Chimney BallNairn Museum Chimney balls, or chimney sweeps’ balls, were used for cleaning chimneys. They were commonly used in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and could be made from materials such as cork, wire mesh or even straw. It is essentially a circular...
Gin TrapWest Highland Museum Warning – some visitors may find this object distressing Gin traps were spring-loaded traps that snap shut on an animal’s limb when triggered. They were commonly used for catching small animals, including rats in places where grain...
Socks in the Gairloch PatternGairloch Museum These socks are knitted in the unique ‘Gairoch pattern’, first documented in the mid-nineteenth century. The Mackenzies of Gairloch supported work schemes for their tenants during the potato famine in the 1840s. Spinning...
Cardboard SatchelHighland Museum of Childhood This cardboard school bag was one of the philanthropic gifts handed out to children in the nineteenth century by Sir James Coats, a member of the Coats family from Paisley, who made their fortune from thread manufacture. ...
Russian Lead SealsCromarty Courthouse Cromarty Courthouse has one of the largest collections Russian lead seals in the country. This is because Cromarty was a centre for the manufacture of hemp sacking and rope during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century....
