Historylinks Museum

About the museum

Historylinks is the museum of Dornoch Heritage, a registered charity (Dornoch Heritage SCIO), and stands at The Meadows just off Castle Street in the old Sutherland burgh of Dornoch. It looks after a local collection, keeps catalogue records, shows exhibitions, runs an online archive and supports research and learning about the heritage of the Dornoch area.

The permanent displays trace Life in the Dornoch Area from early hunter-gatherers to the present. Themes include crofting, the Highland Clearances, geology and the threatened Dornoch Esker, and the fishing village of Embo with its herring girls. Individual objects include a 13th-century seal of a Dornoch chaplain, found through the Treasure Trove system, the workbench and tools of a local watchmaker, and the cast-iron clock gifted to Royal Dornoch Golf Club in 1909. Outside, an old winch from Thomas Telford's bridge at Loch Fleet is on show. Further sections cover the Dornoch Light Railway, golf, the Sutherland Volunteers and a children's room.

A reference area with a computer gives access to the museum's image archive. Temporary exhibitions have been held since 2007, and in 2025 a community curation project called The People's Gallery let local people choose and display items. The museum has been rated a five-star museum by VisitScotland.

Highlights

• Life in the Dornoch Area, from early settlers to today
• Crofting, Clearances, geology and Embo herring-girl displays
• 13th-century seal of a Dornoch chaplain
• Dornoch Light Railway and golf displays
• Children's room with quizzes, dressing up and a model of the cathedral
• Image archive and reference area

Permanent exhibitions

• Life in the Dornoch Area – A display tracing local life from early hunter-gatherers to the present day.
• Dornoch Light Railway – Display on the local light railway that once served Dornoch.
• Children's Room – A hands-on room with puzzles, quizzes, a cathedral model and dressing up.

Founded

1998

Operated by

Dornoch Heritage SCIO

Admission & discounts

Prices with a Gift Aid donation are £5.45 (adult) and £4.54 (concession). Tickets can be bought online and are valid for 7 days, with multiple re-entry for the purchaser. No family ticket is listed.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum is on one level and accessible to wheelchairs and buggies; a wheelchair can be borrowed. There are two accessible toilets, a hearing loop throughout, written information for visitors with hearing impairment and magnified perspex sheets for reading the displays. A wide Blue Badge bay is about 10 metres from the entrance.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly

The Children's Room offers free quiz sheets, a model-building activity of Dornoch Cathedral, a golf puzzle, touch-and-guess boxes, painting and dressing up as a Viking. Children aged 16 and under enter free. The museum is buggy accessible.

Getting there & parking

Dornoch is just off the A9, 43 miles from Inverness (satnav postcode IV25 3SF). Dornoch station closed in 1962; the nearest stations are Tain, about 9 miles south, and Golspie, about 10 miles north. The museum is off Castle Street, behind Dornoch Castle Hotel and the Carnegie Courthouse.

Amenities & dining

Museum shop pages list books, gifts, tartan, wool, pewter and railway items; no cafe or Wi-Fi is mentioned.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit