@cruckcottage
Historic cottage museum in the village of Torthorwald, near Dumfries. Last remaining example in the south of Scotland of a once common building type, now cared for by volunteers. We explore rural history, folklore, and traditions. www.cruckcottage.com
A screen with the title slide 'The Folklore of Protecting the Home'.
A selection of folklore artefacts including a witch bottle, elf shot, and hag stones.
Just about to start a talk to Collin SWI about folklore and the @cruckcottage.bsky.social
Lovely to see this fantastic museum is now on Bluesky. They are not too far from us and well worth a visit.
Happy St Andrew's Day from the Cruck Cottage. We've enjoyed plenty of Scottish folk tales and traditional tunes beside the fireplace throughout this year. The cottage is such an atmospheric place to connect with Scotland's story.
Today is Scottish Museums Day and 2025's theme is Mighty Objects. For us, it doesn't get mightier than the cruck beams themselves. These timbers grew crooked and are arranged to bear the whole weight of the roof, rather than on the walls. Without our mighty cruck beams, the cottage wouldn't be here!
Photograph of volunteers limewashing the gable end of the Cruck Cottage, one is up a ladder, another checking the thatched roof, and one painting the lower part of the wall.
Photograph of volunteers weeding the cobbled path around the Cruck Cottage.
Thank you to everyone who came to help with the gardening and limewashing day.
As a small charity without government or council funding, we rely on these volunteers generously giving up their time to look after this important piece of Scotland's history.
'The Old Roads'
One of our volunteers, Willie Clow, reflects on his long life and personal connections to Torthorwald village.
Another Volunteers Week story... The @museumsassociation.org featured our chair of trustees, Sue Hughes, on their website, writing about her work volunteering at the Cruck Cottage. www.museumsassociation.org/careers/volu...
A photograph of a table laid out with butter making equipment. The hands of two visitors are visible shaping butter with wooden paddles known as butter hands or pats.
Thanks to everyone who came along to our Folklore of Butter Making day today. We enjoyed sharing stories of the Roucan Witch's strange knowledge of the kirn, fairies stealing milk, and of course making lots of butter, yum!
Looking forward to sharing the folklore of butter making in the cottage this Saturday. Among the many curious tales is a local story, the Witch of Roucan and her uncanny knack for knowing who was churning butter. Pop in and churn your own, (appearance of the witch not guaranteed).
A photograph of the new rag rug in front of the fireplace in the cottage.
Tom holding up the new mat he has made.
A photograph of a partly made rag rug, tools and loose rags.
The cottage has a new clootie mat! Thanks to our volunteer @tomtelltale.bsky.social who spent hours creating it to sit in front of the peat fire.
Thanks to a kind donation of a rug frame, wool and tools, we've also got an ongoing project rug visitors can add to and create the next mat.
A photograph of a glass jar lantern with the glow of a candle. The lantern is decorated with tinted glass colours and silhouettes of a hare and trees.
A Witch Hare lantern.
Call in this Saturday 26th April to create your own lantern decorated with images from Scottsh legend.
You can also discover folklore artefacts around the building which were used to protect the cottage and listen to some traditional stories.
A photograph of a small teapot on a doily. The teapot has the words 'You're very welcome' inscribed on it.
You're very welcome. A nice reminder for National Tea Day - we love welcoming folk to the Cruck Cottage. We have open days throughout the year, but if you turn up at other times the sign in the window has a list of friendly neighbour volunteers who will be delighted to show you around.
A photograph of light coming through the window into the cottage with a table of Victorian laundry equipment.
Washday window
A montage of images from the Bloomberg Connects apps guide to Cruck Cottage showing photographs of the interior and the choice of stories, audio, photos and film to explore.
Cruck Cottage in Torthorwald is delighted to be the first organisation in the Dumfries area to launch a digital guide with Bloomsberg Connect. Free to download and use, it's a fascinating way to explore the cottage whether on site or across the world.
Download the app here www.bloombergconnects.org
A photograph of an old mirror on the wall of the cottage. The glass shows a hazy reflection of the cruck frame, the fireplace, a chair and shelves with Victorian jars, boxes and bottles.
The cottage mirror gives a glimpse into a past age.
A photograph of a beeswax candle in a candlestick on a mantlepiece, the flame is giving a warm glow on the whitewashed wall.
We love shining a light on stories of the cottage. Why not visit us to discover life in days gone by?
A photograph of the cover of the Slow Travel guide to Dumfries and Galloway featuring a harbour scene.
A picture of a page in the book with photographs of different places to visit including the Cruck Cottage.
A close up of a text relating to the Cruck Cottage method of construction.
We were thrilled to be included in the brilliant new Slow Travel guide to Dumfries and Galloway. There are so many gems to explore and really connect with the character and landscape of the region.
A photograph of a ruined castle with just the shell of the tower and some surrounding earthworks remaining. They stand in a field of short grass with two tall trees and blue sky.
You can see the remains of Torthorwald's 14th century castle as you pass through the village.
Some of the stone in the Cruck Cottage walls may even have come from the ruined tower.
We're looking forward to lots of fireside tales as we celebrate our year of folklore.
What's your favourite strange story from Scotland?
A photograph of students and their tutors outside the Cruck Cottage in the sunshine.
A photograph of the inside of the cottage with one of the Cruck Cottage volunteers telling the group of students some of the history of the building.
A visit to the cottage this morning by a lovely group from the North West Community Campus. They were very interested in the cottage, its history, and John Paton. There were lots of questions as well.
The sun even came out for their visit, perfect!
A photograph of a long woven corn dolly with red ribbon, hanging from a pair of fallow deer antlers on the wattle-and-daub chimney in the Cruck Cottage.
A clyack or corn dolly by the hanging lum in the cottage. The Scots word clyack is derived from Gaelic cailleach meaning hag. These woven straw figures were thought to keep the spirit of the corn safe through the winter. We're exploring lots of folklore throughout this year at the Cruck Cottage.
Torthorwald Tales - Our volunteer historian Willie Clow found that the annual rent of the Cruck Cottage in 1880 was £1 15 shillings, payable to the Duke of Queensberry.
It was home to George Campbell, Elizabeth King, and 4 children, the rent equating to a month's work for an agricultural labourer.
Photograph of Ukrainian friends outside the Cruck Cottage.
Photograph of Ukrainian friends inside the Cruck Cottage, as we welcomed them with an evening of Scottish traditions.
We continue to stand with Ukraine. We've been so pleased to welcome Ukrainian friends several times in recent months. We will always be in solidarity.
A black and white photograph of the gable end of the cruck cottage, showing the thatched roof, stone walls and single window. This is the last remaining of the village's thatched cottage, rather than James Burnet's cottage which is long demolished.
Torthorwald Tales - Stories of village folk.
James Burnet, born 1774 in a cottage where his ancestors had lived since the mid-17th century. A barrel maker, fined by the Kirk for fornication, James was still mowing grass and milking cows until his death aged 92 in the cottage where he was born.
Something cheery for this dreich day... Here's our volunteer Bob playing tunes at our New Scots kitchen ceilidh in the cottage for our Ukrainian friends last weekend.
Something soothing for a Sunday.
Last night or volunteers had the great pleasure of welcoming lots of our Ukrainian friends to discover some Scottish traditions. More of that to come, but here's Maureen Milton playing her lever harp at the start of the evening.
A photograph of a pin badge with an image of John Paton, an old white man with a long white beard. The text around the edge reads John G Paton Centenary 1824-1924.
We were very grateful to receive some badges commemorating the centenary in 1924 of the birth of John Paton. They were kindly donated by a descendant of his. Paton's boyhood home was the cruck cottage next door, (demolished in 1948), before he became a missionary to the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu.
Exploring tales of witches in the local area - the Witch Thorn was located just outside Torthorwald and features on a 19th century map.
Through 2025 our theme is folklore and we'll be exploring this through new interpretation and a great programme of events.
A photograph of the roof of the cottage made up of many timbers in their natural shape.
A view of the roof looking towards the bed end of the cottage. Oak cruck frame, birch rafters and heather turf showing under the thatch.
We're excited to announce our theme for 2025 is 'folklore'. We'll continue to explore the history of the cottage and rural life, but will also look at the many tangents to folk traditions, customs and tales around the cottage.
Wishing you all a very happy new year and we hope to see you in 2025.
