A Caithness creel

Heather creel, Castlehill Heritage Centre, Caithness.

This creel was made around a hundred years ago(1910?) in Caithness and used by Sinclair MacDonald. He is believed to have made it. It was donated to the Castlehill Heritage Centre by Sheila Moir who lives in Scarfskerry as did Sinclair and he left her various items when he died and the creel was one of them . It is thought to have been last used in the 1930s. Sinclair was a local crofter who used it to carry his fish home after fishing trips. The string used is made of coir. Joanne B Kaar organised a course with Tim Johnson teaching how to make this creel in 2011 at the Castlehill Centre. Also Joanne found that Mary-Ann (of Mary-Ann’s cottage Dunnet –now a living history museum and open to the public in the summer months) talked about watching her father make a heather creel. Mary -Ann said that they used them to bring fish home in – when they caught cod fishing from Brough and brought it home in the heather creels to Dunnet, a couple of miles walk. By Dawn Susan with thanks to Geoff Forrest and Joanne B Kaar.