Dornoch Historylinks Museum

HISTORYLINKS

Located in The Meadows, at the rear of the Castle Hotel, Historylinks Museum is dedicated to the history of Dornoch parish. The permanent exhibition caters for all interests. There are displays recalling the lives of ordinary, and not so ordinary folk and prominent events in Dornoch's past, the feuding clans, the shameful burning of Scotland's last condemned witch and the treachery and violence of Picts and Vikings.

Opening Hours

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Easter week:	Daily
April, May and October:	Monday to Friday
June to September:	Daily
Winter:	Wednesday and Thursday

Admission charges: Adults £2; Concession (Pensioners/Students) £1.50; Children FREE. Disabled adults are charged but accompanying carers are free. Please contact us beforehand if your party is bigger than 12.

Contact us:

Telephone: 01862 811275

e-mail: historylinks@dsl.pipex.com

website: historylinks.org.uk

Dornoch on Film

There is a collection of slide shows available on the public access personal computer in the museum. In addition to slide shows of the photograph albums that have been donated to the Museum, postcards, photographs and documents in the museum collection or loaned to the museum for copying have been grouped by subject.

The public access personal computer can also be used to search the museum catalogue and view documents in portable document format.

The Museum shop has a selection of books and other items for sale.

 

History is fun for children too!

The museum has several models which may be of particular interest to children. There are also building blocks to construct a model of the cathedral and a puzzle based on the 18 holes of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club.	Heat up their brain cells with puzzles and quizzes from their very own guide - the Dornoch Imp.	Dressing as Vikings, using the clothes in the children's room can be fun!

Seal Matrix

A rare item in the Museum collection is a seal matrix that belonged to a Dornoch Chaplain in the 13th century. The matrix would have been used to ensure that a letter arrived unopened and unread. The seal also guaranteed authenticity. With a Latin inscription around the edge reading 'James, chaplain of Dornoch', the centre depicts a chalice flanked by two candles and the Hand of God descending from above. It is a rare object in that it would normally have been destroyed or defaced when the owner died. This one is in fine condition so it could well have been lost.

 

 

 

 

Golf

Donald Ross was born in St Gilbert Street, Dornoch in 1872 and became America's best known golf course architect.

After his schooling in Dornoch, Donald served a five year apprenticeship with Peter Murray to become a joiner (carpenter). In keeping with other young men in Dornoch he played golf and at an early age he was recognised as a fine player. Probably around 1886 Donald met Tom Morris, the patriarch of St Andrews, when he visited Dornoch. Members of the Dornoch Golf Club needed a professional to make clubs and give lessons and, with his training as a joiner, Donald was ideal for the appointment. To learn the skills of club making, Donald spent a year at Forgan's in St Andrews and a further year at Carnoustie, returning to Dornoch around November 1893. At this time he met his future wife Janet Conchie, from Moniave, Scotland, who was on holiday with her family in Dornoch.

As the professional at Dornoch Golf Club, in addition to club making and giving lessons, Donald was greenkeeper, albeit the role was not given this title at the time. It was work that he hated but he later recalled that it was the best training he could receive for his future life.

In March 1899 Donald left Dornoch to take a position at the Oakley Country Club in Watertown, Mass. His move to the USA followed advice from Professor Robert Wilson, who held the chair in physics at Harvard and spent summers playing golf in Scotland. He prevailed on Donald to consider a move to the United States of America believing Donald could command $60 a month, plus 50 cents an hour for lessons, three times his earnings in Dornoch. In his first year in America, Donald redesigned the Oakley course and during this time he was engaged by James Walker Tufts and given sole authority for the development of golf at Pinehurst. He moved south as Winter Golf Professional for the 1901 winter season, returning north at season's end, first to Oakley and later to Essex Country Club. For the rest of his life, apart from the considerable time he spent travelling as he designed courses, he would follow the pattern of spending the winter season in Pinehurst and the spring and summer in the north.

Donald was granted American citizenship in 1921 but he steadfastly remained loyal and supportive to his relatives and friends in Scotland, returning on summer visits to Moniave and Dornoch.

A collection of photographs, newspaper and magazine cuttings and other documents was donated by Elizabeth Pippitt Shapiro, grand-daughter of Donald Ross, following her visit to Historylinks Museum in October 2005. Some of these items are on display and the collection can be viewed as a slide show on the public access personal computer in the Museum.

There is a Museum display of a golf professional’s workshop. This would have been familiar to Donald Ross and illustrates the conditions and manner in which he would have honed his skills making clubs.

 

 

 

Lives of ordinary, and not so ordinary Dornoch folk

A M Paul was a third generation watchmaker and jeweller who was born on 3rd February 1879 in what is now the Dornoch Bookshop. After training and working in Edinburgh he left at 31 to work in Canada, leaving his father to run a watchmakers shop in Brora. At the outset of war in 1914 he returned to marry and set up a shop in Golspie before enlisting to serve as an instrument repairer with 34th Royal Flying Corps in France and Italy.