Doors Open Days 2019 weekend 5
The final weekend of Doors Open Days 2019 has some exciting venues and events on offer. See our regional highlights below for inspiration for where to go at the weekend.
Weekend 5
28th & 29th September
Argyll & Bute - Rothesay • Clackmannanshire • East Lothian • Edinburgh • Highland - other areas • Shetland • Western Isles
DEVON COLLIERY BEAM ENGINE HOUSE (Clackmannanshire)
Open for Doors Open Days Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 September, 10am-5pm.
Devon Colliery was the largest and longest lasting colliery in Clakmannanshire. It closed in 1960, ending at least 450 years of coal mining in the area. The Beam Engine House was restored by Clackmannan District Council in 1993, by which time only the massive cast-iron beam and part of the pump-rod remained. It is one of the few surviving beam engines in Scotland and the only sign that a colliery ever existed on the site. It was converted to office space and, after sporadic use, was later sold to the Scottish SPCA, which is now developing plans to use it as an educational information centre.
To find out what other buildings will be open during Doors Open Days in Clackmannanshire, click here.
1772 WAGGONWAY MUSEUM (East Lothian)
Open for Doors Open Days Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 September, 10am-4pm.
Look for the Waggon! The Waggonway Project invites you to experience Scotland’s oldest railway. Our museum features maps, photographs and models, as well as a full size replica wooden waggon. It is a stone’s throw from Robert Stevenson’s 1815 Cockenzie Harbour redevelopment featuring railway archaeology and Cadell’s Cockenzie House and Gardens, where we will be making authentic Cockenzie salt in our replica saltpan. A Hanseatic barn completes the picture of an industrial site believed to have been trading with the Baltic states.
ACTIVITIES
Guided walks around the sites at 11am and 2pm on both days.
To find out what other buildings will be open during Doors Open Days in East Lothian, click here.
ASTORIA CENTRE (Edinburgh)
Open for Doors Open Days Sunday 29 September, 12noon-4pm.
The recently refurbished and renamed Astoria Centre houses the last Ingram Cinema Organ in the world. A rare opportunity to see and hear the fully restored Ingram 2/4 organ which originated from The Astoria Cinema in Corstorphine, demolished in the 1970s.
To find out what other buildings will be open during Doors Open Days in Edinburgh, click here.
AM FASGADH, HIGHLAND FOLK MUSEUM (Highland - other areas)
Open for Doors Open Days, Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 September, 2pm-4pm.
"Am Fasgadh" (The Shelter) is continued from founder Isabel Grant's original name for the museum; building on her philosophy that the museum she started on the island of Iona in 1935 was a safe haven for her collection.
The collection today represents the rich and varied material and non material culture from the Highlands and Islands from the 17th century to recent times. The emphasis is on rural and domestic life.
In 2015 the museum was awarded recognised status in respect of the entire collection. Owned and funded by the Scottish Government, the Recognition Scheme formally recognises and invests in outstanding and irreplaceable collections of national significance in non-national museums and galleries in Scotland.
The Highland Folk Museum is also featured on our Doors Open Days 30th anniversary project Cultural Embassies, which maps connections between Scotland and 27 European member states. Pick up our Cultural Embassies brochure, available at a range of iCentres across Scotland, or download your copy of our brochure here. Once you've picked up your brochure, head to any of the sites, snap a photo, post the photo on twitter, facebook and/or instagram and tag #DODscot30 to be entered in a prize draw!*****
To find out what other buildings will be open during Doors Open Days in Highland - other areas, click here and here.
UNST BOAT HAVEN (Shetland)
Open for Doors Open Days Saturday 28 September, 11am-4pm & Sunday 29 September, 2pm-4pm.
Situated in Haroldswick and managed by the Unst Heritage Trust, the Boat Haven is a welcome stop for visitors. Built in 1994 the metal sheeted building is central to the Haroldswick area and near the sea. The Boat Haven's collection is comprised of anything linked to the sea.
Step inside the building and you can view a unique collection of wooden boats displayed on a shingle beach. This display shows the open boat development in Shetland and the North Atlantic area. One of the interesting artefacts is a barometer which used to hang outside the Haroldswick Shop. This was one of the few ways to check the weather before the boats put out to sea.
There is a historical mural at the far end of the Boat Haven depicting the old sixareen days. Sixareens is a traditional fishing boat used around the Shetland islands. Step outside and there is also a sixareen in the boat shelter to view! This boat gives the visitor a real sense of how vulnerable the fishermen were when at sea.
Visitors always receive a warm welcome from the knowledgeable custodian.
To find out what other buildings will be open during Doors Open Days in Shetland, click here.
STONE, SEA AND SKY (Western Isles)
Stone, Sea and Sky celebrates the architecture and built heritage of Scotland's islands. It's been our biggest 30th anniversary project and has taken the form of a series of engagement and development workshops with primary pupils in Argyll and Bute and the Outer Hebrides during August and September 2019.
These workshops will culminate in celebratory events and sculpture unveilings this weekend - free for all to attend. These finale events will take place 28 September, 2-4pm at An Lanntair in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis and on 29 September, 2pm-3.30pm at The Bank of Ideas in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.
Doors Open Days 30th Anniversary Projects
THEN AND NOW
The first Doors Open Days happened in Glasgow and Ayr in 1990, but what has happened to the buildings that took part in the last three decades? Discover the good, the bad and the unexpected changes that have happened over thirty years to some of Scotland's most important buildings. Click here to access interviews with the original Doors Open Days coordinators, John Gerrard and Michael Hitchon.
BRAW BUILDINGS
We've teamed up with Hostelling Scotland to offer young people and families the chance of a free weekend away in one of six locations across Scotland. Young people aged 16 to 25, and families with at least one child aged up to 15 years, from across Scotland who are keen to explore new parts of Scotland have had the opportunity to stay in Inverness, Aberdeen, Pitlochry, Stirling and Glasgow. This upcoming weekend, selected young people and families will also have the chance to explore Edinburgh Doors Open Days. Below you can see a Braw Buildings family enjoying Glasgow's Doors Open Days!
BACK FOR GOOD
We're celebrating communities who own, or are thinking about owning, a local asset. Scotland is full of groups who are working on transforming schools, halls, churches and the occasional hut as spaces for communal use. Thanks to the support from the William Grant Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund, we've also been able to make a record number of them accessible as part of Doors Open Days this year, through enabling grants for everything from cutting back overgrown shrubbery to flagpoles and ramps. Back for Good venues that will be open for Doors Open Days this upcoming weekend include Brigend Farmhouse (Edinburgh) and Bellfield (Edinburgh).
YOUNG ADVISORY PANEL
Through funding from Year of Young People National Lottery Fund, we assembled a panel of young people to provide their perspective on their location's festival this year. The YAP team have been tasked with creating print and video guides to their location.
Whose guide will you need this weekend?
EDINBURGH- The YAP member for Edinburgh is Laura, who will also be taking over our Instagram on Saturday to share some of her favourite Doors Open Days spots - head to @doorsopendaysscotland on Saturday to see her explore a few of the festival's venues and tours!
Click here to see the guides & video highlights.
We love hearing all about your Doors Open Days experiences on social media. Please share any photos with us by using our hashtags #DODscot and #DODscot30. We might even feature you on our feed!