Below you will find booklets, CD’s, DVD’s and books available to purchase online from Strathnaver Museum. If you would like to order multiple items please get in touch and we can accurately quote for postage for you.

Booklets

Brief History of Strathnaver Museum

23-page booklet which tells the story of the origins of Strathnaver Museum and explores some of the iconic artefacts to be found within its collections. Discover more about the Chealamy Beaker and its chance unearthing in 1981, the mysterious legend of the Farr Stone, and more about the Clearance of Strathnaver and the townships affected.

Strathnaver Clearances by the children of Farr High School

To celebrate the opening of Strathnaver Museum in 1976 pupils from Farr High School created one of our most popular exhibits which has now been presented in this 22-page booklet. In their own words the students explore life before, during and after the clearances in this colourful and concise history of the clearances.

The Changing Face of Peat

This 16-page page booklet explores the evolving uses of peat. It explores the traditional uses of peat as a fuel and the process employed by the people who depended on it for a fuel and its importance today as a carbon store to combat climate change.

Pibrochs and Poppies: the story of north west Sutherland’s WWI Pipers

In 2015 Strathnaver Museum and Feis air an Oir, the traditional music group for north west Sutherland, embarked on an important project to remember the pipers from Mackay Country who were involved in the First World War.

This 32-page booklet tells the story of just some of these brave men whilst giving a brief overview of the historical context of the ‘pipes of war’.

Rob Donn Trail: a guidebook to the past

Discover life in 18th century Mackay Country through the tale of a favourite son

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

Discover what life was like during the 18th century as we explore the life and times of renowned Gaelic bard Rob Donn Mackay. This informative booklet has been produced as part of the Mackay Country Community Trust Rob Donn Mackay project with Strathnaver Museum. Written by leading experts on Rob Donn and the world in which he lived this booklet gives a unique and insightful view into 18th century north west Sutherland.

Chapters cover every aspect of life from music, religion to economic life and settlement history.

 CD’s

Pibrochs and Poppies CD

Despite the population sparsity the north of Scotland has produced a high proportion of renowned pipers. In fact almost 40% of the pipers celebrated in ‘Notices of Pipers’ in the Piping Times have come from north of Inverness. This new composition by local musician Carol-Anne Mackay draws on the local piping tradition while commemorating those involved in WWI as part of Strathnaver Museum’s Pibrochs and Poppies project.

Carol-Anne Mackay explains ”as a traditional musician but first and foremost a piper, my hopes for this composition were to create a piece of music that would be in-keeping with piping traditions of our area. I wanted to create something that would suit being played alongside some of the traditional tunes that would have been played at the time of the 1st World War. I also wanted the piece to show how piping traditions have developed over the last 100 years and how Highland Bagpipes are now commonly heard being played in groups along side other instruments such as the accordion, fiddle, guitar and piano.

 DVD’s

Their Past Your Future – DVD

Wartime memories from north Sutherland

In November 2005 Strathnaver Museum embarked on an exciting project to collect the war time memories of people across Mackay Country as part of the nationwide Their Past Your Future project. By March 2006 over 30 interviews had been filmed and recorded to create the Their Past Your Future DVD. The DVD explores how life was affected by WWII from many perspectives; from a man who as a young soldier was captured by the Germans or from the memories of a person who was a child and has memories of life at school.

All of these memories form the picture of how things were; some memories are happy and even amusing while others are a stark reminder of how terrible the war really was for thousands of people from this country. Accompanied by a colour booklet explaining the background of the project, terms used by the interviewees and a map.

Running time: 80mins

Books

Gloomy Memories by Donald MacLeod

Donald MacLeod’s invaluable personal account of the Highland Clearances has been reprinted by Strathnaver Museum. Donald was born in the village of Rosal at the end of the 18th century, 20 years later he witnessed the brutal eviction of himself and his neighbours.

“This is the story of a humble stonemason single-handedly taking on the establishment. Macleod brought the Highland Clearances to the attention of the world when his book was published in Canada. It has been said that ‘he faced the entire armament of the Sutherland estate with what weapons he possessed: his knowledge of English, his intelligence, and a courage that never yielded.’ The book collects the 21 letters he published in Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle in 1840.”

Donald’s family were moved to Strathy Point, where he continued his campaigning which led to them being evicted twice.

Tales of the North Coast

In this collection of fifty-eight tales Alan Temperley and the pupils of Farr Secondary School have built a memorial to the great tradition of Highland story telling. Simply told and unadorned, these tales are wide-ranging; historical dramas, fairy tales, great battles and ship wreck, ghost stories, Highland rogues-and the tragic Clearance of Strathnaver.

They have been gathered from a remote and little known district on the north coast of Scotland, and bear the flavour of the land-a beautiful, treeless land of wild headlands, white beaches, lochs and hills, and small villages nestling beneath the moors.

The collection is trebly original: the tales have been gathered from the people of the villages; they are strictly confined to that small and sparsely populated region; and they have been to a large extent collected and fully illustrated by the local children.

You can purchase your copy via the link below. Please use the drop down menu to select the correct postal option.

Copies will also be available to buy from Strathnaver Museum, during opening times, or from the Naver Tele Centre in Bettyhill which is open all year, Monday to Friday, from 9am to 1pm.

Please select the correct postal option in the drop down menu for your region.