Groam House Museum Annual Academic Lecture  at Fortrose Community Theatre at 7.30pm. Spaces and places in the Pictish Landscape, a talk by Stratford Halliday (formerly of the RCAHMS) Admission £4 (Members £2) 

 

 

Monday 7 - Saturday 12 May  

Events commemorating the WWII Arctic Convoys and the role of the Loch Ewe community.

Activities include ‘Enigma’ a talk by codebreaker expert, Dr Mark Baldwin, a guided walk to the wreck site of the SS William Welch, a look at what was happening around Loch Ewe during WWII - including rare film footage, a chance to see an enigma machine, a 1940s American dance night  and a wartime tea party. Find out more on the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum website

 

Thursday 10 May from 1.00pm - 7.00pm, Friday 11 May from 10.00 - 4.00pm

If you’re interested in specialist books then you’ll be delighted with this touring book fair organised three booksellers who are experts in their field:

 

Antiquarian, fine bindings, first edition, Scottish, illustrated, childrens and local history books, together with maps, book ends and an eclectic mix of interesting and keenly priced books.

Aviation material, including aircraft manufactures, the RAF, aviation history, autobiographies of aviators, Flying in WW1 - in fact every aspect of flight and flying. There is also a good general stock of books including military history, mountaineering, maritime and local books, travel, children's, classics, local history, the environment, humanism and the arts.

Bilingual, multicultural, English and Gaelic resources for children. The language books for children include, French language books, Polish language books, multicultural books, English language books and Scottish Gaelic books for children.

 

Other book fair tour dates are: 2/3 June Dornoch Community Centre, 21/22th June Kyleakin Hall, 5/6 July Melness Hall, 26/27 July Dornie Hall, 2/3 August Durness Hall

Find out more on the Highland Book Fairs website 

 

Monday 14 May - Friday 18 May  

The second round of selective test pitting of roundhouses in Wester Ross at Rhue, nr Ullapool

Organised by Lochbroom Field Club, the days are led by archaeologist Anna Welti and volunteers from the local community who will teach the techniques of selective test pitting - small targeted excavations. The project is focussed on establishing when and how roundhouse dwellers occupied these houses in our local landscapes. 

 

Have a look at our guest blog for an account of the first dig, and at the Wester Ross wee digs website for details of the dig at Rhue. 

 

• Nybster Broch: the power centre of the north
• Castle Sinclair Girnigoe’s history? Just a myth!
• Reshaping the past at Thrumster Broch
• Recent commercial discoveries in Caithness
• Stone mad: building a broch
• Secrets of the soil: what the samples revealed
• Renovation of Thrumster Station

 

Sponsored by Applecross Landscape Partnership Scheme, this is another opportunity to learn the skills of test pitting, this time with archaeologists, Cait McCullagh and Mary Peteranna, and is part of ongoing excavions in the Applecross area. The first session will be at Langwell cleared township and will be investigating the findings of the geophysical survey. 

 

A further training day will take place on 16 and 17 June

This will look at the results of the previous session, including how to draw up the plans and write a report, and there will be another test-pitting exercise in the area around the broch.  

 

For information and booking please contact Cait at cait.mccullagh@gmail.com Please book early, as places are limited to ten participants per session.

 

 

ARCH open meeting Stratherrick Public Hall  

From 7.00pm to 8.30pm. This is an opportunity for people in the area to meet and share information about local heritage, and to suggest possible areas of interest for future courses and events. The evening is also a great opportunity to bring old photographs or objects to share with others, and find out more about some of the stories of the area’s past.

All welcome!

Coffees & teas provided. For further information contact us on 01349 868230 or email info@archhighland.org.uk 

 

ARCH lecture : Strathcarnaig (Sutherland) before and after Clearance 

Dingwall Community Centre at 19.30. Historian David Alston describes the well-preserved remains of settlements in Strathcarnaig on the road from Strath Fleet to Bonar Bridge, linking them to the detailed surveys of the 1770s before the area was cleared.

 

The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments (RCAHMS) is running a Woodland History Training Course with dendrochronologist/environmental archaeologist Coralie Mills and native woodland history expert and forester Peter Quelch. The course will take place just outside Aviemore and will include a field visit to historic woodlands nearby.

 

The day will consist of a morning of workshop talks indoors introducing the idea of woodland heritage, including woodland archaeology, documentary evidence, woodland types, tree-forms and tree-ring evidence. In the afternoon there will be a visit to historic woods in the area to apply what has been learnt to a range of woodland types and tree-forms.

 

For more details contact Amy Gillespie, Community Archaeology Team, RCAHMS Tel : 0131 651 6793 or email communities@rcahms.gov.uk  

Places are limited, so booking essential.

Find out more about the project through the Cairngorms Community Heritage facebook page