Tracing the history of the longhouse in Scotland from the earliest examples through to survivors today, we were delighted to welcome Niall Logan to our October 2022 Rural Voices Seminar to explore how such structures were built, how they functioned, and why there are so few surviving.
This session was hosted by Sharon Martin, Head of Collections and Visitor Services at Auchindrain Historic Township in Argyll, Scotland.
Niall Logan held a personal chair in Systematic Bacteriology at Glasgow Caledonian University, and in 2017 was awarded the international Bergey Medal in recognition of outstanding and life-long contributions to the field of bacterial classification and identification. Although it did not become his career, his first love was archaeology, and he has now found his way back to it. A keen amateur of vernacular architecture, he has single-handedly restored his 18th-century farmhouse over 40 years, is Chairman of the Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group, and a trustee of the Auchindrain Township near Inveraray. In 2013 he co-founded the Baldernock Local History Group, and devotes much of his time to landscape archaeology and archive study, from the post-medieval onwards.
Sharon Martin is Head of Collections and Visitor Services at Auchindrain Historic Township in Argyll, Scotland, where she has worked for the past twelve years. Her role is diverse, and covers collections management and development, learning, the visitor experience, operational management, HR, and the organisation of staff BBQs. Sharon is currently Chair of the Rural Museums Network.
