Auchindrain Township saved from closure

Auchindrain Township in Argyllshire is reopening this month with a new board and management team in place.

The open-air rural museum, which preserves the last traditional farming village to survive the highland clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, announced last year that it was closing after losing its regular grant from Historic Environment Scotland.

Following efforts by the local community to save the venue, the museum has announced that it is reopening on 20 July with a day of activities including traditional storytelling sessions, live music performances, and family-friendly events and crafts.

In a statement, the museum said: “After a period of closure, we are thrilled to announce that Auchindrain Historic Township will reopen its doors to the public on Sunday, 20 July 2025 – and entry will be free on this special day.

“This momentous reopening has been made possible by the tireless efforts of dedicated volunteers, former staff members, and the incredible support of our local community. Their passion and commitment have brought Auchindrain back to life, and now we invite you to celebrate with us.”

The venue features a Recognised collection, café run by a local team, visitor centre and shop, as well as traditional buildings, and extensive farmland and gardens. It has been given provisional Accreditation by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) for one year.

The museum is developing a new strategy focused on engaging with local and diaspora communities, diversifying its funding streams and ensuring that it is a hub for working with local young and disadvantaged people.

Local councillor Jan Brown, who led on efforts to save the venue, said the museum was a “work in progress”. It will look to employ a manager in the near future.

“We are working on the strategies we need to take Auchindrain forward,” she told Museums Journal. “Our whole emphasis has been on getting Auchindrain open, which we have managed, but now the hard work really begins.”

The museum’s previous board resigned after the decision that there was no funding coming forward.

Brown, convenor of the new board, said: “I wasn't going to walk away and leave Auchindrain to go the way of others, not without trying everything I could think of.

“I decided the only way to get people involved was to go out and tell people about Auchindrain and ask them to get involved. I visited as many community councils in the area as I could and from there was able to get enough people who felt the same as I did to form a board and try to save Auchindrain.

“I wrote articles in the local papers, I phoned and emailed everyone I could think of who knew Auchindrain and asked for help.”

The board has been able to reemploy some former staff members in advance of the reopening.

“None of us have any expertise or indeed knowledge in how to run and keep a museum going but what we do have is a belief and a passion in Auchindrain,” said Brown.

“We are also very aware that we do not have the ability to do this ourselves. We have been very lucky in that we have been able to reemploy some of the old staff members who do know how things should be done and we have asked and taken advice from as many people as possible who do know how and we will continue to do that.”

The museum has employed Rachael Thomas as project officer overseeing conservation and collections.

Brown said: “We have been really lucky that Rachael felt the passion for Auchindrain and agreed to help us in this, and thanks to her work MGS have agreed to extend the provisional Accreditation for a year to allow us time to complete the reports needed and hopefully to gain full Accreditation.

“We also have been really lucky that [employability and business support charity] InspirAlba have come on board and are working with us to create working plans and help create the strategies that we need to move forward. We wouldn't be here now without their help.”

The museum will be open for visitors seven days a week.

“We look forward to welcoming as many people as possible to come and see just why Auchindrain is so special,” said Brown.

“We have to thank so many people for their support: Historic Environment Scotland, Museum Galleries Scotland, InspirAlba, Argyll and Bute Council, Balfour Beattie, Argyll Estates, and every single person in Argyll who has offered support, kind words, help and advice.”

Thomas said the museum was reinvigorating its membership offer to include “free entry and discounts in the shop, updates on what we’re doing and help tracing your Argyll ancestors”.

The diaspora community would be an important part of the museum’s future, she said. “In the near future we hope to provide exclusive talks and events which will include relevant areas of Scottish history such as vernacular architecture, Gaelic culture and the clearances.

“I think it’s always been important to connect with everyone who has relatives that came from a township across Scotland, and we’ve got a huge audience out there that we can better connect with through increased social media and internet presence.

“Their relatives may not have come from Auchindrain, or even Argyll, but their ancestors would have had the same buildings, grown the same crops, had the same harsh weather and climate, and the same types of people living nearby. Auchindrain is a place for them to see the sort of place their ancestors came from, and hopefully for them to feel part of Auchindrain too.”

The museum is also focused on rebuilding and strengthening ties within the local community.

“It’s clear the passion everyone has for Auchindrain and the new board representing communities across the area is the foundation of this,” said Thomas.

“There are a few vital local connections that we’re looking to build going forward, for example connecting again with Inveraray Castle, including the factor and archive team, and building our relationship with Kilmartin Museum, where there could be some wonderful joint engagement and marketing going forward.”

“I think it’s these partnerships that are key to diversifying funding. At its heart Auchindrain is a museum of buildings, landscape and people, but there are so many other elements of it too.

“From helping local young people get their first job at the café or visitor centre, to helping the unemployed gain some support and fun through working with our site team, it’s the people passionate about Auchindrain that make it a place of the past, with a future.”