Tain Scotland

Welcome to Tain Scotland

Scotland's Oldest Royal Burgh

Tain, has something for everyone. Steeped in dramatic history with beautiful scenery, magnificent architecture, abundant wildlife, sporting and leisure activities and the guarantee of a traditional Highland welcome. The ideal centre for touring the Highlands of Scotland, you can enjoy golfing, fishing, bird watching, tranquil woods, dramatic hills, beautiful safe beaches, specialist shops and enterprising businesses, all with our unrivalled hospitality and accommodation to suit everyone. The attractive town of Tain, Scotland’s oldest royal burgh, sits on the south shore of Dornoch Firth, beside the main A9 road north from Inverness. Tain is an ideal base for touring the northern Highlands.

Accommodation in and around Tain

Price Guide - per person based on sharing room: under $40 - $41 - 70 - more than $70

Hotels and Guesthouses below - Self catering cottages click here

Tain supports many renowned visitor attractions; sports and recreation clubs; a variety of places to eat out; top class hotels and family run guesthouses.

Tain has plenty to write home about. Crystal-clear northern air, for instance. We who live here tend to take it for granted. Then suddenly one of our visitors, who have come to escape the pace of city life, reminds us of Tain's healthy environment. Fresh-as-May mornings made for sleeping (and holiday appetites).
Long days designed for organised recreation…or for touring the beautiful countryside…or for finding your own peace of mind along a quiet beach. There's the tang of the sea, the call of a sea-bird in the summer twilight. These are extras which travel brochures don't always mention. You'll find them in Tain. There's a lot to write home about. And a lot more to find out about.

Visitor Attractions
Tain and the surrounding area have something for everyone. For those interested in history, Tain is a delight. The town of Tain encompasses many beautiful buildings with distinctive architecture and the Tain museum is full of information to guide you through its distinctive history.

For families visiting Tain there are many leisure pursuits in and around Tain. The Tain links area contains a play park with football fields and interesting walks. There are a number of other established walks in and around Tain, to find out more click here. The Tain Royal Academy community complex has a swimming pool, sports gyms and tennis courts. Tain Tennis Club also has quality floodlit tennis courts.
Tain Gala

Every year a week long gala is held in Tain, usually the last week in June/first week in July. Activities for all the family are held during each day and in the evenings and include: fiddler's concerts; displays by the Red Arrows; Tea Dances; parachute displays; Country Show; Pipe Band displays; children's picnics and entertainers; marquee dances. The week ends with a full Gala Day on the Saturday which is a traditional Highland event with various displays and entertainers, market stalls, team games and side shows. See the EVENTS section for dates of this year's Gala. For more information visit the Tain Gala website www.taingala.co.uk
Tain Highland Gathering

A truly traditional Highland event, which attracts visitors from all over the world. A full range of Highland events take place, including: heavy weights; track fields; highland dancing; pipe bands; falconry display; helicopter rides; side shows; tourist races and many children's events. There are many trophies awarded and substantial prize money to be won. The games are opened each year by the Chieftain who comes in a parade from the High Street to the show ground. This is a wonderful day out for all the family.

History & Heritage
The Royal Burgh of Tain has a long and fascinating history. It 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.

The extent of the sanctuary of Tain, base about St Duthac's shrine, was marked by four girth crosses. The boundaries were inspected by the burgh council in regular perambulation of the marches which continued well into the 18th century. The fame of the sanctuary was such that Robert the Bruce sent his family here in 1306 to keep them safe from the English. William Earl of Ross captured them, ignoring the sanctuary, and handed them over to Edward I.

The endowments made by William a few years later in restitution led directly to the foundation of the beautiful collegiate church that is still at the heart of the town today.

That episode in 1306 was just one of many dramatic effects in Tain during the last thousand years. In 1427 a clan feud led to the burning down of the old church and the hurried completion of the collegiate church. In 1650 the Marquis of Montrose spent a night here on the way to his execution in Edinburgh after the battle of Carbisdale. A century later, in 1745, the troops of Bonnie Prince Charlie were in Tain and Easter Ross, and a century later again the repercussions of the Highland clearances were being felt in Tain's court-house.

During the Second World War many Royal Air Force and Army personnel were stationed in the area. Military structures, including huts, control towers and runways, mostly derelict, can still be seen. The village of Inver and its surrounding area was completely cleared in 1944 for secret D-Day landing exercises, causing enormous disruption to the lives of the local people.

From those early days of sanctity in a wilderness of savagery, from the long centuries of war and violence, Tain emerges a peaceful town with its own individual atmosphere of sturdy independence, of kindly and understanding folk, of refuge from city smoke and grind and pressure - a place which holds open arms of welcome to those who visit it.