Museum of the Isles

This award winning registered museum was opened in 2002 to house our growing collection of artefacts and paintings. Six interconnecting galleries take you through 1500 years of the history and culture of the area once known as the Kingdom of the Isles.  A seventh gallery is the venue for special exhibitions that change each year. 
Children’s trails and interactive exhibits round off our museum provision. 
There is also a gift shop in the museum and a library and study centre.

This sea kingdom or Ri Innse Gall, which flourished in the middle ages, had its own unique culture and language, Gaelic. The MacDonalds - or Clan Donald - were the Lords of the Isles, the medieval rulers of this kingdom. Their history is at the heart of the history of Gaeldom.

Trace their story, and with it the story of the other Highland clans who were their vassals, from medieval times to the present.

Explore the culture that flourished under the MacDonald Lords of the Isles - the poetry and song, the musicians, stone carvers and physicians - and the origins of the people who made up this kingdom.

Look at its heroes - like Somerled, who drove the Viking leaders from the islands - and at the skills and organisation needed to keep this kingdom together in the face of continual threats from the Scottish government.

The Lordship ended in 1493, forfeit to the Scottish king, but the story of the MacDonalds and the other Highland clans continued.  We follow it through the 16th century Age of Forays, when clan fought against clan, to the 17th and 18th century Jacobite risings and the disastrous battle at Culloden in 1746. The bombardment of Armadale in 1690 and the massacre of the MacDonalds of Glencoe in 1692, the poetry of Ian Lom, and the unique style of Highland weapons are looked at along the way.

We explore the lives of the clan chiefs, with their portraits and fine silverware, and those of the ordinary clansmen, the crofters eking out a living from stony soil. We tell the story of the alienation of the clan chiefs from their people and the clearances and emigration that followed.

New for 2007 See Highland History through the eyes of a poet with the Clan Donald Poetry Trail. The poets of old were the journalists of their day. Their poems recorded historic events and everyday life. We have picked six Gaelic poets, all of them MacDonalds, and used their work to illustrate some of the themes in the museum.  Visitors are invited to follow this trail through the museum and to get a contemporary take on events.

New for 2006
A free Audio Guide to the museum is now available in the following languages: English, Gaelic, French, German, Italian and Spanish. There is also an English language tour for the visually impaired.
The tour lasts between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on which options are chosen.

Funding for this project was received from LEADER+, the Scottish Museums Council and Bord na Gaidhlig.

The Museum gift shop has its own distinct range of goods.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Recent Acquisitions

Racing Skiff purchased with the help of the National Fund for Acquisitions and the Glencoe Foundation Inc.

 
 
 
 

 
 
Jacobite firing
glass
(Donated)

 
 
 
 
 
 
Gentleman’s silk waistcoat, c 1800 (Donated) 
 
 
 
 
 
 

How to contact us

Armadale Castle Gardens & Museum of the Isles
Armadale, Sleat, Isle of Skye IV45 8RS, Scotland.
Telephone: 01471 844305 or 01471 844227
Fax: 01471 844275
E-mail: office@clandonald.com

If telephoning from outside the UK the numbers are your international code +44 1471 844305 or 844227, or Fax +44 1471 844275.

The direct line to the Museum of the Isles is 01599 534454

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