We are delighted to be collaborating as part of the project team with CH Architecture, to upgrade the museum that tells the amazing history of this area and the community.
Farr has been an area of importance since early Christian period. There is early monastic settlement on Eilean Neave at nearby Skerray that dates from the time of St Columba. On the coastline, a mile to the North East, there is a historic fort of some considerable size which was a significant military structure dating from antiquity and in use up until the 16th century.
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The current museum building occupies the former church building. It was first commenced in 1774, by the minister George Munro, who’s initials are painted on the rear of the pulpit. It was from the pulpit which still dominates the main room that Rev David Mackenzie was obliged to read out eviction notices to his congregation. The clearances had damaged the reputation of the Church of Scotland within the area. The parish church was inextricably linked to the Duke of memory of the community to this day.
Interior altered in 1881 when the galleries were removed and end bays partitioned off. Then later in 1883 where tenants and crofters from across north Sutherland met to give evidence to the Napier Commission: Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands.
The church eventually closed in 1940’s, when a new, smaller church was constructed close to the primary school and converted into a museum in 1976.
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MAAC studio are accredited conservation architects and principal designers working with traditional buildings throughout Scotland.
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