The West Highland Museum was founded in 1922 by a group of Lochaber folk who wished to create a museum of and for the West Highlands, second to none in the whole country. Our blog is a constantly growing archive of local, historical information, crammed with interesting stories of people, conflict, fashion, industry and more.
Situated in the High Street in the heart of the historic town of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, The West Highland Museum's collections tell the story of the region and its history. Our most renowned and unusual collection relates to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite cause.
Situated in the High Street in the heart of the historic town of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, The West Highland Museum's collections tell the story of the region and its history. Our most renowned and unusual collection relates to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite cause.
Services
About the Museum
Report
The West Highland Museum is one of the oldest museums in the Highlands. It was founded in 1922 by a group of local enthusiasts led by Victor Hodgson, who had neither a collection nor a building to display it in. Victor Tylston Hodgson was born in 1875 at Welcombe Harpenden, Herts., the son of Henry Tylston, a director and for a time Vice Chairman of the Midland Railway.
Visit Us
Report
Visiting The West Highland Museum couldn't be easier. We are situated just off the main pedestrianised High Street in Fort William at Cameron Square, a ten-minute walk from both the bus station and the rail station. Street parking in Fort William is very limited but the town's main public car parks are all within a 5-10 minute walk from the Museum.
Archaeology
Report
Polished stone axes were the oldest archaeological objects found in the West Highland region, and date from the Neolithic period (around 2000BCE). The use of metal axes became widespread soon afterwards, and the museum has examples of these, as well as the heads of the earlier stone axes.
Our collection includes ancient pottery and metalwork, arrowheads and stonework, salvage from the wreck of a Spanish Galleon, and clothing and artefacts from a 1500-year old crannog site.
Our collection includes ancient pottery and metalwork, arrowheads and stonework, salvage from the wreck of a Spanish Galleon, and clothing and artefacts from a 1500-year old crannog site.
Military
Report
The town of Fort William's origins are military. The area itself, at the westernmost end of the Great Glen fault that runs from Inverness, has historically been of great strategic and political importance to the control of the Highlands. Much of the area's more renowned military stories revolve around the events leading up to and arising from the Jacobite risings of the mid-eighteenth century.
Highland Life
Report
The Scottish Highlands as a region is now world famous for its extraordinary landscape and its appeal for travellers as a place for fresh air, down-to-earth hospitality, and a wealth of outdoor pursuits - from hill-walking and golf to white-water rafting and mountain-biking.
Inverness on the east coast, for example, is bidding to be the fastest growing city in the United Kingdom, as people flock to take advantage of the many benefits living in the Highlands has to offer.The interest in the Highlands as a destination of choice for tourists and house-movers is a relatively recent one, however.
Inverness on the east coast, for example, is bidding to be the fastest growing city in the United Kingdom, as people flock to take advantage of the many benefits living in the Highlands has to offer.The interest in the Highlands as a destination of choice for tourists and house-movers is a relatively recent one, however.
Reviews
Be the first to review West Highland Museum.
Write a Review
