THE ancient burgh of Tain in Easter Ross is planning to have a
#300,000 visitor attraction ready for next year's tourist season. It
will centre around a mysterious Saint and a Scottish King's pilgrimages
to worship at his shrine.
The King was James IV, who used to stop off to see his mistress on his
way to Tain, and the Saint, St Duthac, or St Duthus as he came to be
styled in the nineteenth century, when the fashion was to Latinise.
St Duthac was thought to have been born in Tain around 1000AD, the
first named native of that town. It is possible, however, that he was
born in another century altogether.
Nothing was written about his life and it is not even known who is
parents were. His death -- if it was his -- was recorded in the
ecclesiastical centre of Armagh in 1065.
For the most part, however, we have to rely on the folklore collecting
activities of William Elphinstone at least 400 years later. Elphinstone
was to become the Bishop of Aberdeen and, in 1496, founder of the city's
King's College.
Bishop Elphinstone lent his support to a story of a Duthac miracle
which tells of how, as a boy, Duthac was sent for some fire. The smith,
having an unusual sense of humour, was said to have taken the glowing
coals and pushed them into Duthac's lap. Such were his powers, he
carried them to his master without damage or hurt.
Apart from his powers, it was his godliness which seemed to mark
Duthac out for special mention and ensure that Tain became a religious
centre in his memory. This is what appears to have attracted King James
IV who, according to Tain historians R W and Jean Munro, appears to have
visited Tain 18 times.
He went first at the age of 21, perhaps still blaming himself for his
father James III's death five years earlier. His last visit was in
August 1513, a month before he fell on Flodden's field.
James travelled to Tain by way of Aberdeen, taking him through
Darnaway in Moray. One Mistress Kennedy lived there and, it is now
thought, looked after the King's physical needs while the holy men of
Tain tended to his spiritual requirements.
The Tain Pilgrimage Centre is to be created in the grounds of the
medieval St Duthus Church, and is being funded by Ross and Cromarty
District Council, the Tain Common Good Fund, and Ross and Cromarty
Enterprise.
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