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Historic Assynt, Old Church, Inchnadamph (2026)

07/10/2026

Very much in an experimental phase with this, but would love some feedback and suggestions for what we might want to cover in this, the spookiest of all months. 👻🎃🐈‍⬛

03/10/2026

Stories from the Archive...

Assynt Golf Club: Two Trophies from a Lost Sporting Landscape

In an earlier post, we explored the story of the nine-hole golf course laid out by Eric Chaplin around Eadar a’ Chalda, Ardvreck Castle and Calda House in the early twentieth century. At that time someone mentioned the trophies, so thought we post some more info.

These two surviving trophies add fascinating piece to the story of golf in Assynt.

The silver bowl is the Stewart Trophy, presented to Assynt Golf Club by Major-General J. W. Stewart, C.B., C.M.G., for an annual competition in May 1921.

The second, more ornate cup was presented by Sir R. L. Harmsworth MP in the same year. Its recorded winners were:

1921 – Captain J. Munro, M.C.
922 – J. R. Skinner

The trophies show that Assynt Golf Club was holding organised competitions and awarding substantial prizes in the early 1920s.

Theyare remarkable survivors from a rather unexpected chapter in Assynt’s history—when golfers played beneath the mountains and among the historic landscape surrounding Loch Assynt.

The trophies are now displayed at Inchnadamph Old Kirk, courtesy of Assynt Community Council.

Do any of the names associated with the trophies—Munro, Skinner, Stewart or Harmsworth—appear in local family stories or records? We would love to hear from you.

🔗 Read our post about the lost golf course at Ardvreck on our website https://historicassynt.org/2026/08/08/ardvrecks-golf-course/

26/09/2026

Stories from the Archive

The Inchnadamph Cross

Fragments of this remarkable free-standing stone cross were discovered in Inchnadamph churchyard in 1993, where they had been reused as a grave marker.

When complete, the cross is thought to have stood about three metres tall. It has been dated broadly to between the 8th and 11th centuries, making it by far the most northerly known cross of its kind on the Scottish mainland.

The cross was carved from a grey-green metabasic rock originating in the south-west Highlands—an area well known for its carved crosses. We do not know whether the stone was brought to Inchnadamph as an unworked block and carved locally, or whether the finished cross was transported here. Either journey would have required considerable effort.

Its overall shape has similarities with crosses from the south-west, including the Kilnave Cross on Islay. Its decoration, however, is much more unusual: a simple chamfer and incised border which has no known parallel in the Highlands. This distinctive style may reflect Scandinavian or Anglo-Scandinavian influence.

The cross probably marked a sacred place used for outdoor worship, with a simple church later built nearby. A roughly circular enclosure survives in low-lying ground a few metres south-west of the churchyard. It may be prehistoric in origin, although places like this were sometimes reused by early Christian missionaries.

These surviving fragments take the story of worship at Inchnadamph back many centuries before the present church—and leave us with some fascinating unanswered questions. Who commissioned and carved the cross? Was it made locally or carried into Assynt? And what did Inchnadamph mean to the people who gathered beneath it more than a thousand years ago?

22/09/2026

OPERATION SOURCE — 83 YEARS AGO TODAY

On 22 September 1943, Royal Navy X-craft midget submarines carried out one of the most daring operations of the Second World War.

The crews of the 12th Submarine Flotilla had trained in secrecy in the sheltered waters of Loch Cairnbawn here in Assynt. Their mission—Operation Source—was to disable the powerful German warships Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lützow in Norway.

After a hazardous journey across the North Sea, X6 and X7 penetrated the defences surrounding Tirpitz in Kåfjord and placed explosive charges beneath the battleship. The resulting damage put Tirpitz out of action for several months. Lieutenants Donald Cameron of X6 and Godfrey Place of X7 were later awarded the Victoria Cross.

The operation came at considerable cost. X-craft and lives were lost during the passage and attack, while several surviving crewmen were captured and became prisoners of war.

Today, 83 years later, the stillness of Loch Cairnbawn gives little indication of the intense and secret preparations once carried out there. The memorial overlooking the loch ensures that the courage, skill and sacrifice of the men of the 12th Submarine Flotilla—and Assynt’s place in their story—are not forgotten.

Historic Assynt hopes to continue honouring them by exploring more of their time in Assynt—not only the military preparations, but their everyday lives here and the close relationships formed between the submariners and local people. These personal stories are an important part of Operation Source and of Assynt’s own wartime history.

If your family has memories, photographs or stories connected with the X-craft crews and their time in Assynt, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

Or keep an eye out for our event at Kylesku / Kylestome on Saturday 07 November - details to follow.

Photo taken from The Tip of the Spear by Pamela Mitchell.

18/09/2026

The third seed we collected with South Assynt Collaboration Project, Trees for Life and The Assynt Foundation last Sunday was perhaps the least showy of the three — the tiny seed of the downy birch.

But birch has one of the longest stories in the Highland landscape.

After the last Ice Age, birch was among the first trees to recolonise Scotland. Today downy birch remains especially at home in the cool, wet and windy conditions of the north-west Highlands. As a pioneer tree it is also particularly good at colonising open and disturbed ground, helping woodland begin again.

And we can see birch in Assynt’s archaeological record.

At Loch na Claise, excavated by Historic Assynt and AOC in 2016, charcoal from birch was recovered from waterlogged floor deposits within the Iron Age island settlement. The site was occupied around the same broad period as Clachtoll Broch.

Go further back and birch appears again at the Bronze Age burnt mound at Stronchrubie, where it was found amongst the charcoal used by people living and working in the Assynt landscape thousands of years ago.

Birch is an extraordinarily useful tree. Its wood provides fuel and material for everyday objects, while its tough bark could be used for everything from containers and waterproofing to tanning and fire-lighting.

By the nineteenth century, the botanist John Louden remarked that “The Highlanders of Scotland make everything of it” — listing its use for household objects, agricultural implements, fuel, smoking fish and meat, thatching and bedding.

Even the sap could be tapped in spring. We heard from another seed collector that it is very tasty although hard to get your hands on!

The Gaelic name for birch, beithe, still survives in Highland place-names today.

So those tiny seeds we collected are part of a much bigger story: a tree that helped recolonise the Highland landscape after the Ice Age, was used by communities here for thousands of years, and is now being collected again to help regenerate the woodland of the future.

Many thanks to South Assynt Collaboration, Trees for Life and the Assynt Foundation for letting us join in.

18/09/2026

We're excited to announce our next two events, following on from the roadshows earlier in the year. From Archive to Landscape: learning the skills to investigate, record and share Assynt’s heritage.

We'll be based out of Drumbeg Village Hall on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October 2026.

For further information, including booking, please see the links below or the posters which will be up shortly.

Drumbeg Peat Road: Archaeology, Landscape & Local History

Recording Nedd Graveyard: Stones & Stories

Events are free thanks to the support of North Highland Initiative

16/09/2026

As we mentioned earlier in the week, last Sunday we joined South Assynt Collaboration Project, Trees for Life and The Assynt Foundation at Glencanisp collecting seeds.

Along with hazel, we collected Rowan.

Rowan has a slightly different story from hazel. Archaeologically it is less immediately visible, but historically it is one of the most distinctive trees in the Highland landscape.

Known in Gaelic as caorann, rowan was long associated with protection. Trees were often left or planted near houses and byres, and rowan wood appears in traditions connected with protecting homes, cattle, milk and butter. Old rowans surviving beside abandoned settlements are one of those small details that can tell us something about how people understood and shaped the landscape around them.

But rowan also belonged in the kitchen.

Its berries being made into jellies and preserves, and old Scottish cookery books regularly pair rowan jelly with game and venison. One recipe recorded in 1883 recommends it specifically for “game, venison, or Roe deer” and notes that the jelly can improve after being kept for a year or two.

That seems especially appropriate in Assynt with red deer continuing to be very much part of the landscape today.

It also happens to be good news for the jar of rowan jelly that has been sitting in my cupboard for the last two years. Apparently this may not be neglect after all, but historically informed maturation!

I use a recipe mixed with apples, but my Granny’s SWRI cookbook just uses the berries and sugar. I add it to crumble fruit rather than sugar and my venison sauces. Do you have any other uses?

From protective tree, to preserve jar, to venison on the table, rowan carries a remarkable mix of folklore, food and landscape history.

Many thanks again to South Assynt Collaboration, Trees for Life and the Assynt Foundation for letting us be part of the seed collection and for helping safeguard these species for the future.

14/09/2026

Yesterday we joined South Assynt Collaboration Project, Trees for Life and The Assynt Foundation to collect seeds to grow the next generation of trees.

We collected from hazel, rowan and downy birch.

Over the next few days I want to explore each in the archaeological and historical context.

Hazel has a particularly nice archaeological connection.

Hazelnut shells are one of the most familiar plant remains found on Mesolithic sites across the western Highlands, showing that people were gathering and eating them thousands of years ago.

At sites such as Kinloch on Rùm and Sand at Applecross, charred hazelnut shell survives as evidence of autumn food gathering stretching back into the Mesolithic.

But we can bring the story much closer to home.

At Clachtoll Broch, during the excavation, hazel was part of the Iron Age landscape and economy too. Hazelnut shells were recovered from the archaeological deposits, while hazel wood and charcoal formed part of the material used and consumed by the people living there around 2,000 years ago.

Hazel was useful in far more ways than simply providing food. Its straight, flexible stems could be used for woven panels, hurdles, baskets and other everyday objects, making it one of those trees that sat right at the meeting point between food, woodland management and practical life.

So when we go out collecting hazelnuts now, we are taking part in a seasonal activity with an extraordinarily long history in the north-west Highlands.

A small autumn harvest with roots stretching back thousands of years!

Many thanks to South Assynt Collaboration, Trees for Life and the Assynt Foundation for today’s seed collecting and for helping to care for the future of Assynt’s woodland landscape.

12/09/2026

From the Archive: Elphin library registers

As we head to Elphin Crofty Day today, we thought it was a good opportunity to share something from the Historic Assynt archive with a connection to the township.

Among the records held at Inchnadamph Old Kirk are the Elphin Library Registers, recording generations of people who used the library in Elphin.

The first volume covers 1903–1910, with the second continuing from 1910–1939. There is then a later page dating to 1963.

At first glance, registers like these can seem quite ordinary — lists of names, dates and books — but together they provide a wonderful record of everyday community life. The names within them can help us connect families, crofts and individuals with the wider story of Elphin, and complement the census, estate and crofting records we also hold and are working with.

Today at Elphin Crofty Day, we’ll be bringing along some of those records and exploring the stories of Elphin’s crofts and the people who lived in them.

Sometimes the most fascinating history isn’t found in grand documents — it’s in the names carefully written down in a well-used library register more than a century ago.

And a small piece of unfinished business… whoever borrowed Uncle Tom’s Cabin on 12 February 1927 — it’s now rather overdue 😂.

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