Museums & Art Galleries News

Families Were Crammed Together 'Like Herring In A Barrel' During Wick Fishing Boom

Wick's herring-fishing boom is considered to have been a time of great prosperity for the town - but those living in unsanitary conditions in the streets around the harbour faced a daily struggle with poverty, overcrowding and disease.   The hardships endured by families crammed "cheek by jowl" in the Lower Pulteneytown area have been highlighted by Caithness poet and playwright George Gunn in a new recording for Wick Voices, the oral history section of the Wick Society.  

Spirit Of The Highlands & Islands Portal Big Hit At North Coast Visitor Centre

The Spirit of the Highlands and Islands 360 degree immersive portal experience has been declared a ‘big hit' with visitors to the North Coast Visitor Centre this October school Holidays.   The Spirit of the Highlands and Islands project is a partnership project between The Highland Council and High Life Highland, and is delivered in collaboration with VisitScotland.  

Highland Council In Talks To Reopen Caithness Horizons

Talks have taken place on the possibility of reopening Thurso's Caithness Horizons which closed last week due to financial problems.   The operators of the museum and art gallery said increasing running costs and reduced income had made the running of the site "unsustainable".  

Caithness And North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership - Update

Week Commencing 1st January 2018.   Energy & business services: 2018 promises to be another year of exciting change in the energy sector, and to highlight how things have progressed in the north the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm team have produced a short booklet outlining the significant milestones that have been achieved during 2017 - you can access the booklet at https://www.beatricewind.com/single-post/2017/12/22/lookingbackat2017 .  

Caithness Horizons Museum welcomes half a million visitors.

Tuesday 11th August saw local group No Limits Caithness visit the Museum for a morning packed with Viking activities with Curator Joanne Howdle, or Thordis Eiríksdóttir as she is fondly known to local groups and schools.   The group helped the Museum to hit the half million visitors mark and to celebrate they were presented with a special cake made in the Museum's cafe.  

Scientists from around the world gather in Caithness for conference

Scientists from around the world recently gathered in Thurso for an annual biological sciences meeting.  The Larwood Symposium was hosted by the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) of the North Highland College UHI on behalf of the International Bryozoology Association.  

Reactor control room moves to a new home

Last week saw the last of the Dounreay Materials Testing Reactor (DMTR) control room panels shipped off site and transferred to their new home in local five-star visitor attraction Caithness Horizons.   The control room panels and control desk have been donated to Caithness Horizons and reconstructed at the museum to form the basis of a new permanent exhibition representing Dounreay's significant part in Scotland's industrial heritage.  

Family activity day at Dunnet's Seadrift Visitor Centre

Science O3, the organising charity behind the annual Caithness International Science Festival, will be collaborating with The Highland Council Countryside Rangers to present a fun-filled family activity day at Dunnet's Seadrift Visitor Centre on Saturday, 29th September 2012.   The day of workshops, talks and walks, led by the Highland Council's Countryside Rangers, will highlight the biodiversity of Caithness and allow people of all ages to learn more about the wonderful world of birds, bush craft, whales, bats and basket making.  

Caithness Horizons Staff Gain Cultural & Heritage Award

A group of five staff members from Caithness Horizons have successfully completed an EDI National Award in Cultural and Heritage Venue Operations.  Caithness Horizons is the only museum in the Highlands to have staff that have achieved this award.  

Caithness Broch Centre Opens Saturday 25th July

The Caithness Broch Centre opens to the public on Saturday 25 July with a day of activities and talks.  The centre, based in Auckengill Old School, takes over where the Northlands Viking Centre left off some three years ago.