‘Waulking the Cloth’ by Jemima BlackburnWest Highland Museum This painting depicts women ‘waulking’ cloth on the shores of Loch Nan Uamh. They are seated in a circle wielding short mallets and singing, whilst members of the gentry look on. Waulking refers to pulling...
Egg BoxGrantown Museum This egg box comes from a croft near Grantown. It was used to transport eggs by train down to cities to feed people who had limited access to fresh food. There was a system of stamps that meant egg boxes could find their way back home. Roll...
Fisherwoman’s Striped SkirtNairn Museum This long, pleated skirt with dark blue, grey, red, and white vertical stripes was typical of the clothing worn by the fisherwomen of Nairn’s Fishertown. Women in different fishing communities often wore a similar outfit, a bit...
MiddenWest Highland Museum Whoever knew rubbish could be so revealing? This Mesolithic midden, or Stone-Age rubbish heap, is able to provide archaeologists with an array of insights into past peoples. Middens can contain clues about past human diet, the environment,...
Needlework SamplerCromarty Courthouse Museum This is a lovely example of a needlework sampler. In their earliest form, samplers were put together as personal reference works for embroiderers: trials of patterns and stitches which had been copied from others, records...
