Highland Objects Podcasts

Highland Objects Bonus Podcast Two - Christmas 2021

To wish everyone a very Merry Christmas we have four festive objects 
 
A Victorian Christmas Pamphlet from Nairn Museum
Queen Mary's Christmas gift to the troops in 1914 from Groam House Museum
A Christmas Advent Calendar from The Museum of Childhood
An RAF Christmas Menu from 1943 brought to you from Castletown Museum
 
Merry Christmas - Nollaig chridheil agus bliadhna mhath ur!

Sgt Alexander Edwards’ Victoria Cross

Awarded to Sgt Alexander Edwards of the 6th Seaforth Highlanders. A native of Lossiemouth, son of a local fisherman, for conspicuous bravery in action at the Battle of Passchendaele on the 31st of July 1917. His story of courage, bravery, and ultimately loss, is told through this VC.
 
Location: The Highlander’s Museum, Fort George, Ardersier, Inverness, IV2 7TD

The Illicit Whisky Still - Podcast Twenty Seven

‘Lorg Baile Bhlàir is looking into the early settlement of Inverlael and Balblair. During phase one of the project when Ullapool Museum conducted archaeological surveys, they uncovered a prize find. An Illicit Whisky Still. 
The Highlands are littered with abandoned Illicit Whiskey Stills, to dodge the customs men and still produce the legendary Uisge Beatha that kept the Highlanders going through the long winter nights

Drummond Tartan Dress - Bonus Podcast One

The Drummond tartan silk satin dress was made in the 1840s. It is a two-part dress comprising of a bodice and skirt made of red/blue/green and white silk satin with cream tulle trim around the neck and sleeves.
The dress is one of two dresses made in 1842 for the occasion of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s visit to Drummond Castle, Perthshire. 
Location Highland Folk Museum Aultlarie Croft, Kingussie Rd, Newtonmore PH20 1AY

Ladies Mourning Dress - Podcast Twenty Six

This costume is one of a number donated to Castletown Heritage Society by a descendant of the costume’s owner. Her son emigrated to the USA in the late 1800s but regularly sent home clothes for his mother.  As she was a widow, and at the time there was a strict convention about wearing mourning clothes, all the garments are sombre but beautifully made and no doubt of the latest American fashion. 
Location: Castletown Heritage Society Harbour Rd, Castletown, Thurso KW14 8TG

18th Century Silk Brocade Dress - Podcast Twenty Five

This beautiful silk brocade dress is thought to have been designed and made by James Lehman in Spitalfields, London in about 1710. Although the dress would have originally been a Mantua, it has been much altered over the years. The colours of the silk however, are still as vibrant as they would have been when the fabric was woven.
Location Dornoch Historylinks The Meadows, Dornoch IV25 3SF

Fishermans Gansey - Highland Objects Podcast Twenty Four

A gansey is a warm and largely waterproof jumper that was used by fishermen. Knitting a gansey requires great skill. Each had a very distinctive and intricate pattern It is alleged that the patterns either represented a family group or a local community. The theory was that if a fisherman were washed overboard, the gansey pattern would identify his family or community. Around fifty different patterns have been identified. 
Location Wick Heritage Museum Wick KW1 5EY

Spitalfields Silk Dress

This beautiful dress dates to the 1740s and was made with silk from Spitalfields. It supposedly belonged to an upper-class Jacobite supporter. The dress was passed down through the generations of a local family and seems to have been altered at some point with more modern materials. 
Location Glencoe Museum Ballachulish PH49 4HS

Roska Yacht Jersey - Podcast Twenty Two

Between the 1870s & 1950s, men from the shores of Loch Broom, found a working life in the wealthy world of big yacht racing. Owners from some of Britain’s richest families employed men from this area because of their excellent seamanship skills. Each man was issued a jumper with the name of the yacht on it which almost became a sort of CV as a record of the yachts that the men had served on.
Location Ullapool Museum IV26 2TY

The Beetle Wing Dress - Podcast Twenty One

Made in 1868-9 in Madras for Barbara Morrison, the wife of a soldier stationed in India. Barbara had been born in Inverness in about 1828, had married a British officer and went to India aboard the Himalaya.
Location: West Highland Museum, Cameron Square, Fort William PH33 6AJ