑ Note: Nigg Hill, 203 m (666 ft), is the highest point in the Easter Ross peninisula between Dornoch Firth and Cromarty Firth, but it lies outside the parish, 10 km (6 mi) further southwest
  7. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland website (article on Castlehaven) canmore.org.uk/site/15627 retrieved April 2021
  8. ↑ Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A survey of Scottish Topography statistical biographical and historical, by Francis H. Groome; publ. Thomas C. Jack, Edinburgh, 1882 - 1885. (Article on Castlehaven)
  9. ↑ Ordnance Survey Sheet NH98 in the 1:25,000 series, published 1963
  10. ↑ Gazetteer for Scotland website (supported by the School of GeoSciences of Edinburgh University and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society) www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst1665.html Article on Wilkhaven. Retrieved April 2021
  11. 1 2 New Statistical Account Vol 14, publ. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1845; p.461
  12. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland website (article on Ballone) canmore.org.uk/site/75455 and portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB14104 retrieved April 2021
  13. ↑ Gazetteer for Scotland website www.scottish-places.info/scotgaz/features/featurefirst6603.html Retrieved April 2021
  14. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland website (article on Geanies House) canmore.org.uk/site/106911 Retrieved April 2021
  15. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland website (article on Arboll) canmore.org.uk/site/15318 retrieved April 2021
  16. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland website (article on Mains of Arboll) canmore.org.uk/site/15308 retrieved April 2021
  17. 1 2 Highland Council web site - www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/4419/tarbat_community_council.pdf Retrieved April 2021
  18. ↑ Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland, web site www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk - See "Standard Outputs", Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish Retrieved April 2021.
  19. ↑ Gazetteer for Scotland www.scottish-places.info/parishes/parmap161.html Retrieved April 2021
  20. ↑ Curtis, Liz (2011). Cox, Richard; Taylor, Simon (eds.). "Tarbat or Not Tarbat? Was There a Portage on the Tarbat Peninsula?". The Journal of Scottish Name Studies. 5. Ceann Drochaid, Perthshire: Clann Tuirc: 6. ISSN   1747-7387.
  21. ↑ Census of Scotland 2011, Table QS211SC – Gaelic language skills, publ. by National Records of Scotland, web site www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk - See "Standard Outputs", Table QS211SC, Area type: Civil Parish Retrieved April 2021.
  22. ↑ Curtis (2011), p. 16.
  23. ↑ Curtis (2011), p. 17.
  24. ↑ Curtis (2011), p. 18-22.
  25. 1 2 A General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Ross and Cromarty; With Observations on the Means of their Improvement; by Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, Baronet. Printed - George Ramsay & Co. Printers, Edinburgh. 1810. pp 15 and 17
  26. ↑ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. pp. 977–980. ISBN   0-9711966-2-1.
  27. ↑ Curtis (2011), p. 23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.