The history of Tain is fully and vividly communicated through this reprinted edition, originally commissioned for the 900th anniversary celebrations in June 1966. The book brings together research from national and local records resulting in a fresh examination of Tain’s claim to antiquity. The development of the town, including its clan and political rivalries, changes in church and state, and social and economical conditions form the background of this unique story, in which well-known figures such as Montrose, Charles James Fox and Andrew Carnegie rub shoulders with a host of local personalities.
Tain Through the Centuries examines in detail local matters like the positions of the four girth or sanctuary crosses and the route of the burgh marches yet strives to set these issues against a wider sphere of national events, aiming to illustrate Scotland’s history through its impact on a small rural community remote from the centre of affairs.
Tain Through the Centuries is a fascinating portrait of a fiercely proud area, an essential read for those interested in the development of the royal and ancient burghs of Scotland and in the history of the Highlands.