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

Out of the shadows - donated treasures revealed!

It sometimes happens that objects donated to us don’t necessarily conform to a theme. Our latest exhibition reveals an eclectic selection of interesting local items from the artefact store at Castlehill Heritage Centre store which have seldom seen the light of day. Until now!

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

Castlehill Artists

Our very popular painting workshop with local artist 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. *

To find out more and register interest, click HERE

FORTHCOMING EVENTS & WORKSHOPS

See event dates below

Year of Ancient Local Skills

During 2026, Castletown Heritage Society will offer a series of hands-on workshops featuring ancient skills from times gone by. All workshops will be held at Castlehill Heritage Centre. See individual diary entries for workshop details and prices (which are dictated by the tutor but paid up members of CHS get a discount).

Tuesday 10 March

7 pm - 8.30 pm

Behind the Scenes at Castlehill Heritage Centre
Enjoy a special evening opening of the Heritage Centre for hands on exploring of the collections and the building. For example:

• Hear stories about artefacts and how they have been saved from ancient fossils in flagstone to a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine pulled up from the peat.
• Hold fossils embedded in stones millions of years old.
• Share your own memories prompted by the items in the collections.

Castlehill is run entirely by volunteers who will be on hand to share their own stories with you and your family. Tea, coffee, juice and shortbread as well!

Tuesday 31 March

7 pm

Railway History told through Posters

A truly fascinating evening talk by Michael Willmot who will present an illustrated history of railways as revealed by railway posters across two centuries.

From the earliest days of rail travel, poster advertising was used to encourage people to take the train.  Through the artwork of, and captions on, such posters we can catch a glimpse of not just the advances in engineering and in design, but also the contemporary social concerns addressed in the advertising slogans.  But if you are not so interested in the history there is much to admire in the work of a glittering array of artists and poster designers stretching over a 200 year period.

Michael currently serves as secretary of the Far North Line Community Rail Partnership.  He has rescued and restored the derelict, listed station building at Helmsdale – including, of course, reinstating poster cases that can display some historic railway posters.

Friday 24 April

7 pm

Manuscripts by the Monks of Murkle Monastry

An illustrated evening talk by Thomas Keyes from Cromarty revealing some of the amazing manuscript work done by monks working in the Murkle monastery in the early days of the Church.

Saturday 25 April

Time TBA

Celtic Scribe - Manuscript Workshop

Following on from his evening talk, Thomas Keyes from Cromarty will deliver a one day hands-on workshop on the production of parchment manuscripts. The morning will cover making inks and cutting quills and practising on scraps of parchment. In the afternoon participants will work on a final piece such as, depending on individual experience, a simple capital letter plus some simple text or a more complex example. 

Cost £85  Numbers are limited to 10 participants.    

For further information contact us HERE.

Wednesday 29 April

7.30pm

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Castletown Heritage Society will be held at Castlehill Heritage Centre on Wednesday 29th April 2026 at 7.30pm.

Guest speaker for the evening will be from 'The Flow Country' who will present a run down on the World Heritage Site and what comes next.

All welcome to attend.

September

Date & timeTBA

Stone Carving

Under the instruction of local scultor Tamara Hicks, a small group  of participants will learn the skill of stone carving. The aim is to replicate the 'roughly incised image of a greyhound' dating from Pictish times which stood for some time at Craig of Hattel, Castletown, until disappearing. It's is probably still there but used as a drain cover for hundreds of years.

For further information and to reserve your place contact us HERE.

Saturday 10 October

and

Sunday 11 October

Details TBA

Willow Basket making workshop

The first in the series is a willow basket-making workshop using local materials, echoing a time when all containers were home made and used locally available materials. The tutor will be Karen Rollinson from Blushful Earth Handmade who are based a few miles away in Brough. During the one and a half day course participants will make a peat creel.

Bookings should be made directly with Blushful Earth Handmade via their website.

October

Date & timeTBA

Rope Making

An in-house workshop featuring the skill of rope or 'simmans' making, producing rope twisted by hand   and by a variety of devices used in the past on farms and crofts.

For further information and to reserve your place contact us HERE.

COMPLETED 2026 EVENTS

Tuesday 24 February

2 pm - 3pm

The Captain's Wife

An afternoon talk by Muriel Murray giving an insight into the hard life and times of Christina Dunnet, a Castletown shipmaster's wife in the days of sail.

Thoroughly researched and amply illustrated by images from our vast archive of local photographs.  Some recently discovered artefacts from the incidents described will also be on display.