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| Established | 1976 |
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| Coordinates | 58°31′46″N4°12′34″W / 58.529330591087174°N 4.2093467693099145°W |
Strathnaver Museum is located in Bettyhill, Sutherland, Scotland. It is a fully accredited [1] volunteer-run independent museum which first opened in 1976. [2] It explores the history of north west Sutherland through the context of the Highland Clearances. The Clan Mackay Centre is located on the 1st floor of the main museum building.
The former parish church became redundant in the 1950s when the congregation moved to the Church of Scotland building in Bettyhill. The community led by Historian and broadcaster Dr Ian Grimble developed the idea to create a museum for the district. [3]
The Church of Scotland transferred the building to the community for a peppercorn sum in May 1962. In what must have been one of the earliest community asset transfers in Scotland.
The community set about building a collection of artefacts and developing the building to be opened as a museum. The museum opened to the public in 1976.
The group achieved museum registration in 1994 and became fully accredited under the museum accreditation scheme in 2013.
Strathnaver Museum is located in the regionally important B listed former parish Church of Scotland. [4] . The church was built in 1774 replacing a former church, the site having been one of ecclesiastical interest for at least 1,000 years. The Pictish Farr Stone [5] (c.850AD) can be found at the west gable of the building, alongside 3 early grave markers.
The original pulpit dominates the main room in the museum and is fronted by a reader's desk. The panelled and dated backboard initialled MGM for Master George Munro, minister 1754-79. Revd George Munro's tomb can be found in the graveyard which surrounds the museum.
In 1882 the interior was reduced in size by the removal of the galleries and the insertion of party walls [6] . The congregation fell due to the impact of the Great Disruption, when many of the congregation, joined the Free Church of Scotland established in 1843. The effect of emigration, as a consequence of the Highland Clearances, also led to a decimation of the congregation.
Rev David Mackenzie was minister of Farr during the time of the Sutherland Clearances, and as a Gaelic speaker he was tasked by Sutherland Estate to read eviction notices to the evicted tenants. Initially supportive of the improvements being driven by the Countess and Marquess of Sutherland he changed his opinion as a consequence of the lack of provisions being made for the people who were removed. Rev Mackenzie joined the Free Church in 1843 [7] .
In 2021 the museum undertook a major refurbishment to secure the future of the historic building and the collection it contains. Funded by Natural and Cultural Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, SSE, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Dounreay, Museum Galleries Scotland, Caithness and North Sutherland Fund, The Wolfson Foundation, and Garfield Weston Foundation.
The museum was sympathetically refurbished and a new building created to house some of the larger agricultural and fishing exhibits. The refurbished museum and new annex building relaunched on 13th May 2023.
Strathnaver Museum contains an eclectic collection of artefacts exploring the history of the area from pre-history through to the modern day. The collection includes an intact Bronze Age burial beaker, early 19th century croft house display, tools, agricultural and fishing exhibits, including the gruesome dog skin buoy, militaria, Clan Mackay memorabilia, and contemporary art.
Gairloch is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch in Wester Ross, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. A tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a golf course, a museum, several hotels, a variety of shops, takeaway restaurants, a community centre, a leisure centre with sports facilities, a local radio station, beaches and nearby mountains. Gairloch is one of the principal villages on the North Coast 500 route.
Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire to the south and the Atlantic to the north and west. Like its southern neighbour Ross-shire, Sutherland has some of the most dramatic scenery in Europe, especially on its western fringe where the mountains meet the sea. These include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks.
Clan Mackay is an ancient and once-powerful Highland Scottish clan from the far North of the Scottish Highlands, but with roots in the old Kingdom of Moray. They supported Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century. In the centuries that followed they were anti-Jacobite. The territory of the Clan Mackay consisted of the parishes of Farr, Tongue, Durness and Eddrachillis, and was known as Strathnaver, in the north-west of the county of Sutherland. However, it was not until 1829 that Strathnaver was considered part of Sutherland when the chief sold his lands to the Earls of Sutherland and the Highland Clearances then had dire consequences for the clan. In the 17th century the Mackay chief's territory had extended to the east to include the parish of Reay in the west of the neighbouring county of Caithness. The chief of the clan is Lord Reay and the lands of Strathnaver later became known as the Reay Country.
Bettyhill is a village in the parish of Farr, on the north coast of Scotland.
Strathnaver or Strath Naver is the fertile strath of the River Naver, a famous salmon river that flows from Loch Naver to the north coast of Scotland. The term has a broader use as the name of an ancient province also known as the Mackay Country, once controlled by the Clan Mackay and extending over most of northwest Sutherland.
Elizabeth Sutherland Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, also suo jure19th Countess of Sutherland, was a Scottish peer who married into the Leveson-Gower family, best remembered for her involvement in the Highland Clearances.
Strathy is a scattered community in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. The settlement emerged in the late 19th century as the north coast was populated by families forcibly displaced during the Highland Clearances.
The Battle of Dingwall was a Scottish clan battle said to have taken place in the year 1411, in Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. It was fought between the Clan Mackay and the Clan Donald.
The Battle of Alltan-Beath also known as the Battle of Ailtan-Beath was a Scottish clan battle said to have taken place in the year 1542 in the village of Knockarthur, in Sutherland, in the Scottish Highlands. It was fought between men of the Clan Mackay and men of the Clan Sutherland whose chiefs were the Gordon, Earls of Sutherland.
Farr is a parish in the county of Sutherland in the Scottish council area of Highland. The parish also includes a small hamlet named Farr. The village of Bettyhill lies less than 1 mile to the west of the hamlet along the A836 road.
The Highland Clearances were the forced evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860.
Skerray is a remote small crofting hamlet and fishing port on the north coast of Sutherland, Scotland. It is located 7+3⁄4 miles by road northeast of Tongue and 40+1⁄4 miles by road west of Thurso. Skerray is home to a community of artists and a group of tree planters.
Alexander Mackenzie, was a Scottish historian, author, magazine editor and politician. He was born on a croft, in Gairloch. He had little opportunity for education and initially earned his living as a labourer and ploughman. In 1861 he became apprenticed in the clothes trade selling Scottish cloth in Colchester. In 1869 he settled in Inverness, where he and his brother set up a clothes shop in Clach na Cudainn House. From his business premises he derived his nickname 'Clach na Cudainn' or simply 'Clach'. He later became an editor and publisher of the Celtic Magazine, and the Scottish Highlander. Mackenzie wrote numerous clan histories. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. A founder member of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, Mackenzie was elected an 'Honorary Chieftain' in 1894.
Sir Hector Munro, 2nd Baronet of Foulis was a Scottish noble and clan chief of the highland Clan Munro. He is also by tradition the 20th Baron and 23rd overall chief of the clan. However, he is actually the 13th chief of the Clan Munro who can be proved by contemporary evidence.
The Mackays of Aberach also known as the Clan Aberach are a Scottish family and a branch of the ancient Clan Mackay of the Scottish Highlands. They were the senior cadet branch of the Clan Mackay and were seated at Achness, in Strathnaver, which is in modern-day Sutherland. In Scottish Gaelic they are known as the Sleaght-ean Aberigh.
Huistean Du Mackay, 13th of Strathnaver, was the thirteenth chief of Clan Mackay, a Highland Scottish clan.
Angus Roy Mackay, 9th of Strathnaver, was the ninth chief of the ancient Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Iye Roy Mackay, 10th of Strathnaver, was the tenth chief of the ancient Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Donald Mackay, 11th of Strathnaver, was the eleventh chief of the ancient Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
George Mackay, 3rd Lord Reay (1678–1748), was a Scottish noble and chief of the Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. During his life the Glorious Revolution took place which directly affected his family and estate, and during his chiefdom he served the British-Hanoverian Government during the Jacobite rising of 1715 and the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Six museums were selected for this survey. Three are located in the northeast of the Highlands: Strathnaver Museum at Bettyhill, opened in 1976;