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Strathnaver Museum
@strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
840 followers 250 following 67 posts
Fully accredited volunteer led museum on the North Coast 500. Explore 8,000 years of human occupation in north west Sutherland through the lens of the brutal Highland Clearances.
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Open Day | FREE Entry | 20 Sep
11am kids crafts | 2pm building tour | spinning demo | treasure hunt #DoorsOpenDays #HIClimateFest #KidsInMuseums #FamilyFriendly
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
September 19, 2025 at 11:37 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
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
September 8, 2025 at 10:04 AM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
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 standing stone with an engraved celtic emblem stands in the countryside with moor expanding behind and rising to a mountain.
September 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
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 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.
August 16, 2025 at 8:35 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
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
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.
July 28, 2025 at 11:17 AM
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Improving accessibility was a major consideration during our refurbishment project; not an easy feat within our 250 year old listed 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
June 6, 2025 at 7:27 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
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
June 6, 2025 at 7:19 PM
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#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
June 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
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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.
Bronze Age beaker showing hairline cracks and an intricate pattern
June 3, 2025 at 6:16 PM
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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
An imposing wooden pulpit with an image of a young 19th century girl projected onto its surface.
June 2, 2025 at 6:13 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
🌟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
May 18, 2025 at 9:41 AM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
📚 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
May 17, 2025 at 7:36 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
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
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.
May 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
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Cycling in the Straths our popular sportive is back. Join us for a fun day of cycling in beautiful north Sutherland and enjoy our famous Mackay Country hospitality.

Help support our community heritage projects.

Sign up here: www.cyclinginthestraths.co.uk/entries

#Cycling #CyclingSportive #Cycle
May 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
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All ready for our pop-up exhibition in Bettyhill Village Hall tomorrow!

There will be a display of biographical panels, our 2005 film Their Past, Your Future, objects from the store, refreshments and table top games. 11am to 3pm, 3rd May.

#VEDay80 #VEDay #HighlandMuseums #LocalHistory
Shows 4 A3 panels with text and images fanned out. Each panel gives a biographical account of an individual killed during WWII
May 2, 2025 at 6:14 PM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
Hamish is delighted with his edible National Art Pass from @artfund.bsky.social.

Enjoy free access to Strathnaver Museum and lots of other great heritage sites across the UK with your National Art Pass. Get yours here:

www.artfund.org/national-art...
April 28, 2025 at 7:36 PM
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🌟 Strathnaver Collection Spotlight 🌟

This is one of two chairs that were rescued from one of the longhouses during the Strathnaver Clearances.

#StrathnaverCollection #HighlandMuseum
April 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM
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Very excited to be welcoming @communitylandsc.bsky.social Where We Stand to Strathnaver Museum Annex in May!

Join us at our National Lottery Open Week Open Day on Saturday to find out what's new for 2025.

#ThanksToYou #HighlandMuseums #CommunityOwnership
March 19, 2025 at 10:39 PM
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Glass artist Marta Sienkiewicz has created the most beautiful painted glass panel for us!

Inspired by the Species on the Edge project and made possible thanks to funding from MGS, #UKSPF, Highland Council, and the William Syson Fund.

Come see it at our Open Day on Saturday #HighlandMuseums
A woman, Marta Sienkiewicz, stands beside a window. In the window is a painted glass panel resembling a stained glass window. The panel is green with painted flowers. Along the bottom smaller rectangular panels in black amd white name each species in the panel above.
March 18, 2025 at 9:30 PM
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We had a fantastic time at the Highland Heritage Day on Saturday. Fiona shared our fundraising tips to a packed auditorium, we learned about succession planning from Ian Leith of Wick Heritage, John O'Groats Mill, and Scottishn Civic Trust. And we made lots of great connections with heritage groups!
A stall displaying Strathnaver Museum's portable museum of curiosity, a metal box with portions that fold out and with drawers to open. On the right is an open suitcase with pictures and clothes, another handling object. Behind is a blue board with posters. Fiona Mackenzie of Strathnaver Museum stands by a screen displaying a photo of a church building in a graveyard. The building is Strathnaver Museum. A photo of an auditorium audience with speaker Helen Avenell addressing the crowd. Ian Leith stands in front of a screen displaying an info graphic on methods of recruitment for succession planning.
March 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
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Thanks to Farr Primary School & ELC for hosting us. We explored museum objects & made quilt squares with messages of hope & action for the future of our planet.

Part of National Museums Scotland Sewing Hope project funded by Scottish Government Climate Engagement Fund.

#KidsInMuseums #GreenTourism
A blue felt square with the text 'Save the shark'. An injured shark is depicted in a lighter blue felt with a bowl with the words 'no shark soup' at the front of the shark. At the sharks tail a medicine bottle shape with the word 'shark' written on it. Below that a label saying 'no shark medicine'. A peach felt square depicting a seaside sunset, and the words 'Pick up your litter'. On the shore are 2 palm trees and in the lower half, on blue felt depicting the sea there Re stuck buttons and small scraps of material depicting pieces of litter. A green felt square. A row of yellow and green pieces of pipe cleaner laid vertically are in the lower half. Above that is the word 'green' cut out of felt and above that a strip of blue felt. A green felt square with a drawing of a house. To the right of the house is a tree made from brown felt and green pipe cleaner. A flower with a brown stem, green petals and a pink centre is on the bottom of the square.
March 11, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Strathnaver Museum
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To be paid and credited for scientific work as a woman in the 1880s, financially supporting her mother and sisters, and leaving behind a wealth of stunning and accurate entomological images that are still relevant today. 🐞

Please join us in in celebrating Maud Horman-Fisher 🎨🦋
Eight colourful butterfly illustrations showing four different butterfly species with both sides of their wings.
March 8, 2025 at 10:17 AM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
Today is #InternationalWomensDay and this year's theme is #AccelerateAction.

Women's stories and achievements are often overlooked in the archives.

Museums have a role to play in sharing these stories and inspiring future generations to action.

During #WomensHistoryMonth we'll share #HerStory
Elsie Mackay, Aviator and Actress, stands in front of a light aircraft about to turn the propellor. She is dressed in flight gear and smiles to the camera. Margaret MacDiarmid, a woman of great faith. This is a line drawing showing a middle aged women in an elaborate lace bonnet tied under the chin with a black ribbon. Cairine Wilson Mackay, Canadian polititian. Oil painting showing Carine wearing an ivory coloured sleeveless dress with a v neck. She is sitting in a chair with her hands clasped in her lap as she looks out of the painting at the viewer Black and white jead amd shoulders photo of nurse Jessie Mackay. Jessie has her hair up, wears simple wire framed glasses. She wears a necklace and square necked black top / dress.
March 8, 2025 at 1:52 PM
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In celebration of #WomensHistoryMonth we'll be sharing women's stories from our archives throughout the month of March.

Jessie Mackay (1864-1938), poet, New Zealand

#WomensHistory #HighlandMuseums #ClanMackay #ScottishDiaspora #HerStory #MackayArchive
A middle aged women poses for a studio photograph, the image is in black and white. She sits on a chair with one arm casually resting on a small table in front of her. On the table is a periodical, open at a page, with the pages read turned back underneath the page that is ope. The women wears a black dress with a high necked white blouse beneath. There is a simple necklace around her neck. She has short white hair, held back by a clasp on the right side of her head as she looks at the camera. She looks directly at the camera.
March 4, 2025 at 9:56 AM
strathnaver-museum.bsky.social
🎊 New exhibit for 2025 🎊

Inspired by our Shirley Poole watercolours and the work of Species on the Edge glass artist Marta Sienkiewicz has created a stunning glass panel.

Made possible with support and funding from Museums Galleries Scotland, Highland Council, #UKSPF, and Species on the Edge.
Watercolour painting of wild flowers, the names of the Species are listed in black below the painting. They are: Primula Scotica, sea rocket, kidney vetch, bistort, cross-leaved heath, and bluebell Pieces of painted glass showing flora sitting on a light box. Surrounding the light box is artist materials including paint and books of flora. Artist Marta Sienkiewicz faces a window in her log cabin studio whilst holding up a piece of her painted glass to the light.
March 2, 2025 at 4:26 PM