What’s in the Heritage Centre
The Heritage Centre presents the story of Applecross from the earliest settlers to the modern day.
Through a series of interpretive panels and local artefacts, it gives visitors a short but thorough introduction to the area’s unique history and a sense of what it was like to live here in the distant and not so distant past.
The gable end of the building, which overlooks Clachan church and graveyard, consists of floor to ceiling windows to allow visitors to sit and contemplate, while looking out over the church and graveyard where St Maelrubha’s monastery stood, 13 centuries ago.
For those with an interest in doing more in-depth historical or genealogical research, the reading room provides further resources.
Highlights
Neolithic adze
In the early 1950s, a stone age implement identified as an adze or axe was discovered by local historian Kenneth Macrae, while digging shingle at the Caman burn, about 500 metres south of Culduie. Macrae suggested that the implement would have been ideal for making dugout canoes, and that the find location, “a low-lying meadow through which the burn meanders, would have been a tidal lagoon until probably mediaeval times… It must have been an ideal place for boat building."
Coffin bier
In the days before motor vehicles and good roads, coffins had to be carried to the Applecross graveyard at Clachan, often over many miles of rough paths, by teams of men taking turns to carry their relative or neighbour to his or her last resting place.
Peat cutting implements
Peat was the main source of fuel for the people of Applecross until relatively recent times. Peat cutting, drying and transporting were jobs for the whole family. Each family was allocated a peat bank, often a long way from their house… and it is said that it took fifteen thousand peats to keep a home in fuel for a year!
Small line basket
There were two types of line fishing – ‘small line fishing’ carried out in inshore waters and ‘great line fishing’ in deep waters. Both used baskets to store the lines with their hooks. The small line baskets were baited on shore, often by the women, and stored ready baited in baskets. The short lines are said to have been up to a mile long in some places, while the great lines, which are said to have been up to 15 miles long!
Carved stone cross
The heritage centre contains some pieces of a beautifully carved Celtic stone cross. It is regarded as archaeologically important as it shows a mix of Irish and Pictish stylistic traditions. It is locally significant as it is probably one of only two surviving artefacts from the monastery of Applecross founded by St Maelrubha in the 7th century – the other is the undecorated cross slab standing at the entrance to the graveyard.
The cross in the Heritage Centre is believed to date from the 9th century AD, around 100 years after Maelrubha’s death.
Photos
The Heritage Centre holds a large collection of old photographs of local scenes and people. Here we present a selection within a gallery, please click on a photograph to see the caption.
If you have further information about any of the photographs displayed here, please contact us.
What you’ll learn about on your visit
- The ‘First settlers’ – a major archaeological project carried out by Scotland’s first settlers project, which found evidence of Mesolithic activity in Applecross around 8000 years ago.
- The Applecross broch – the subject of a Channel 4 Time Team investigation.
- The 7th century Celtic monastery established by St Maelrubha – the beautifully carved crosses showing evidence of Pictish and Irish influences and the destruction of the monastery by the Vikings.
- The sanctuary of Applecross.
- The continued ownership of Applecross by the church into the Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation of the church, and the survival of pagan practices in Applecross.
- The clan system and the Mackenzies of Applecross.
- Applecross as a Victorian shooting estate – deer stalking and hunting.
- The clearances, crofting and fishing, and how people lived.
- Applecross in the twentieth century.