Highland Objects Podcasts

This costume is one of a number donated to Castletown Heritage Society by a descendant of the costume’s owner. Her son emigrated to the USA in the late 1800s but regularly sent home clothes for his mother. As she was a widow, and at the time there was a strict convention about wearing mourning clothes, all the garments are sombre but beautifully made and no doubt of the latest American fashion. 

Location: Castletown Heritage Society Harbour Rd, Castletown, Thurso KW14 8TG

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This beautiful silk brocade dress is thought to have been designed and made by James Lehman in Spitalfields, London in about 1710. Although the dress would have originally been a Mantua, it has been much altered over the years. The colours of the silk however, are still as vibrant as they would have been when the fabric was woven.

Location Dornoch Historylinks The Meadows, Dornoch IV25 3SF

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A gansey is a warm and largely waterproof jumper that was used by fishermen. Knitting a gansey requires great skill. Each had a very distinctive and intricate pattern It is alleged that the patterns either represented a family group or a local community. The theory was that if a fisherman were washed overboard, the gansey pattern would identify his family or community. Around fifty different patterns have been identified. 

Location Wick Heritage Museum Wick KW1 5EY

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This beautiful dress dates to the 1740s and was made with silk from Spitalfields. It supposedly belonged to an upper-class Jacobite supporter. The dress was passed down through the generations of a local family and seems to have been altered at some point with more modern materials. 

Location Glencoe Museum Ballachulish PH49 4HS

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between the 1870s & 1950s, men from the shores of Loch Broom, found a working life in the wealthy world of big yacht racing. Owners from some of Britain’s richest families employed men from this area because of their excellent seamanship skills. Each man was issued a jumper with the name of the yacht on it which almost became a sort of CV as a record of the yachts that the men had served on.

Location Ullapool Museum IV26 2TY

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Made in 1868-9 in Madras for Barbara Morrison, the wife of a soldier stationed in India. Barbara had been born in Inverness in about 1828, had married a British officer and went to India aboard the Himalaya.

Location: West Highland Museum, Cameron Square, Fort William PH33 6AJ

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 This pattern was developed in the middle of the 19th century and was apparently unique to Gairloch. Unlike many Scottish estates, the lairds of Gairloch supported work schemes for inhabitants during the 1840s potato famine. Knitting was encouraged to provide an income for the women, using wool from local fleeces, home spun and dyed with local plants.

Location Gairloch Museum IV21 2BH

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr John Alexander’s Specimen Slide Set is in the custodianship of The Wick Heritage Museum. His life long commitment to improving the health of the community is demonstrated by the fact he built up and used these various specimens that contributed to his knowledge of diseases.

Location: The Wick Heritage Museum, 20 Bank Row, Wick KW1 5EYuted to his knowledge of diseases.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With echoes of modern-day entrepreneurship, the SS Mabel came to the “romantic shores of the queen of Highland lochs”, Loch Maree in 1883. As well as providing leisure cruises on the loch, she also became a vital link for the Gairloch area, connecting coaches at each end of the loch for visitors arriving by rail at Achnasheen.

Location Gairloch Museum, Achtercairn House, Gairloch IV21 2BH

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

125 different signatures on a tablecloth, captured the names revealing a fascinating mix of countries of origin of the personnel who maintained a key ariel for RAF Castletown, a WWII fighter airfield at the northern tip of the Scottish mainland

Location: Castletown Heritage Centre Harbour Rd, Castletown, Thurso KW14 8TG

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.