Hebrides People Visitor Centre

Heritage visitor centre and family-history research service in Northton on Harris, run by Northton Heritage Trust; closed for redevelopment until 2028.

Temporarily closed

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Temporarily closed (expected until 2028). The visitor centre is closed for refurbishment and redevelopment and is due to reopen in spring 2028. The online shop and the genealogy research service remain open.

About the museum

Hebrides People is the visitor centre and heritage organisation of the Northton Heritage Trust at Northton (An Taobh Tuath) in the south of the Isle of Harris. The centre was long known as Seallam! Visitor Centre, and its building also carries the name MacGillivray Centre.

The organisation holds more than 60 years of genealogical and social research covering the whole of the Outer Hebrides. Its records cover virtually every household in the islands over the last two centuries, including St Kilda, and include census returns, parish registers, estate papers, emigration lists and Gaelic oral tradition. A family-history research service run under the name Cò Leis Thu? is based on the work of Bill Lawson and the late Chris Lawson.

Before its closure the centre showed exhibitions on the social and natural history of the Hebrides and its island communities, and ran a bookshop. It is now closed for a redevelopment costing 8.25 million pounds, with reopening planned for spring 2028. The online shop and the genealogy research service continue to operate.

Highlights

Family-history research service for the whole Outer Hebrides
Archive of more than 30,000 family tree sheets
Exhibitions on the social and natural history of the Hebrides (before the closure)
Bookshop and online shop
Redevelopment under way, reopening planned for spring 2028