Focus on Highland history and Pictish art with visit to Groam House in Black Isle
It’s easy to see what makes the Black Isle so appealing to residents and visitors today.
Lush land, mild climate, easy access to the sea – they are the qualities that have attracted settlers throughout the ages.
And there are few better places to learn about our human connection to this part of the world than Groam House at Rosemarkie.
The independent museum on the village’s High Street is best known for the Rosemarkie cross slab – a 2.6-metre (8.5 feet) stone, carved with Pictish and Celtic symbols, dating back to the 8th Century.
It’s one of the stand-outs on the Pictish Trail and is part of a much larger collection of carved stones that are on permanent display.
Groam House trustee Barbara Cohen says the relics are evidence of a great blossoming of Pictish and Celtic art around the years 600 to 900.
“They are all part of the rich tapestry that makes the Black Isle and this part of the Highlands such a fascinating place,” she adds.
These symbols intrigued George Bain (1881-1968), whose collection of Celticinspired art makes up another key element of the Groam House collection.
George was a Caithnessborn teacher, artist and “magpie”, whose designs, creations and instruction manuals are credited with fuelling the popularity of Celtic art to this day.
And more humble, perhaps, but no less fascinating, is the museum’s local history collection.
It has been donated over the years by residents and encompasses everything from photos and postcards to Poor House records, old washtubs and mangles.
A mezzanine floor, added in the late 1980s, opened up new space for temporary displays. And the museum shop stocks a carefully curated selection of Pictish and Celtic-inspired items, many made by local artists and crafters, as well as an impressive historic books section.
There are no toilets in the museum, but public toilets are located nearby if you are caught short.