17 September 2026

Rosemarkie, Iona, Orcades, and the importance of the North

Online talk by Dr Oisin Plumb, Institute for Northern Studies, UHI

Organised by Groam House Museum. Tickets via Eventbrite : £3.96 members and students; £7.21 others). 

In the medieval worldview, the Highlands and Islands inhabited a place which was both peripheral and central: They marked the edge of the known world, reflected in the frequent use of ‘Orcades’ to represent the boundary of civilisation in the minds of scholars throughout Europe. However, this very peripherality gave the Highlands and Islands a crucial centrality in the medieval Christian view of the world: The activities of Rosemarkie, Iona and other northern establishments marked the fulfilment of Christ’s instructions to bring his message to the ‘uttermost part of the earth’. This talk will look at how texts and maps up to the 12th century juggled this contradiction- representing Rosemarkie, Iona and the Orcades places of both geographical peripherality and cosmological centrality.

17 September 2026

Dig organised by Historic Hilton Trust, and run by AOC Archaeology. Limited numbers of volunteering places available each day. Email getinvolved@aocarchaeology.com stating which days you would like to dig. 

You are welcome to come for a day to get a taster of being an archaeologist or the whole dig, but we recommend if you are able to book a few days you will get more experience of different aspects of the dig. If the days fill up we will keep a waitlist for any last minute cancellations.

Visitors are welcome between 11am and 2pm. There will also be anopen day on Saturday 12th September with tours at 11, 12 1 and 2.

Please be aware that there is some parking available on site (short walk across uneven ground to the site). And at a public layby B9166, by Balintore, Easter Ross, IV20 1XE, 10 minute walk downhill to the chapel site on a footpath. Sturdy
footwear is recommended.

17 September 2026

Guided Walk at Gairloch Cemetery

Led by Roy Macintyre and Katie Grant

Organised by Gairloch Museum. See their website for booking link.

17 September 2026

'Broch 'n' Roil: 13 Years pointing at Inconspicuous Mounds with the Caithness Broch Project

Talk by Kenneth McElroy

Organised by Tarbat Discovery Centre. Further details and tickets from the museum website.