Drystone dyking training day

Castletown Heritage Society operates the Castlehill Heritage Centre as an educational resource for visitors, local students and school children and the local community. Through a programme of interpretive exhibitions and interactive workshops, we seek to stimulate and sustain interest in and understanding of the history, heritage, vernacular skills, biodiversity and physical environment of Castletown and the parish of Olrig. Our aim is to preserve and maintain the unique heritage of our community within both local Caithness and broader Highland contexts.

To see events and activities from previous years, click here:

Castlehill Heritage Centre - Opening Times

Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons 2pm - 4pm

All year round (excepting Christmas Day and New Year's Day)

Other times by prior arrangement

PLAN YOUR VISIT

CURRENT REGULAR EVENTS

2pm - 4pm

Every Wed, Sat and Sun afternoon

Flagstone Stories Exhibition

Come and enjoy the themed displays of tools, records, photographs and stories exploring the fascinating industrial and social history of the Flagstone Industry in Caithness. Explore the lives and experiences of those involved in, and connected to, the industry.

WWII RAF Castletown Exhibition

Our latest development at Castlehill is a permanent exhibition protraying the story of RAF Castletown and the significant impact this had on the life and times of the village and parish of Castletown. Includes one of our most popular exhibits - the WWII Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that was recovered from a Caithness bog in 1990. The engine belonged to a RAF Hurricane that was stationed at RAF Castletown in August 1941, and was involved in a mid-air collision during a training flight. The story of the recovery of the engine, the original incident and the subsequent exploits of the Norwegian pilot, Lt Jens Muller of 331 Squadron, is quite incredible. Also on display are mementoes kindly on loan from the family of Flight Lieutenant Don Mason DSO DFC L/H, (latterly of Thurso) who had a distinguished and heroic career as a bomber pilot and navigator. These exhibits with their incredible back story are not to be missed!

Jack Saxon Fossil Collection

Castletown Heritage Society is extremely proud to curate, interpret and make accessible to the community the unique and substantial collection of fossils from Caithness and the far north of Scotland that was collected, researched and documented by Jack Saxon, a local but widely recognised and published amateur palaeontologist.

The collection, some of which is shown above, was gifted to the Society by the family of the late Jack Saxon. The focus of the collection is fossil fish of Caithness from the Denovian period - c. 380 million years ago - however the collection contains items from other periods e.g. plants from the Jurassic period - c.175 million years ago. Over the past couple of years specialists from Aberdeen University have assisted us in creating a permanent interpretive exhibition.

The exhibition is proving to be extremely popular with visitors and researchers alike, and feedback received has reinforced our belief that the collection is of more than local significance. There's something there for everyone, including a range of specimens that are available to handle and examine in close detail.

The interpretive exhibition is open to the public during Castlehill Heritage Centre normal opening hours.

Monday evenings

7 pm - 9 pm

Resting until Monday 1 September

Castlehill Artists

Our very popular painting workshop with Helen Moore.

Sessions run from 7 pm - 9 pm on Monday evenings at a cost of £8 per evening plus materials. Juniors and OAPs £5. Beginners are especially welcome.

*** The art class has taken a summer break. It resumes its weekly sessions under the direction of local artist Helen Moore on Monday 1st September.***

To find out more and register interest, click HERE

FORTHCOMING EVENTS & WORKSHOPS

Every Wed, Sat and Sun afternoon

Flagstone Stories Exhibition

Come and enjoy the themed displays of tools, records, photographs and stories exploring the fascinating industrial and social history of the Flagstone Industry in Caithness. Explore the lives and experiences of those involved in, and connected to, the industry.

Sunday

3, 10 and 17

August

2pm - 4pm

Cream Teas at Castlehill

Returning by popular demand, on three Sunday afternoons in August we will be serving Cream Teas at Castlehill.

Delicious home made scones and cakes. Guaranteed to get the taste buds dancing! £4.00 per person.

A perfect way to complement a Sunday afternoon stroll through the Flagstone Trail or a meander round our amazing Heritage Garden.

COMPLETED 2025 EVENTS

Tuesday 28 January

2 pm - 3.30 pm

Beardychiel!

Beardychiel, better known (perhaps!) as John Glen is a licensed Wedding Celebrant, performer, former teacher at Wick and Thurso High Schools, designer, knitter, and tutor at Beardychiel Designs and winner of the best Christmas jumper in Kirsty Allsop's Handmade Christmas 2020 (Ch4).

Hear his fascinating story at this afternoon talk.

Exhibition - Pastimes from Past Times

The theme for the latest main exhibition is 'Pastimes from Past Times' which explores how local people spent their leisure hours in times gone by.

From sport to music, handicrafts, and everything in between, the exhibition features articles, photographs and artefacts from recent times to a bygone age.

Wed 12 February

FULLY SUBSCRIBED

Artefact Conservation Workshop

Following on from the successful training session on paper conservation delivered by Helen Creasy of Scottish Conservation Studio, we are delighted to announce that her colleague Will Murray will be coming to inspect and advise on the care, storage and treatment of artefacts made of leather, metal, and wood etc.

To find out more and register interest in future conservation workshops, click HERE

Tue 18 March

7.30pm

Evening Talk - Stanergill Castle

The origin of 'castle' in our Castletown village name has long been a topic of debate as there is no obvious castle-like structure now remaining in the village. During this evening talk Muriel will focus on the story of Stangergill Castle.

Did this castle give the village its name? Where was it? What did it look like? Who built it? Come along and find out!

Tuesday 8 April

2pm - 4pm

Open Workshop

Come along to our open workshop on Tuesday 8th April at Castlehill Heritage Centre. We will be cleaning, de-rusting and polishing up some of the metal artefacts in our fascinating collection. Tools, gloves etc will be provided. Tea and coffee on tap.

Join us to work or pop in for a chat. 2pm to 4 pm.

If you can't make Tuesday but would still like to help, please do get in touch with us

Wednesday 23 April

7.30pm

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Castletown Heritage Society will be held at Castlehill Heritage Centre on Wednesday 23rd April 2025 at 7.30pm.

Guest speaker for the evening will be Roger Saxon, who will talk about his father's collection of world class fossils now proudly displayed in the centre.

All welcome to attend.

Extraordinary General Meeting - 29 May 25

The recent Annual General Meeting of Castletown Heritage Society was unable to elect the required number of Office Bearers to the Committee as defined by the Society's Constitution. All interested parties are invited to attend this Extraordinary General Meeting, the purpose of which is to elect a Committee to ensure the continued operation of Castletown Heritage Society and Castlehill Heritage Centre. Anyone wishing to attend but are unable to do so in person may request attendance via Zoom.

Sunday 15 June

1.30 pm - 4 pm

Come to our Open Day on the last day of the "Moving on Moving in" exhibition. There will be fun activities for adults and children, such as "Were you paying attention?" - a quiz based on the exhibition, "What's that old object for?", Plot the Spot - where did John Omand emigrate to? Pack your kist - draw what you would take in your emigrant's kist - in 1850 and now. Have a go at sand tray archaeology.

Get some insight into the wide range of activities the Society does

*Free entry with tea/coffee and home-bakes*