Our Museum
Just a handful of miles from the North Coast 500 route is a unique step back in ancient history…
The museum, formerly the ancient church of St. Colman, houses a Pictish Treasury with a unique collection of artefacts discovered during archaeological excavation of the early Christian monastery that lies beneath and around the Centre. Unrivalled works of art created in stone by the Picts more than 1,200 years ago are on display, including fragments of standing stones. The ancient church was built as a simple structure in the 12th century in the ruins of the Pictish monks’ graveyard. In the 14th century, it was enlarged and a crypt added, then remodelled in the 18th century to its current T-shape form.
The church served the growing population of Portmahomack until the Disruption in 1843 and eventually closed for worship in 1946. In 1980 residents in Portmahomack established what is now the Tarbat Historic Trust to save the abandoned church. Years later, an aerial photograph of the church and surrounding fields led the University of York to conduct an archaeological excavation that proved the site surrounding the church had been a monastery, a stone-carving centre, and an intellectual hub in the 8th century. In 1999 the then-HRH The Prince of Wales dedicated the Church of St. Colman’s as the Tarbat Discovery Centre to house the collection and preserve the history of the Portmahomack area.
Opening Hours
1 March – 31 March 2024
Monday – Saturday, 1 pm – 4 pm,
1 April – 31 October 2024
Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm,
Sunday, 1 pm – 4 pm
Collection Highlights
The Treasury
The Treasury holds Pictish carvings and many other finds from the archaeological dig, including replicas of the Viking Silver Hoard, with genuine items arriving in June 2024 for our 25th anniversary! Here you can marvel at the beauty of the medieval stonework and read accounts of rare items uncovered at the site.
St. Colman’s Gallery
The Stories on Skins project, sponsored by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is on display. The project is creating four insular manuscript pages (a style associated with the British Isles in the post-Roman period) using techniques and materials Pictish monks would have used in the 8th century. With inspiration from Gaelic stories in combination with the rich imagery and evidence of parchment making at Tarbat, we are bringing the stories and crafts of the Tarbat monastery back to life.
The Crypt
The Crypt is the oldest part of the building housing the Discovery Centre – a barrel-vaulted, ancient sacred space with appropriate solemnity first built in the 13th century. Visit the Crypt to learn that it was the site of an infamous local atrocity in the 15th century, and see the site where our famous Dragon Stone was discovered! When you climb down the steep steps that lead to the Crypt, you really feel like you have stepped back in time, and the green moss growing up the walls adds an eerie feel to this once-sacred place. Inside the Crypt is a small aumbry – a stone shelf cupboard for keeping relics or sacraments.
Research and Local History
The Tarbat Peninsula is steeped in history, and fertile breeding ground for folklore and legend. Are they all true? Who knows…read some of the best ones on our blog.