Highland Objects Podcasts
The Highland Objects project will progressively crowdsource and build a portfolio of podcasts, selected by you, which describe the variety of cultural objects available across the Highlands of Scotland
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Episodes
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
A bright, intricate Celtic-design bowl created by a Celtic artist at the home of artist and educator George Bain’s house in Drumnadrochit in the 1940s.
Location: Groam House Museum, High St, Rosemarkie, Fortrose IV10 8UF
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
The Gunna Breac was a treasured possession of the MacDonalds of Dalchnosie originally dating to the late 17th/early 18th centuries. It was brought to the Battle of Culloden (1746) by Alexander MacDonald who fought with the Atholl Brigade. A fabulous piece of Jacobite history for all Outlander fans!
Location: Museum of the Isles Armdale Castle Armadale Sleat, Isle of Skye IV45 8RS
Location: Museum of the Isles, Armadale Castle Sleat, Isle of Skye IV45 8RS
Thursday Jul 30, 2020
Thursday Jul 30, 2020
This 18th Century model of the Hector, which is heralded as ‘Canada’s Mayflower’ may seem innocuous, however the story that it depicts is one of suffering and destitution, yet hope and new beginnings. It holds within it the origins of the people of Nova Scotia, who left Lochbroom in 1773 in search of a new world and new life.
Location: Ullapool Museum, 7 & 8 W Argyle St, Ullapool IV26 2TY
Thursday Jul 23, 2020
Thursday Jul 23, 2020
In 1903 an excavation at Hillhead Broch, a rather morbid discovery was made: a fragment of a human’s skull. This portion of bone – a fragment of the ‘parietal’ section of the skull – was notable for the presence of three drilled holes, which were set out in a roughly triangular shape. It is thought that the skull had been modified ‘post-mortem’. Why?
Location: National Museum of Scotland, Chambers St, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Thursday Jul 23, 2020
Thursday Jul 23, 2020
This enigmatic object forms part of Strathnaver Museum’s fishing display and has been an important part of the collection for decades. A fishing float made form the skin of dog. Gruesome and fascinating in equal part.
Location: Strathnaver Museum, Clachan, Bettyhill KW14 7SS
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Friday Jun 19, 2020
A small hoard of silver coins found near the site of the Battle of Carbisdale and how they connect Tain to Marilyn Monroe
Location: Tain Through Time, Tain & District Museum, Tower St, Tain IV19 1DZ
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Compiled in 1814 by John Brown this genealogical tree charts the various branches of Clan Donald from Somerled, to the Lords of the Isles and onwards. It is beautifully illustrated, and features famous names such as Robert the Bruce and MacIain, the 12th Chief of Glencoe who was murdered during the infamous Massacre of 1692
Location: Glencoe, Ballachulish PH49 4HS
Friday Jun 19, 2020
Friday Jun 19, 2020
This whalebone figurine dates from circa 2900 – 2400 BC and was originally discovered at Skara Brae in Orkney 1850s. It was found in a stone bed compartment. It was illustrated by the antiquarian George Petrie in the 1860s, but until recently it was thought that his drawing was all that survived of this fascinating object until its rediscovery in 2016
Location: Stromness Museum, Stromness KW16 3DH
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
The Noss Head Light was designed and supervised by Alan Stevenson, uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson, it was completed in 1849 by Robert Arnot of Inverness. The Fresnel lens, which is approximately 6ft in diameter, rotates by clockwork machinery around a mercury vapour lamp.
Object Location: Wick Heritage Museum, Wick KW1 5EY
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
This Jacobite relic was found in a shop in London in 1924. At first glance it looks like smears of oil paint on a wooden panel, but is in fact an anamorphic painting. When paired with a reflecting cylinder a hidden portrait of the Prince is revealed. The Jacobites used objects like this to hide their secret support for the Stuart dynasty and secretly toast ‘the King over the water’.
Object Location: West Highland Museum, Fort William, PH33 6AJ