Auchindrain: Scotland’s last surviving farm township at risk of being lost forever

Scots around the world are being urged to help save an ancient Highland township.

Auchindrain, south of Inveraray, is the only working farm township that has remained substantially unaltered from the many that existed before the Highland Clearances in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

It has been preserved as an open air museum and historic monument but the site is at risk of permanent closure due to looming cuts in public funding.

It had relied on a cash injection from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to remain operational, but the Auchindrain Trust has been told that no more money is available from the end of March.

The visitor centre’s roof was blown off during Storm Eowyn, leaving some cottages badly damaged, and restoration work for its artifacts are also needed.

Tourists can wander around Auchindrain. STV News

‘’It is more important to Scotland and Britain than Skarabrae, Culloden and Stonehenge,” said local councillor Jan Brown.

‘’Everything officially closes by March 31 and all staff have been made redundant. We will open again because I have tours booked from April 1 until May next year but that needs to be pushed back.

‘’I have a bus coming on July 1 and we have a duty to honour these commitments”.

Key highlights of the tours are the ‘’Waulking the Wool’’ experience formed by Frances Dunlop in 2000.

Tourists can also wander the farm in a self-guided tour, step into a cottage, and imagine daily life in the area.

Group leader Frances Dunlop, said: “We’ve been coming here for 17 years, and we have a regular spot all summer.

“The atmosphere is so perfect for us here and we can feel the ancestors singing along with us and it’s just wonderful.”

HES said that following a review of policies and criteria, it would no longer provide revenue funding and the arrangement which has been in place since 2013 would end in March.

A spokeswoman added: ‘We are sorry to note that despite significant efforts by the Board and staff of the Trust over a period of many years, that they cannot find a viable business model with the current challenging market conditions to sustain operations at the site.”