Golspie Heritage Society
Plans to form a local heritage society in Golspie more than 20 years ago fell through when a proposal to use as a museum the former Meal Mill owned by Sutherland Estates collapsed. The then Golspie Amenities Club, which has successfully run a village cinema and refurbished the Big Burn path and bridges, set about restoring the mill lade and water wheel with the aid of public funds.
After some disagreement between the tenant farmer, the estate and amenities club officials, the mill was eventually leased to a working miller, and continues to produce oatmeal of a high quality today.
The resurgence of interest in heritage affairs came with the inspiration of an ad hoc Millennium Group, which produced two massive volumes of photographs of every building in Golspie, each with a contributed explanatory panel alongside, giving details of the residents as at December 31, 1999. Such was the interest engendered by this project that the organisers decided to mount an exhibition in Fountain Road church hall in the following Spring of old photographs and artefacts offered for display by local residents. It became so successful with visitors as well as residents that the society - whose membership included the Millennium Group - repeated it on a grander scale during Golspie Gala Week, and ran others over the next two years.
Golspie Heritage Society was formally inaugurated on 17th April 2000 at a meeting attended by 20 interested individuals, with apologies for absence from 12 more. A winter programme of speakers and local visits was organised and this continues to be the main feature of the Society's year.
Searching for premises to house the now considerable collection of material gathered at the summer exhibitions, the members were overwhelmed when an anonymous local benefactor offered to purchase the vacant Main Street bakers premises and donate them to the Society as their headquarters. Planning permission to convert the shop and bakehouse into a museum was granted by Highland Council in July 2001. But subsequently, when members were informed of the considerable running costs which would have to be met after public grants assisted in the conversion, the proposal to accept the kind donor's gift was regretfully turned down.
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The Heritage Society now has a permanent home at the "Fishermen's Welcome"
In 2002, again quite unexpectedly, an offer came from the St Andrew's Lodge of Freemasons to share their premises in Station Road. This building had been established by Millicent, Countess of Sutherland, as a "Fishermen's Welcome" for the not inconsiderable Golspie fleet at the turn of the 20th century. The Freemasons, who bought the then vacant property in 1955, were looking for a tenant to share the eastern end - it had been the former caretaker's flat - because they no longer required it for that purpose.
In the Spring of 2003 a formal lease was drawn up between the Lodge and the Society, and now the latter is looking for assistance in rehabilitating the premises to allow for a permanent museum in Golspie next year. Already a willing band of members has rolled up sleeves, knuckled to and begun mucking out the old decorations and paintwork.
Among the many speakers who have addressed the Society in recent times, Ian Hustwick talked on Moray Forth shipping and shipbuilders, George Murray on his days at Sutherland Technical School, Councillor David Alston on the history of Cromarty, Miss Anne Dunnett on genealogy and local ties, Highland Council's archivist Robert Steward and chief registrar Margaret Straube, and Alan Lannon on the Melville family history.
Visits to prominent buildings with guided tours have included the castles at Dunrobin, Skibo and Balnagown.
