North

There is very little documentation of basketry from Caithness and Sutherland in Northern Scotland, as opposed to either Orkney or Shetland, which have extensive collections and documentation of the role of basketry in their recent past. We have also been unable to visit either Wick or Thurso to see what their archives may show, and hope to do this in the near future. In the meantime, we are restricted to just a few examples of fish-wive’s baskets (used for selling fish) and the knowledge that this region was heavily involved in the herring industry.

Caithness. Castlehill Heritage Centre

Jayne Blackburn at Castlehill Heritage Centre in Caithness has kindly sent pictures of all the baskets they have in their collection. As well as the unusual back creel featured in the article ‘A Caithness Creel’ they have quite a collection …Continue reading “Caithness. Castlehill Heritage Centre”

Wick basketmaker’s invoice

  William Corner’s invoice from 1901 sent to Shetland from Wick.  

Strathnaver Museum

Strathnaver museum collection

Here is the basket collection at Strathnaver Museum, Sutherland from Joanne B Kaar.

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 …Continue reading “A Caithness creel”