Sutherland travellers' encampment now available as part of 360-degree virtual museum tour
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A Sutherland travellers’ summer encampment is the third in a series of virtual tours that can be discovered in 360 degrees, using images, text, video and audio.
The Highland Folk Museum digital tour, which depicts an example of a Sutherland summer tent, is modelled on the type of encampment used until the 1960s.
The setting was inspired by the recollections of Essie Stewart, a traveller born in 1941, who lived in bough tents which travelling around the north of Scotland with her family.
Born and brought up in Sutherland, Essie is the grand-daughter of gaelic storyteller and tinsmith Ailidh Dall Stiùbhart ('Blind' Alec Stewart). She is one of the last of her generation who lived the life of the old travelling people.
Museum project officer Helen Pickles said: “Within the collection at the Highland Folk Museum we have finely crafted objects that were known to have been made by travellers, such as tin lanterns, silver brooches and staved wooden vessels.
“Traveller craftspeople were highly skilled, and it’s a delight to be able to showcase these beautiful objects in a digital setting. We are also presenting the more everyday objects such as a jockey, or ‘snottum’, a milk churn and a pram which all help to tell the story of the traveller people, and their life on the road.
“In the days before paved roads and convenient transport, the world was a lot smaller. The travelling community provided a valued role in bringing wares, seasonal labour, and skills to remote villages and farms all across the Highlands.
“Travellers brought news and messages with them, in addition to hawking and trading everyday wares such as clothes pegs, pot scrubbers, haberdashery items, baskets and lanterns.”
With the advent of plastic and the increase of affordable consumer goods, there was a decline in demand for the traditional crafts and trades of the traveller.
Ms Pickles added: “The community had to adapt, and the lifestyle which can be seen in some of the early and mid twentieth century photographs of travellers portray a way of living which has now all but disappeared.
“We have worked closely with members of the traveller community to improve our knowledge about objects in the collection, and to listen to personal insights and the lived experiences of individuals.
“We hope that by sharing some of these words, images and interviews, our visitors will learn something they might not have known about this ancient and indigenous group of people.”
The Newtonmore based museum has created the 360-degree digital tours as a new way to explore five of its unique buildings and the objects within.
The project has been funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, which is run by the Museums Association, funding projects that develop collections to achieve social impact.
The virtual tour can be found at www.highlandfolk.com/explore where visitors can step inside the travellers’ summer encampment.
The traveller camp will be available for visitors to experience in person when the museum opens on April 1.
