Horsehair Fly Whip Strathnaver Museum Sometimes called a fly whisk, this horsehair whip would have been used to swat flies. The term horsehair refers to the manes of the animal, as well as the tails which can grow very long. Horsehair has been used throughout history...
Hoof FungusGlencoe Folk Museum This hoof fungus, or fomes fomentarius, is found growing in the Highlands on silver birch trees. Its name comes from its unusual shape, like a horse’s hoof. This particular example was intended for making shinty balls, more usually...
Clay Spade Glencoe Folk Museum This spade was used for digging clay – possibly to make drainage ditches. Digging the land is hard work, especially when the land is made of compacted, wet clay! The sharp point of the spade would have been useful for piercing into the...
Trumpet Foghorn from a LighthouseGairloch Museum Rubh Reidh lighthouse stands at the entrance of Loch Ewe in Wester Ross. It was finally finished in 1912, after decades of requests for a lighthouse at this point. This large, cast-iron object is the foghorn trumpet....
Crios-iarna or Niddy-noddyStrathnaver Museum This object was used for winding wool, ready for knitting. ‘Iarnas’, or hanks of wool, were formed by winding wool as it came off a spinning wheel in a figure of eight pattern around the crosspieces of wood at either...
