Homecoming Scotland 2009 was an events programme celebrating Scotland's great contributions to the world.

In 2009, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth, Scottish contributions to golf & whisky, plus our great minds and innovations and rich culture and heritage.

 General Information about the Project 

‘Homecoming Kilmichael and Kilmartin’ is a programme of events which will raise awareness of an often forgotten part of mid Argyll’s past, one which was incredibly important for shaping the character of the area today.

‘Homecoming Kilmichael and Kilmartin’ is also about homecomings of important artefacts.  The project partly consists of an exhibition about the early Christian Church in Mid Argyll.  The exhibition will feature objects relating to Christian religious belief and the centre piece will be the Torbhlaren Bell Shrine - part of the National Museums of Scotland collection, found locally, but never before displayed in Argyll.   

The theme of bringing objects home will continue with the second facet of the project – the return of the Kilmichael Cross to its original church. 

The third element will be the recording and conservation of Kilmichael and Kilmartin grave yards – and the creation of a data base through which people will be able to search for ancestors via the Kilmartin House Museum web site.

The project has also included educational aspects aimed at local primary school children which you can read more about below.   

St Columba

St Columba is said to have introduced Christianity to Argyll in the 6th century.  This was an important milestone in the area’s history which changed the character of both the people and the landscape.  It is a fascinating area of history, yet one that is overshadowed somewhat in Kilmartin Glen by the weight placed on the prehistoric past.  This is of course, of international importance, but this project aims to demonstrate that the area was also important in later, historical periods.

That the area was significant in the early Christian period of Scotland is attested to by place-names and the sheer numbers of ecclesiastical sites.  Some of these remain important religious sites where people worship today, others are seldom visited ruins.  There are also a large numbers of carved gravestones – located in numerous places all over Argyll, from Museums such as Kilmartin and Campbeltown, to remote and hard to reach over-grown grave yards, and well visited grave yards such as those located at Kilmartin and Kilmichael.   These physical monuments to often named individuals, are a tangible heritage and pilgrimage destination for those seeking to trace their family history.

Added to this are other artefacts relating to Christianity – objects such as the Torbhlaren bell shrine which is an early 9th century bell encased within a 14th century bell-shrine - a highly decorated silver case.  Found hidden in a drystone wall on a farm in Kilmichael Glen in the 19th century, this is an incredibly important artefact with a very interesting history.  It is now housed in the National Museum of Scotland and it has never been exhibited in the area which it came from.     

There are a range of monuments, sites and artefacts relating to Christianity from its very first introduction up to the medieval period and beyond.  These reflect the changing character of the religion, and its importance for the population today, as well as shedding light on individuals who have lived and died in the glen over the last few hundred years.

Background to the Grave Yards & Kilmichael Cross Element

In 2007, Kilmartin House Museum was approached by various members of the local community with a view to providing them with expertise and aid in their endeavors to preserve local collections of medieval grave slabs at various locations in Kilmartin Glen.  We were delighted to be involved, and thus was formed the Dunadd Historic Grave Stones Group.  The group, working closely with Argyll & Bute Council, Historic Scotland, the Church of Scotland, St Columba’s Episcopal Church, the Dunadd Community Council, the Kilmartin Village Initiative as well as the Museum, decided to focus on Kilmartin and Glassary graveyards.  The Kilmichael Cross - currently located at St Colomba’s Episcopalian Church at Poltalloch, was also of concern as it is in urgent need of conservation. 

'Carved Stones and Ancient Bones: the Early Christian Church in Mid Argyll’

Exhibition – May to December 2009

The exhibition’s centre piece will feature the Torbhlaren Bell and Shrine – an early 9th century bell within a highly decorated bronze 12th century bell shrine casing.  This is a very beautiful and important object that was found hidden in a wall in Torbhlaren, very close to Kilmichael Church in the 1800’s.  The bell shrine is part of the collections of the National Museums of Scotland, yet few local people know of its existence.  We wish to bring this object home – if only for a short time and tell the fascinating story of this object to local people and visitors alike.     We also want to display some of our own collection relating to this time period, that we have not been able to do so far due to lack of funds for display cases and lack of room.   Other objects borrowed from Campbeltown and other museums collections will feature.   

  The Ruaraidh Mac Project

To celebrate Homecoming and the Show Scotland weekend, Kilmartin House Museum devised a programme of activities which included a children’s element – the Ruaraidh Mac Project.  The Primary Five to Seven children of Glassary Primary School, in
Kilmichael Glen, just down the road from the Museum, ‘brought alive’ Ruaraidh MacLachlan – a local chieftain who is buried in the cemetery next to their school, by creating a three dimensional sculpture.  The whole school took part in the activity as the Primary 1 to 4 made a ‘medieval’ bound book to accompany Ruaraidh.

First, the Museum’s Field Archaeologist Roddy Regan went into the school and showed the children a slide show of what life might have been like in Late Medieval Argyll, with images of people taken from paintings and gravestones so that the children would gain an understanding of what Medieval life might have been like.  Bob Blackwood, a local falconer took some of his birds to the school. 

The art work is a three dimensional wall mounted sculpture showing Ruaraidh hunting with a falcon—he stands in front of Dunadd Fort beside the Kilmichael Cross.  The children have learned a lot of new skills whilst producing this sculpture—armature under the sculpture, modrock to form the detailed parts, leather work, how to make chain mail and they also learnt how to make a padded material oversuit stuffed with sheep's wool.

The children also learned how he would hunt with a falcon and hounds and investigated the weapons that were used by the mercenary knights of that period.  Rather than looking at a flat gravestone and knowing nothing about the person who it commemorates life, the children now have a much better idea of what life was like in the 16th century.

Who was Ruaraidh MacLachlan? 
Ruaraidh belonged to the Dunadd family of  MacLauchlans and was probably Chief of the familie’s lands in Glassary in the 16th Century.  The MacLachlans were closely aligned with the Campbells and the chief may have had to follow the Duke of Argyll and King James to fight at Flodden.  Both the King and the Duke were killed, but Rory appears to have survived as his name appears in documents dated 1533.

In the medieval period, a gravestone would be embellished with a rich range of symbols to reflect the status of the person buried there.  The claymore sword on Rory’s tomb stone is an indication that he was a warrior.

The West Coast of Scotland is rich in carved graveslabs.  Kilmichael Glassary and Kilmartin Parish Churches have some of the best collections.  

The motto of the Clan MacLachlan is “brave and faithful” and we think Ruaraidh MacLachlan certainly was.

Show Scotland Weekend!

Show Scotland is coordinated by Museums Galleries Scotland and has taken place annually over the May Bank Holiday weekend since it started in 2006.

Throughout the Show Scotland weekend museums and galleries across the country open their doors with late night openings providing live entertainment, fun family activities and specially created arts performances.

Show Scotland was created by Museums Galleries Scotland to inspire creativity and innovation in the museums and galleries sector; create new partnerships; build events capacity in the museums and galleries sector; promote audience development; develop events to attract new visitors from Scotland and beyond and encourage the public to make better use of cultural centres across Scotland.

Kilmartin House Museum participated in the weekend with Story telling sessions by Jan Sutch Pickard of the Iona Community, a mini - bus safari, and the launch of the The Ruaraidh Mac Project by the Children of Glassary Primary School