15 September 2010

Final season of the dig at Birnie, near Elgin, where an impressive iron and Pictish settlement site has been the subject of assessment and excavation since 1998, led by Fraser Hunter of the National Museums of Scotland. The site was a local power centre which has produced a rich range of buildings and finds.

Volunteers are welcome, as long as they commit to a miniumum of 3 days. The excavations take place Sunday through Friday, with no work on Saturdays. Spaces are limited and must be booked in advance to allow planning. Please contact Fraser on 0131 247 4053 (and leave a message) or e-mail f.hunter@nms.ac.uk.

15 September 2010

ARCH course: Exploring Your Local Heritage

Strathdearn Hall, Tomatin

Wednesdays, 1st September-6th October

7-9pm

Description:

Interested in your past but confused about what happened when? Find out about the heritage in your area, from the earliest settlers to recent remains. Informal and lively, this six session course assumes no previous knowledge.

All welcome. Help with childcare may be available - contact us.

Cost: £2.00 / £1.00 optional senior rate / free to those on benefits.

Please book ahead on info@archhighland.org.uk or phone 01349 865230.

15 September 2010

Material held at NLS will be on display at Inverness Library from 13-15 September.

If you visit the roadshow, you can find out how to access the national collection without having to travel to Edinburgh. You can also:

Read recent books ´in the flesh´
Hear what NLS has to offer students, businesses, family historians, and film enthusiasts
Speak to our specialist staff
Attend a talk or film show.
They´re even bringing the shop. You will be able to buy copies of a selection of rare items and of maps.

Rare items on show:
´A plan of the Battle of Culloden´ (from around 1748)
Drawn about 2 years after the battle took place, and written entirely in French, this plan of the Battle of Culloden gives us important detail about the battle. It also poses questions about the reasons behind the creation of the map itself. Who drew it? And why does it depict the battle the way it does?
´The Battle of Culloden, near Inverness in Scotland, 16th April 1746. London: Printed for & sold by Carington Bowles´ (1797?)

An 18th-century engraving showing a scene from the Battle of Culloden, coloured in watercolour.
´The wonder of wonders´ (Edinburgh?, around 1760)
An 18th-century broadside, with two woodcut illustrations, documenting a strange encounter on the cliffs of Cromarty, near Inverness, between a stranded merchant, Lauchland Mackintosh, and a mermaid.

´Staffa, Iona, Inverness, Cromarty, Invergordon, Burghead, & Oban, Tobermory, Stontian, &c. Regular and more speedy conveyance to the above ports´ (Glasgow, 1835)

A 19th-century broadside from the early years of steamships serving the west coast of Scotland. This provides information on the order of sailings and cabin fares for three steamers, ´The Staffa´, ´The Maid of Morven´ and ´The Highlander´.

Modern collections
The NLS will be bringing some of their more recent acquisitions to Inverness and filling some of the bookcases with them. Although you won´t be able to borrow these items, you will be able to get a flavour of the extent of the 15 million printed items in our collections. They´re your books – come and read them.

Details of the programme can be found on the NLS website www.nls.uk/news/roadshow/index.html

To book an event, please speak to a member of staff at Inverness Library or phone 01463 236463.