Strathnaver Museum & Mackay Country Community Trust Moving Times & Museum Tales
Strathnaver Museum
Where is it and what is it?
The Museum is located in the former church of St Columba, built in 1774, on a spectacular stretch of northern coastline at Clachan, Bettyhill. The Museum Collection and Displays have developed from a traditional collection of artefacts relating to the domestic and working lives of the people of Strathnaver Province, which covered a much larger area of the North West beyond the river strath of today. This collection continues to be enlarged through generous donations of new items and discoveries of archaeological artefacts, constantly adding new dimensions to our understanding.
Outside The Museum is the Pictish ‘Farr Stone' - a prominent rectangular slab which stands a few yards west of the church. The basic design is a ringed cross, but this has been elaborated with decorated panels, blended with great skill to produce a harmonious whole. It probably dates from between 800 and 850 AD. Despite local tradition to the contrary there is no mystery about its origin. It marks the grave of some unknown but undoubtedly important, local, religious or political person. The three small rough stones which stand nearby are gravestones and may well be of the same age.
Inside The Museum The Croft House area with the Box Bed is one of our visitors' favourite items. The 'crux' or roof truss was once the hull of "The Thorwaldsen", shipwrecked in Strathy in 1838. It had been recycled as a roof truss in a croft house in Strathy and was retrieved for the museum when the house was being renovated. The figurehead of the Thorwaldsen can also be seen in the museum. Our Implement Room is a great treat. It houses a selection of peat cutting tools, early laundry items and early farm implements. In the same room are a set of tombstones and on the floor among these are two small Early Christian monuments unearthed by Kevin O'Reilly at Grumbeg, Strathnaver. These stones are older than the Farr Stone. They probably date back to 750 AD or even earlier.
How was The Museum created?
The Museum was created in 1972 through the interest and efforts of a group of local people who appreciated the rapidity of social and cultural change in the times in which they lived. Working life, home life and the agricultural aspects of crofting were being transformed by new economic options such as the varied career options at Dounreay, national and European agricultural policy, increasing tourism into the area and the eventual advent of access to secondary schooling locally. This visionary group of people realised that it was important to begin to document and collect the remnants of past ways locally as an integral part of contributing to the work of building better opportunities in the future in their home area. The historian Dr Ian Grimble was a strong supporter of this work and willed his personal book collection to Strathnaver Museum as a mark of respect and support. In his lifetime he produced key works on the area. Some of that original team were just youngsters at the outset and have maintained an active input through serving on the Museum Board and through volunteering right to the present day.
Who runs The Museum?
The current Museum Board Chair, Tom Mackay, is one of those who has been involved since the 1970s. The other members of the current Board are Libby Mackay (Secretary), Frances Gunn (Treasurer), Robert Mackay (Trustee), Dorothy Pritchard (Trustee), Elliot Rudie (Trustee & Volunteer) and Anne Buck (Trustee & Volunteer). This dedicated team are assisted by a small staff team, including unpaid supporters who work tirelessly as regular volunteers. Artist Elliot Rudie is amongst those regular volunteers. Elliot is perhaps better known for his artistic involvement in The Beat Hotel in Paris in the 1960s, alongside such luminaries as William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. This collective effort enables The Museum to open 6 days a week April to October. Each year The Museum also undertakes a number of special projects and outreach work with local schools.
The Museum staff team currently comprises Libby Mackay (Museum Administrator); Mary Wood (Volunteer); Irene Ross (Volunteer); Sonya Anderson (Volunteer); Rosemary Mackintosh (Volunteer); Karen Ibbotson (Volunteer); Shona Munro (Volunteer); Mhairi Magee (Volunteer); Sandra Mackay (Volunteer) and Katherine Speirs (Volunteer). The Museum is also very fortunate in benefiting from the work of Joanne Howdle as Curatorial Advisor. Joanne also works in this capacity for Caithness Horizons. This kind of collaboration between history groups in the north is an important strength for the whole area. Margaret Macdonald has recently joined The Museum team in the post of Part-time Administrator and Gaelic Consultant.