Fearn
Fearn is a parish situated five miles south-east from Tain in Ross-shire. The parish also encompasses the majority of two detached parts of Cromartyshire (Nos. 4 and 7). It contains the villages of Hill of Fearn, Balintore and Hilton. The Gaelic name of this parish, Fearnn, signifies "the alder tree," and was applied in consequence of the great number of alders growing at Mid-Fearn, in the parish of Edderton, in the neighbourhood.
This parish is bounded on the south, by the parish of Nigg, on the west, by Logie Easter, on the north by Tain, and on the east and south-east, by Tarbat and the Moray Firth.
Fearn Abbey was built here in 1238 and rebuilt in the mid 1300s. It was converted to a Parish Church when the reformation came to the area in 1560. On Sunday 10 Aug 1742 it was struck by lightning and the heavy roof collapsed onto the congregation, killing around 50 people. The building was abandoned and a new church built nearby, but by the 1770s it too was in ruins. The original building was then rebuilt with stone from the new Church and put back in use.
