At the beginning of July we had a fabulous day in Perthshire visiting the new Scottish Crannog Centre just beyond Kenmore. Following the devastating fire in 2021 that destroyed the amazing crannog that sat out in Loch Tay, the centre found a new home on the north side of the loch. We visited the previous site on our way back from Lunga in 2014. On the new site they have built an iron age village and are about to start building not just one but three crannogs out in the loch. After a stop at Kenmore to exercise Maisie on the loch edge we arrived at the centre.
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| Loch Tay from Kenmore |
From the car park we approached the centre's building, home to the shop, cafe and museum. It was still looking raw but the centre had only been open for a month when we visited. The museum is working towards being Scotlands most sustainable museum and its great to see this in practice. They have done an incredible amount of work in the short time they have been on site. Visits are tour led and start in the building. We were guided by the entertaining John who took us from the ice age to roman times and through all the fascinating exhibits, many of which had been found in Loch Tay itself. We then stepped outside and visited each round house for an interactive iron age experience around open fires.
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| The Crannog Centre |
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| Trying the Spelt Bread |
We learned about cooking and baking in the iron age and sampled spelt bread cooked on the fire and honey butter, delicious. Each of the folk doing the demonstrations were dressed in iron age style, as best as we understand it from archaeology and what has been found and interpreted. Next we experienced metal working around a forge before moving on to the wood turning round house.
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| Making hooks and useful items on the forge |
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| Silene dioica, Red Campion |
In the woodworking hut they only use local native wood and make all the benches we’d sat on in each round house and tables and other items needed in the museum. We were handed round items made on the lathes and shown how these were operated. There is nothing nicer and more tactile than hand carved wooden items, form the land around. Nothing is wasted and the small bits and off cuts are used in the fires in each round house.
In the weaving round house we sat and learnt about dying linen and wool, spinning and weaving the flax and wool and then weaving it to make clothing and blankets. How the dyes were made from forages plants and then fixed, usually with urine. The natural colours on the linens and wools were beautiful, and subtle, echoing the plants they have come from.
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| The natural colours of the dyes on wool |
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| Weaving on a loom built from branches and using stone weights from the loch |
Lastly we sat in the main round house, a beautifully woven structure where the internal walls are constructed from hazel branches, woven to form a dome. It felt like we were sitting in a nest or a bee skep. With the fire burning our last guide told us how these larges houses wee probably used as meeting places, places here the people came together to celebrate or to organise life in the settlement.
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| A coracle made on site |
This museum is well worth a visit, with a café and shop on site and dogs are allowed in the outside part of the museum. If you like interactive museums, iron age history and archaeology its well worth the trip. I can't wait to go back and visit the crannogs when they are built.
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| In the large meeting house |
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The centre allows dogs in the outdoor areas but not in the building and has a great wee shop with relevant books and items for sale including items by local artists. The cafe looks over the loch where the crannogs will be built, food and service were great. You can find out more on the centre website and their social media.
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| Loch Tay from the Crannog Centre |
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| Maisie at Loch Lubnaig |
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| Fish and chips in Callander |
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What an interesting place! Thank you for sharing the travel tip.
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