Strathnaver Museum

Poster for Strathnaver Museum Open Day. Free entry Sat 20 September 10am to 5pm. Family friendly, crFt activities, building tour, treasure hunt, spinning demo. For full programme visit www.strathnavermuseum.org.uk

Open Day | FREE Entry | 20 Sep
11am kids crafts | 2pm building tour | spinning demo | treasure hunt #DoorsOpenDays #HIClimateFest #KidsInMuseums #FamilyFriendly

Behind the postcard view, the Scottish Highlands is tackling
a depopulation crisis. What will encourage its young people to stay or return?

Explore the reality of growing up in Mackay Country in this new 3-part podcast, #HighlandsReimagined.

Out now!
#ScottishHighlands #Podcast

A standing stone with an engraved celtic emblem stands in the countryside with moor expanding behind and rising to a mountain.

We are excited to launch Highlands Reimagined. Join host Will Sadler and a cast of folk living and working in north Sutherland as they explore what it means to live here.

Follow Wild For Scotland or search Highlands Reimagined wherever you get your podcasts.

#CommunityDevelopment #TeensInMuseums

A photo of a piece of pine with a faint list of pencilled names.

A birds eye view of an impress canopied pulpit.

Rev David Mackenzie. An oil portrait of a middle aged man with brown hair and white muttonchops. He is wearing a black coat with a white shirt underneath.

Check out our historic graffiti!

Begun by Rev George Munro in 1774 when our church was built. He made sure to include his predecessor John Skeldoch.

John was said to be more interested in his cattle than his flock.

Listed to is David Mackenzie, minister at the time of the Highland Clearances

A big tote bag with large white spots hangs from a banister.

A selection ot tote bags in hues of pink, white and other pastel shades drapped on a church pew.

Another delivery of Morsbags from the wonderful Strathnaver Stitchers.

Morsbags are made from unwanted & discarded fabric: reusing material, reducing material going to landfill, & reducing plastic use.

Available with large purchases while stocks last.

#GreenTourism #HighlandMuseums #HIClimateFest

If you'd like to use the Virtual Acces Guide just ask at reception when you visit.

#HighlandMuseums #AccessibleTravel #AccessibleHolidays #AccessGuides #MuseumsWeek2025 #MuseumsWeek #AccessibilityMW

We have produced an accessibility guide which is available on our website. We are always appreciate of feedback so do let us know if there are further improvements we can make.

An image showing 2 Orkney chairs and a yellow dot to indicate folk can listen to an audio

The guide is presented on a large iPad and gives access to all the audio visual displays, highlights key objects in each display, and provides panoramas of the Daily Life Room and Mackay Centre.

A screenshot from the virtual guide showing yellow dots to access more information about objects

Instead we turned to a digital solution and the team at Abound Design & Interpretation Ltd and CMC Associates Ltd created our Virtual Access Guide.

An image from the virtual guide showing the lower gallery. Yellow spots indicate where users can click to listen or read more information

Our architects, Oberlanders Architects, took advice from the Sutherland Access Forum to make practical solutions where we could. Unfortunately a lift was unfeasible within the building.

A screenshot showing a cut out of Strathnaver Museum, located in an 18th century church. Test reads Strathnaver Museum Virtual Tour Use this programme to explore the museum and learn more about Strathnaver

Improving accessibility was a major consideration during our refurbishment project; not an easy feat within our 250 year old listed building!

Shipshape by Joanne B Kaar
10am to 5pm, Saturday 7th June

Pop into the Strathnaver Museum Annex tomorrow for our new exhibition, meet the artist & have a go at woodcut printing!

Explore the intangible cultural heritage around clinker-built boats.

#FamilyFriendly #KidsInMuseums #ArtistsInMuseums

#MuseumsWeek today is #TogethernessMW & over 8 decades, volunteers have made Strathnaver Museum what it is today.

In the 1950s our founder's vision was to create a museum for the area. Their successors build on this & today Strathnaver Museum is an important attraction.

#VolunteersWeek2025

Black and white image Bronze Age beaker showing hairline cracks and an intricate pattern with scale card showing width as roughly 10cm

Just as those who were removed during the Highland Clearances took their culture to new parts of the world, so did their more ancient forebears, with their beaker designs and funerary practices.

#HighlandMuseums #MuseumsWeek2025

The road crew who discovered the beaker pose by the cist

Grave goods were objects of significance to the departed. This practice of burying them was present in many cultures and provides archaeologists with information to help us understand past peoples.

Detail from Bronze Age beaker showing hairline cracks and an intricate pattern

The Chealamy Beaker was discovered by chance during road widening works in 1981. The beaker was found in a burial cist, a small stone-built coffin like structure, at Chealamy in Strathnaver. The beaker was found alongside the remains of a human skeleton, suggestive of grave goods.

Bronze Age beaker showing hairline cracks and an intricate pattern

One of the oldest objects in #StrathnaverCollection represents a story of in-migration to Strathnaver, that of the Beaker people about 4,000 years ago. The style originates in Iberia, modern day Spain and Portugal, and was brought to Britain in the late Neolithic period about 4,400 years ago.

Bronze Age beaker showing hairline cracks and an intricate pattern

Todays #MuseumWeek topic is #MovementMW. Following on from yesterdays post about the testimonies of those who were removed from their homes during the Highland Clearances there are stories of inward migration.

To the environment, peoples' livelihood's, and to the way we connect as individuals & a society... we'd love to hear your thoughts. Is AI a useful tool, or a step to far?

AI can be used very effectively as part of the visitor experience and enhance how we tell stories but we are conscious that its use can be negative too. With limited budgets it can enable experimentation & may allow us to do things we may otherwise be unable to afford but at what cost?

Finally, Photoshop was used to adjust the colours and add in extra details, like the Macdonald tartan. As you can see the results can be impressive but they take time and skill."

An AI representation of Katherine Ross, Ascoilemore, who was removed during the Highland Clearances

We fed in the information we knew about the witnesses and evicted, including occupations and age at the time of the clearances. This was cross referenced with painting styles from carefully selected contemporary artists, lighting and desired expression to help generate suitable portraits.

An AI representation of Donald Macleod, a stone mason from Rosal, who was removed during the Highland Clearances

"While visitors listened to their accounts, we wanted to project the faces of the evicted onto the minister's pulpit. We needed to add a suite of powerful new portraits and as an experiment we turned to AI software.

An AI image of what a young boy, Angus Mackay, may have looked like. Angus was one of those who were impacted by the Highland Clearances.

We've given them voice but how do we give those who suffered the removals a face? We've paintings of the powerful protagonists whose quest for agricultural improvement inflicted so much hardship, but what of the powerless? As CMC Associates, the team behind our audio visual display, explains:

An AI representation of Grace Macdonald, who was cleared from Langall during the Highland Clearances

So it was important that when giving voice to those who suffered the removals that we used authentic local voices from our community and our volunteers did a wonderful job of bringing their forebears stories to life.

An AI representation of Bell Cooper, 11, who was removed during the Highland Clearances.

Authenticity of voice is incredibly important to us and the pulpit display uses the words of those who were dispossessed during the 19th century Highland Clearances. These testimonies, often adults recounting their experience as children, are deeply moving.

An imposing wooden pulpit with an image of a young 19th century girl projected onto its surface.

Our pulpit audio visual display is one of our most popular and emotive exhibits but did you know it uses AI technology?

#MuseumsWeek2025 #AIMuseumsMW #HighlandMuseums

🌟Upcoming exhibition in the Annex🌟
Shipshape by Joanne B Kaar
6th June to 26th July

Preserving the intangible cultural heritage around traditional boat building.

#ICH #TraditionalSkills #Art #Printmaking #NC500 #HeritageCrafts

📚 Explore life in 1700s Mackay Country through the tale of a favourite son.

🖊 Dr Ellen Beard, Dr Elizabeth Ritchie and Malcolm Bangor-Jones.

This informative 76 page booklet can be purchased in our gift shop for £5 or online: www.strathnavermuseum.org.uk/rob-donn-tra...

#NC500 #LocalHistory

A black and white photo of Barbara Munro Sutherland. The images is a side profile of the sitters head and shoulders.

A black and white photo of a group of 5 nurses outside a brick building. The 3 nurses at the back are sitting on seats, and the 2 at the front sit on the ground.

A black and white image of the SS Ceramic, a steam passenger liner.

A museum interpretive panel displaying text and the 3 images in this post.

Nurse Barbara Sutherland from Kirtomy served as a Queen Alexandria Imperial Military Nurse during #WWII.

Signing up in 1942 she boarded the SS Ceramic headed to South Africa with 29 other QAIMNs. Their ship was torpedoed off the Azores with the loss of 656. #VEDay #VEDay80 #BettyhillWarMemorial