Browse Items (501 total)

The museum has an important collection of fine art and photography in its collections from the 18th to 20th centuries. It was difficult to choose examples for this gallery so we have featured a diverse selection of images that showcase our…

Sport has always been pursued enthusiastically in the Highlands and participants often take advantage of our unique landscape, whether it be for mountaineering, mountain racing, or hunting. Shinty is still the most popular sport in the Highlands and…

The museum is located in Fort William. The town is named for the fort built here in 1690 and the area has historically been of great strategic and political importance to the control of the Highlands. Much of the area's military stories revolve…

Our fascinating archaeology collection includes ancient pottery and metalwork, arrowheads and stonework, salvage from the wreck of a Spanish Galleon, and clothing and artefacts from a 1500-year-old crannog site. Highlights from our collection have…

The rugged landscape and geographical isolation of much of the Scottish Highlands made it a relatively inaccessible place for much of its political and cultural history. This resulted in the evolution of its own very unique traditions, cultural life,…

Lochaber is known as the cradle of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It was here at Glenfinnan that Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his father’s Standard to signal the start of the Rising and here that the Prince hid in the hills, hunted by the British Army…

The perception of the Highlands changed radically during the Victorian era. Queen Victoria popularised Highland culture and the growth of the road and rail networks made the Highlands more accessible to visitors. At the same time the expansion of the…

The West Highland Museum 100 project showcases digital cultural heritage from the Western Highlands of Scotland. This collaboration between West Highland Museum and the University of St Andrews is exploring new ways of interacting with heritage,…

Large metal lock from Fort William.

Stone axe 3D model

Small wooden bowl possibly for soup of porridge. It was found in the Governor's House at Fort William when the fort was demolished in 1938.

wooden bowl from Governor's House.

3D model of tree root stool

glenfinnan stone 3d model

Bronze age beaker

When land around the old fort was excavated to make way for the first rail line into Fort William in the 1890s, knives, cannon, and bullet moulds were found in the old fort. This cannon ball was found in the old Fort and is marked with a Government…

Small cannonball from Fort William. Located in the West Highland Museum in Fort William.

These images were created as part of the Highland Threads digital exhibition - an online collection curated from fourteen Highland museum collections which tell the stories of their best costumes. you can visit the full exhibition here -…

These images were created as part of the Highland Threads digital exhibition - an online collection curated from fourteen Highland museum collections which tell the stories of their best costumes. you can visit the full exhibition here -…

Jon Schueler's studio at Romasaig near Mallaig. This was Schueler’s Scottish home and studio which was formerly an old schoolhouse in Glasnacardoch, a mile outside Mallaig, Inverness-shire.

Blog by Madga Salvesen, Curator Jon Schueler Estate

Blog looking at the history of the mort safe