Does Carrbridge curling pond really exist? That might seem a foolish question to anyone who’s seen the pond busy with people enjoying a match on a frosty winter’s day - but if you’d searched the Highland Historic Environment Record, Highland Council's online

listing of all known heritage you would have found no trace of this historic feature.

 

All that has changed now thanks to the work of the participants in classes run by Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands (ARCH) - funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund, European Community Highland LEADER 2007-2013 Programme, with support from The Highland Council - and the results are on show in a ‘community timeline’ exhibition at the Landmark Centre, Carrbridge from 5 to 30 March.

 

Class facilitator, Susan Kruse commented’ “Working with communities to find out more about their past is always rewarding, and local knowlege often reveals previously unrecorded sites. During this course we also found out about an unrecorded trackway to the northeast  of Carrbridge, as well as finding out more about local features such as the Mains of Garten Motte and probable Pictish burial site near Nethy Bridge'.”

 

Some of the finds from the area are also illustrated in the exhibition, including an annular brooch from Nethy Bridge. Only 2cm in diameter, this brooch is the forerunner of the large annular ‘Highland brooch’ still popular today. The brooch is decorated with lines and geometric ornament and probably dates to around the 13th century. The decoration may be a regional style, as several finds from Easter Ross and down into Aberdeenshire have been found with similar markings.