Editing Beith (section)

===Saint Inan===
Beith is said to have been the occasional residence of [[Saint Inan]], a confessor of some celebrity, whose principal place of abode was [[Irvine, North Ayrshire|Irvine]]. He flourished about 839. Although he is said to have been a [[hermit]],<ref name="Saints">{{Cite web|url=http://www.visitdunkeld.com/scottish-saints.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041227035110/http://visitdunkeld.com/scottish-saints.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=27 December 2004|title=Scottish Saints, Tour Scotland.|website=www.visitdunkeld.com}}</ref> according to tradition [[Saint Inan]] often visited Beith, frequenting Cuff Hill with its Rocking Stone and various other prehistoric monuments. A cleft in the west-front of Lochlands Hill is still known as "''St. Inan's Chair''" and said to have been used by the saint as a pulpit.<ref name="Smith83">Smith, John (1895). ''Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire.'' Pub. Elliot Stock. P. 83.</ref>  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.<ref name="Dobie41">Dobie, James (1876) ''Cunninghame topographised by Timothy Pont'' Pub. John Tweed, Glasgow. P. 41.</ref>

[[Saint Inan]] is said to have preached to the assembled people from the chair on the hill. 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 [[dam]]s. 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. The Saints of old went where the people were, and they also tended to go where there had been worship of heathen gods. It has been suggested that High Bogside Farm, which used to be called Bellsgrove, was really "''Baalsgrove''", which fits in with the story of [[Saint Inan]] going to where the [[pagan]] gods were.<ref name="Jenny Kerr">{{cite web|url=http://www.beith.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=91|title=Beith Online. Jenny Kerr|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218054955/http://www.beith.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=91|archive-date=2012-02-18}}</ref>

There is an annual civic fete held in the town bearing [[Saint Inan]]'s name.