Applecross Heritage Centre / Ionad Dualchais

The Applecross Heritage Centre is a local museum and research centre run by volunteers from the Applecross Historical Society. We are beautifully situated with a unique Highland heritage.
Come on in – you’ll be very welcome!

’S e Ionad Dualchais na Comraich taigh-tasgaidh agus ionad-rannsachaidh ionadail a th’ air a ruith le saor-thoilich à Comunn Eachdraidh na Comraich. Tha sinn suidhichte ann an àite àlainn le dualchas Gàidhealach air leth. Thigibh ann – gheibh sibh fàilte mhòr!

Heritage Centre

The Applecross Heritage Centre is housed in a sensitively restored nineteenth century outbuilding of the old manse and glebe. It is operated by the Historical Society and its volunteers, and it was opened in 2003. It is a major plank of the Historical Society’s commitment to promoting knowledge of local history and culture.

The Centre contains displays, artefacts and records to interest locals and visitors alike in learning about the history of the area. In doing this it hopes to develop a sense of the unique nature of our community and how the past affects the present in A’Chomraich – the sanctuary.

Historical Society

The Society, established in 1998 and incorporated in 2000, collects and records information about the history of Applecross, arranges public lectures and disseminates information about the local area.

Applecross is a peninsula with many small villages and hamlets spread over approximately 30 miles of coastline. Today, the main tourist facilities are located around the 19th century village known as Shore Street, which visitors sometimes mistakenly think is called Applecross.

The Historical Society and the Heritage Centre are both run entirely by volunteers and depends on membership fees, income from the Heritage Centre and donations to operate. Click here for more information about the Historical Society.

Practical details

The Heritage Centre generally operates from April to October each year, and it is open from 12-4 pm, or by special arrangement. It is run by Volunteers who give their time on a regular basis over the season.

Entry fee a nominal £3 (donations above this much appreciated). All funds from visiting the Centre go towards its running and maintenance costs.

In addition to a wide range of exhibits, we also hold or display a range of pictures, records, books and maps. Volunteers can direct visitors to specific resources. If, following your visit, you wish to follow up on anything please email us at applecrossheritagecentre@btinternet.com and we will endeavour to help you.

We also have a small retail facility. Again all profits go directly into supporting the running of the Centre. You can also make a donation at the desk.

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Applecross Heritage Centre

6 days ago

Collecting money in Applecross for the “relief of the Holy Land” – 750 years ago!Did you know that in the late 1200s, every parish and religious institution in Scotland, including Applecross, was asked to pay a tax to fund a war in the Middle East? In 1274, at a council in Rome, the pope had decided that yet another crusade was needed to try to seize back the Holy Land from the “infidels”. Never mind that previous crusades had ended in disaster. To pay for it, he ordered that a tenth of all church incomes in western Europe should be gathered as a “crusade tax”. He appointed a priest called “Master Boiamund de Vitia” to go to Scotland to collect the tax there. The Scots managed to mangle the name into Bagimond, but his work has given us something useful - an idea of the revenues of almost all the parishes of Scotland in the late 1200s - through a record known as “Bagimond’s Roll”. This shows that Applecross parish was assessed as needing to pay 8 shillings. So the church revenue for Applecross at the time must have been around 80 shillings (10 x 8 shillings). And since church revenues were made up of a tenth of the produce of a parish (very roughly speaking), it looks like the produce of Applecross parish in those days was perhaps worth around 800 shillings. Ironically, the money handed over never did pay for a crusade, as the pope died soon after the tax collection began. The money was in fact diverted to other purposes, equally warlike. King Edward I of England commandeered the money gathered in England and used it to pay for his war to conquer Wales. He even got the pope to agreed to give him Scotland’s crusade tax money, for the same purpose! But the Scottish king refused to hand it over. Sadly, this Scottish king was Alexander III who died in 1286. This kicked off a chain of events that led to Edward I invading Scotland, and to the Wars of Independence. This record is also important for another reason. The last time Applecross was mentioned in written records before this date was in the Irish chronicles around 801. The next mention we’d previously been aware of was in the early 1500s, in the ‘Breviary of Aberdeen’. This crusade tax record sits right in the middle of that gap. ... See MoreSee Less

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Applecross Heritage Centre

2 weeks ago

A bit of excitement at the Applecross Heritage Centre yesterday!We had a visit from BBC Alba to make a short news item for Gaelic TV's news programme, An Là, about our display to mark 50 years of the Applecross coast road and 200 years of the Bealach na Bà road. Thankfully they had a good day for their trip over the Bealach and their interviews with former roadman, Duncan Murchison from Culduie, and Alan Gillies, who prepared the display. The news piece is hopefully to be shown on Sunday evening's An Là (6.15pm), with a bit on the radio too, on Monday's Aithris na Maidne (Morning Report), at some point between 07.30 and 9.00 am. ... See MoreSee Less

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Applecross Heritage Centre

3 weeks ago

Photos from Dòrlach's post ... See MoreSee Less

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