The story of the Bernera Museum is one of determination and admiration. When Historic Scotland caught wind of a rare Iron Age Village becoming uncovered in the Isle of Lewis, they tried to have it excavated and brought to the mainlands. However, locals, including museum Chairman Calum Macualay, fought for their right to preserve their own history in a place they considered home.
People tend to believe that to be modern you have to disengage from your heritage, but that’s not true. Our heritage is who we are, where we came from; it’s our culture, our legacy and a chance to know and understand more about those who came before us. It’s essential that we hold on to that in a modern world, and one of the best ways we do that is through our museums.
Without museums we would most certainly lose the tangible links to our past, because they act as an archive for our ever-changing world. What we often don’t realise, however, is that some museums have to fight a little bit harder than others to preserve what they’ve got. As was the case with the Bernera Museum in Bostadh on the Isle of Lewis.
The story of the Bernera Museum is one of determination and passion with a true sense of culture and a love for heritage and history. Back in 1993, a storm uncovered a whole Iron Age Village buried under years of sand and dirt on Bostadh Beach, which inspired the locals to try and get an archaeological dig.
“Mother nature and the storms exposed the village initially,” Bernera Museum Chairman, Calum Macualay, explained. “That showed the extent of the buildings and then we decided to try and get the dig.”
But this was only the beginning of the story.
Once the Iron Age housing was discovered, Historic Scotland wanted to perform a full excavation to find everything that had been buried to bring it down to the Scottish mainlands. However, the locals’ hearts had formed a deep-rooted connection with the history and heritage that came with the artefacts. In an effort to preserve them, they refused to let Historic Scotland take away and put it somewhere else.
“There was an argument here,” Calum said. “Historic Scotland wanted to excavate it to destruction basically and, no, we wouldn’t have that."
“If we had excavated it, the structure would have taken the site away and everything else. Their argument was that ‘Oh, you can’t get buses up there; you can’t get enough people to see it,’ and we argued that if our historic value is determined by the amount of coaches you can get to visit something then you shouldn’t be in charge of our history."
"‘Oh, you can’t get buses up there; you can’t get enough people to see it,’ and we argued that if our historic value is determined by the amount of coaches you can get to visit something then you shouldn’t be in charge of our history."
“So we fought that and won and eventually ended up getting a decent dig.”
Getting the dig meant that the museum could create a reconstructed Iron Age House next to where the original dig took place at Bostadh Beach and some of the original, authentic artefacts are preserved inside the museum.
The Bernera Museum, which is fully accredited, has been standing for ten years and has displays of historical interest to Great Bernera as well as a large collection of genealogical reference material. In its entirety, the collection consists of over 500 beautiful artefacts which illustrate the domestic, economic, cultural and religious life on the island over hundreds of years.
Most of the material belongs mainly to the 19th and 20th centuries, which includes comprehensive family archives, a collection of old photographs, audio and video tapes, and material relating to local fishing.
Not only that, but they even have some artefacts that represent the lives of those who lived on St Kilda, telling their stories of survival, too. For example, they have a whole area in the museum dedicated to explaining how those who lived in St Kilda sent and received mail using the homemade “mail boats” system developed by journalist John Sands back in 1876.
Calum explained that for such a small place, there is so much archaeology.
“There’s a massive amount of archaeology to know on the island here as well as the Western Isles,” he said. “It’s all documented, and those who are interested know about it and they come to the island. We may not necessarily see them, but they do come and visit.”
So, do these places that store our history make it any more meaningful? Calum said it doesn’t, but for reasons different from you’d think.
“The people who are from here, for them it doesn’t matter where they go, home is where people are from, not where they live. These things make that element of home a little bit more recognisable.”
There is a growing sense of fear that we’re losing a part of our history simply because we don’t acknowledge it the way our ancestors did. Calum told us why these places, that remind us of it, matter.
“It’s our history. My family have a long history here, and a lot of the history that was relevant to us was actually transferred by word of mouth. It wasn’t written down, it was in stories and we’re losing a lot of that.
“Places like this, you know, they’ve been set up around the island to try and preserve that. Because we’re inundated with technology now and we’re not interested in the stories and the history of the place and we don’t get together to share our history like we used to.”
It just goes to show how connected people are to their history and heritage. For so many people on such a small island to come together to fight for their right to preserve their own history in a place they considered home is admirable. They didn’t care that fewer people would see it; what mattered was that it remained close to their hearts. Sometimes our efforts to preserve our history can become just as important as the history we’re preserving.