Historic Assynt 20th Anniversary – Iron Age Bronze Working & Snacks, Discoveries and Puzzles in Assynts Past

3.45pm Bronze Working.

The final public event of Julia Cowie’s Broch artist residency in the Pole Barn. Smelting copper as the raw material and alloying it with tin. Pouring the molten bronze into moulds to cast mini sculptures – the final bronzes for the Clachtoll Broch community sculpture. The mini sculptures were carved by local people (and visiting archaeologists) in local beeswax. So the whole Iron Age process – Stone to sculpture will be demonstrated. You can try your hand a sand-mould making for small open-cast pieces that we hope to pour in bronze that evening. You can help with the bellows and get an idea of how metalwork would have been done at the time of the broch. There will be molten metal and fire. Mandy Haggith will read from her forthcoming novel to help recreate the scene.
5.30pm Iron Age Snacks
A hearty soup will be provided and you can also have a go at butter making or try making and cooking your own bannocks and other snacks! Or just sample those made by others!
7.30pm Discoveries and Puzzles
A round-up of some of the things that Historic Assynt has been finding out about Assynt’s past over the last 20 years from Cairns and Stone Circles to the lifestyles of pre-clearance farm tenants via monumental Iron Age houses and the shadow of the Vikings all mixed up with lots of puzzles and mysteries along the way! In the Arts Studio