• Karen Millen
• Herve Leger
• Karen Millen
• Hermes
• Soccer Cleats

Dornoch Heritage

The latest ARCH Community Timelines course took place between February and May 2024 when over 20 people shared memories, researched various aspects of the local heritage and created a display and binders of resources. Many grew up in Dornoch, and were sharing local memories even on the last day! As with other Community Timelines courses, there were three modules: first sharing memories, then researching various topics that emerged, and finally pulling the information together into a display and binders of resources. We had several fieldtrips exploring sites in Dornoch, and visited Historylinks Museum to see some objects there and Burghfield House for a tour by UHI Centre for History staff.  The course was definitely aided by the fact that Historylinks’ full collection is available online at https://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/.

Clearly Dornoch has been an important place from prehistory onwards. Metal detecting has resulted in some important finds, most available at Historylinks Museum or Inverness Museum. Recent archaeological work has also added to the picture, particularly for the Bronze Age, Pictish and medieval periods. There are good documentary sources, and we explored key publications and maps. Despite being a major church centre from the medieval period and the county town, the burgh was surprisingly poor until the latter 19^th century when golf and tourism grew, aided by the advent of the railway in 1902.

The display features information on many of the topics below, as well as a selection of pictures of old Dornoch.

The group is keen to continue. Historylinks Museum hopes to organise sessions once their new facilities are ready in summer 2024. 

Binder contents:
1. Neolithic axehead
2. Bronze Age burials
3. Iron Age / Roman brooches
4. Anglo-Saxon mount
5. Pictish & Norse smiddy
6. Viking ring money
7. Dornoch Cathedral and Bishop’s Palace
8. Medieval Annular brooches and other medieval finds
9. Post-medieval Dornoch
10. Dornoch’s Tolbooths
11. Dornoch’s Schools
12. Dornoch’s Post Offices
13. Dornoch’s Hotels
14. Preaching Ark
15. Littletown
16. Dornoch Courthouse
17. Dornoch Beach
18. Dornoch’s Curling Ponds
19. Wartime Dornoch
20. Trudi’s Café
21. Farms and Dairies
22. Public Buildings
23. Dornoch Social Club
24. Lifeboat Station
25. Youth Activities
26. Dornoch Shops
27. A selection of images of old Dornoch
28. Various offprints and notes including

• Old Statistical Account (1793) and New Statistical Account (1845) for the Parish of Dornoch
• Extracts from Donald Sage 1889. Memorabilia Domestica: or, Parish Life in the North of Scotland.
• Extracts from Dornoch Burgh Council minutes
• Historic Dornoch. The Archaeological implications of Development (Scottish Burgh Survey 1982)
• Desk-based assessment of Mercat Cross, Dornoch, 2011 – P. Higgins
• Dornoch Castle Hotel, Sutherland. A brief history
• Notes on Police Occurrence Book 1874-1878
• Register of Voters 1904-5
• Tales from Dornoch Square -  Duncan Allan
• Guidebook to Dornoch in the County of Sutherland (probably 1960s)
• Rules and Regulations for the management of the Churchyards within the Burgh of Dornoch

29. (left blank for future additions)
30. Further information