The former is one of the oldest such buildings to survive in Scotland. The village also features a number of attractive 18th/early 19th century houses lining the shore. The harbour was improved by the famous engineer Thomas Telford and was important in grain export in the 19th century. Portmahomack was a favourite holiday location for Lord Reith (John Reith, 1st Baron Reith), Director-General of the BBC, who holidayed in the Blue House, still aptly painted blue and located on the seafront, near the harbour. The murder-mystery writer Anne Perry lived adjacent to the village for a number of years. John Shepherd-Barron, the inventor of the ATM (Auto-Teller Machine), lived in the nearby community of Geanies until his death in 2010. Professor Thomas Summers West, was a famous son of the Village with an Exhibition held in his name at the Tarbat Discovery Centre in 2011 See also Battle of Tarbat Portmahomack sculpture fragments Tarbat Ness Lighthouse Ballone Castle Gallery Notes References Carver M.O.H., 1999. Surviving in Symbols. A Visit to the Pictish Nation (Birlinn). Carver M.O.H., 2004. An Iona of the East: The Early-medieval Monastery at Portmahomack, Tarbat Ness in Medieval Archaeology 48 (2004): 1-30. Carver, M.O.H., 2006. "A Columban Monastery in Pictland" in Current Archaeology 205: 20-29. Campbell George F, 2006. The First and Lost Iona (attributing the name Portmahomack to St Cormac). Carver, Martin, 2008. Portmahomack: Monastery of the Picts (Edinburgh University Press). Carver, M., Garner-Lahire, J. and Spall, C., 2016. Portmahomack on Tarbat Ness: Changing Ideologies in North-east Scotland, Sixth to Sixteenth Century AD, Historic Scotland / FAS Heritage / University of York. External links Portmahomack.org Tarbat Discovery Programme Portmahomack.net Archaeological sites in Highland (council area) Populated places in Ross and Cromarty Iron Age sites in Scotland