Tarbat
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Location of Tarbat parish in Highland | |
Area | 10.7 sq mi (28 km2) [1] |
Population | 870 (2011) |
• Density | 81/sq mi (31/km2) |
OS grid reference | NH9148584020 |
Civil parish |
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Community council |
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Council area | |
Lieutenancy area |
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Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Tain |
Police | Scotland |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
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.
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]
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]
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]
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 usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to fjord which 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.
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. In 1975, the resulting county was combined with Caithness, Inverness-shire, Nairnshire, Sutherland, and parts of Argyllshire and Morayshire to form the Highland council area.
Tain is a royal burgh and parish in the County of Ross, in the Highlands of Scotland.
Ross and Cromarty, sometimes 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.
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 Church, 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. There is evidence of early settlement, and the area seems to have been the site of significant activity during the time of the Picts, early Christianity and the Vikings. The village is situated on a sandy bay and has a small harbour designed by Thomas Telford: it shares with Hunstanton the unusual distinction of being on the east coast but facing west. Portmahomack lies inside the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation with the associated dolphin and whale watching activity.
Hill of Fearn is a small village near Tain in Easter Ross, in the Scottish council area of Highland.
Easter Ross is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.
Kildary is a small village in Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.
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.
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.
Milton, known as Milntown of Tarbat until the early 1970s, is a small Easter Ross community between Kildary and Barbaraville on Scotland's North East coast.
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.
The Abbot of Fearn was the head of the Premonstratensian monastic community of Fearn Abbey, Easter Ross, Scotland. The Abbey was founded by canons from Whithorn Priory in Galloway, with the patronage of Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt, mormaer/earl of Ross. The foundation took place in the 1220s, according to the two distinct foundation dates given in the sources, either in 1221 or in 1227. Until about 1238, the Abbey was located at Fearn, near Edderton, but it was moved to the Tarbat parish in that year and known thereafter as "nova Furnia". Despite the fact that the head of Whithorn Priory was a prior and Fearn an abbot, Fearn seems to have remained subordinate to Whithorn until at least the end of the 14th century, and even in 1440 Abbot Fionnlagh II was confirmed by the prior of Whithorn.The reason for this is that Whithorn was a cathedral priory; the nominal head of its community was the bishop, but its actual head was the prior, as was the common use in England at places like Durham and Carlisle, but this was not usual in Scotland. In these circumstances the cathedral prior had the same rights as an ordinary abbot.
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.
Milntown Castle was an early 16th-century castle which was situated near Milton, in Easter Ross, in the Scottish Highlands.
Innis Mhòr is a tidal island in the Dornoch Firth of Easter Ross off the east coast of Scotland. It is about 26 hectares in extent and is largely, if not exclusively made up of moving sand dunes. No point on the island is greater than 5 metres (16 ft) above sea level. It has almost certainly never been permanently inhabited. The nearest settlement is Inver to the south, and the town of Tain is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the east.
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.