Auchindrain for Argyll

Auchindrain Museum has submitted an application to the Scottish Museums Council for consideration as part of the Scottish Governments Recognition Scheme which celebrates, recognises, promotes and invests in nationally significant Museum Collections which are held outside of the National Museums and Galleries in Edinburgh. Funded by the Scottish Government and managed by the Scottish Museums Council, the Recognition Scheme helps to make sure that these important Museum Collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience. Auchindrain Museum’s application can be summarised as:

Importance Of The Collection

The major economic and social unit in the rural landscape of Scotland in the later and post-medieval period was the joint-tenancy farm township. In exchange for goods and labour, feudal landowners leased their land jointly to a group of tenant farmers. At this time farming was not for profit, but subsistence. During the period, known as the age of Agricultural Improvement (circa 1730 to 1830), landowners “improved” their joint-tenancy farm townships and turned them into more profitable single-tenant farms with enclosed fields. The Township of Auchindrain (the accessioned Collection) is considered to be of national importance in the study of agriculture in Scotland, because it was never “improved”; it did change, at a workaday level, from a joint-tenancy farm township in the 1700s to a single-tenant farm in the 20th century. Thus it can show the built response to evolving needs over several centuries. The Collection (Township) is made up of a range of fully representative agricultural buildings of the pre-improvement era including tenant farmers’ longhouses, domestic houses, barns, animal shelters/stables, a cart shed, a corn drying-kiln, the remains of a mill, walled gardens and part of a drove road. The Township of Auchindrain is of such national importance that Historic Scotland and Argyll and Bute Council designate it as both an A-listed site and an Outstanding Conservation Area. What remains at Auchindrain cannot be paralleled anywhere else in Scotland.

Quality Of The Collection

The quality and comprehensiveness of the Collection lies in the fact that Auchindrain is the most complete, surviving example of a pre-improvement, joint-tenancy farm township in Scotland. Having escaped Agricultural Improvement, the Township of Auchindrain continued to function as a working farm until 1962. This long history of occupation means that the settlement and its structures have experienced many changes in shape and function, whilst retaining a comprehensive range of architectural features not found elsewhere. The quality and comprehensiveness of the Collection also lies in the fact that unlike the relocated and reconstructed township buildings at the Highland Folk Museum, the Township of Auchindrain consists of an original set of farm buildings that have remained in-situ and are surrounded by the remains of ancient field systems.

The Role That The Collection Plays Within The Scottish Museum Sector

Auchindrain Museum has the only Collection in Scotland to consist of an original, pre-improvement, joint-tenancy farm Township. Along with the National Museum of Rural Life, with its working lowland farm, the Highland Folk Museum, with its Collection of relocated and reconstructed Highland buildings and the Aberdeenshire Farming Museum, with its north east farm and estate buildings, Auchindrain is one of four main Collections that reflect Scottish agricultural history. By its nature it complements and greatly extends the understanding provided by the other Museums.

Reputation

The quality and importance of the Collection means that it is cited in many publications and is regularly visited by students, scholars and interested lay people. It is also a key source in the study of Highland settlement and society in the period 1700-1850 for academics, students and schools. The Museum runs a programme of formal and informal lifelong learning activities based around the Township of Auchindrain and agricultural life in the past. The quality and importance of the Township of Auchindrain means that it attracts many repeat visitors and is well supported by an established Friends organisation.