Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016731
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016731
A well-preserved medieval church built at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries as the parish church of Tain. There are three medieval churches in Tain and some confusion as to their purpose. All are dedicated to St Duthac (or Duthus), a saint said to have been born in Tain around AD 1000. His relics were kept in the ruined 13th-century church which stands close to the sea, and they were a focus for medieval pilgrimages. A second ruin of the later 13th-early 14th century, close to the existing church, may have belonged to a community of priests who served St Duthac's sanctuary. In 1487 this community acquired collegiate status and by then had a provost, five canons, a sacrist, an assistant clerk and three boy choristers. From then on the college seems to have used the choir of the parish church for their services, while the townsfolk used the nave.
The church has large windows with restored tracery in three walls and lancet windows in the fourth. In the west wall is a niche with a cast of a statue of a bishop, perhaps St Duthac (the original statue is inside the church). The interior has been stripped of most of its furnishings, medieval or later, and the roof is a restoration. In medieval times the church, now so quiet and empty, was full of colour and sound and incense. It was divided into choir and nave by a wooden screen with a central door and an altar either side. The position of the screen is shown by the piscina in the south wall. The eastern end was the choir, later used as the collegiate church, with the high altar under the window and wooden stalls for the canons along the walls. A fine triple sedilia (built-in stone seat) for the clergy celebrating mass survives in the south wall. There was probably no fixed seating for the lay folk in the nave.
The Stuart kings had a special attachment to St Duthac and to Tain. James II and James III endowed chaplaincies there: later accounts speak of 'the man who singis (masses) for the King at Tain'. James IV made some 18 pilgrimages to Tain between 1493 and 1513, the last the month before he fell at Flodden. The royal accounts show that on various occasions he lodged with the vicar, provided new silver relics for the church, and bought new bonnets for himself 'the time he passed to St Duthus'.
The church survived the Reformation intact, but the interior was altered to make it suitable for Protestant services by removing the screen and altars. The fine 16th-century pulpit is said to have been presented by the 'good regent Murray' (James Stewart, Earl of Moray, Regent for lames VI 1567-70). Lofts were built to serve a larger congregation, but all are now gone, and only the painted front of the Trades Loft with craft emblems and in scriptions dated 1776 now survives, set up on one wall. In 1815 a new church was built and this one fell into disrepair. Later on the roof and windows were repaired, and the pulpit restored from a few surviving fragments.
Church, museum and 'Pilgrimage' visitor centre are signposted 'Tain Through Time'. Tape tours are available at the visitor centre.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
