Gairloch Museum facts for kids

Gairloch Museum

Gairloch Museum (Scottish Gaelic: Taigh-tasgaidh Gheàrrloch) is a cool place in Scotland where you can learn about the history of the Wester Ross area. It's located in a village called Gairloch. In 2019, the museum moved into a new building. This building used to be a secret military bunker from the Cold War! The next year, in 2020, Gairloch Museum won a big award called the ArtFund Museum of the Year Award.

The Museum's Beginning

The museum first opened its doors in 1977. It started because some local people, like Sylvia and Morton Murdoch, wanted to protect old items donated by the community. They were worried these special things might get damaged. The museum wanted to show visitors what life was like in Gairloch's past. They were interested in showing items about farming, fishing, and daily life on the West Coast of Scotland.

A New Home for the Museum

In 2016, the museum received a large grant to help it move to a new building. This new home was a former Cold War building. It was built in the 1950s as a military bunker. It was used to help control anti-aircraft operations. Later, it became a depot for road maintenance.

Work on the new museum building began in 2018. They removed some inside walls and added windows to the very thick walls. But they also kept some parts of the old bunker, like the heavy blast doors. The museum board and volunteers worked hard to raise money for this big project.

The newly updated Gairloch Museum officially opened on July 9, 2019. The Princess Royal helped open it.

A Big Award for the Museum

In October 2020, Gairloch Museum was named one of the five winners of the 2020 ArtFund Museum of the Year Award. This was a very special award. The ArtFund increased the prize money and chose five winners because of the challenges museums faced during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

What You Can See at the Museum

The museum has many interesting displays and exhibitions. They show the culture and social history of the Gairloch area. Some of the cool things you can see include:

• The Poolewe Hoard – a very rare collection of bronze items from the early Iron Age. It was found in Poolewe.
• The original giant lens from the nearby Rua Reidh Lighthouse. This lens helped ships see the light from far away.
• A replica of a croft house from over 100 years ago. You can see how people lived back then.
• An ancient Pictish stone – this is one of the first and very few Pictish stones found on the West Coast of Scotland.
  

  A photograph of the ancient Pictish Stone found at the museum
• Interactive displays about the natural history of the area. You can learn about the plants and animals that live around Gairloch.

Images for kids

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  The museum's former building