![]() The Saints of old went where the people were, and they also tended to go where there had been worship of heathen gods. The first settlements were in the heavily wooded areas around the dams where people were safe from attack and could get food from the land, and fish in the lochs. There was not a great population in the area at that time and the people were located not in Beith, but up on the top of the Bigholm near to the old Beith water dams. Saint Inan is said to have preached to the assembled people from the chair on the hill. An unsuccessful search for the saint's writings which were said to be preserved in the library of Bonci, Archbishop of Pisa, was made by Colonel Mure of Caldwell in the 19th century. Inan's Chair" and said to have been used by the saint as a pulpit. A cleft in the west-front of Lochlands Hill is still known as " St. Although he is said to have been a hermit, according to tradition Saint Inan often visited Beith, frequenting Cuff Hill with its Rocking Stone and various other prehistoric monuments. Saint Inan īeith is said to have been the occasional residence of Saint Inan, a confessor of some celebrity, whose principal place of abode was Irvine. The Wood of Beit, now the 'Moor of Beith', has been identified as an Arthurian site where according to Taliessin in a poem under the name of 'Canowan' it was the site of a battle in the wood of Beit at the close of the day. The local pronunciation of the name would favour this theory. The town of Beith itself was once known as 'Hill of Beith' as this was the name of the feudal barony and was itself derived from the Court Hill near Hill of Beith Castle.Īlternatively, Beith may be derived from Cumbric *baɣeδ, 'boar' ( Welsh baedd). There is reason to believe that the whole of the district was covered with woods. Beithe in Old Irish means Birch-tree (cognate to Latin betula). History Beith Auld Kirk and The Cross Name īeith's name is thought to emanate from Ogham, which is sometimes referred to as the " Celtic Tree Alphabet", ascribing names of trees to individual letters. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the " Hill o' Beith" (hill of the birches) after its Court Hill. ![]() List of places UK Scotland 55☄5′12″N 4☃7′55″W / 55.7533°N 4.6319°W / 55.7533 -4.6319īeith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately 20 miles (30 kilometres) south-west of Glasgow.
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