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Isle of Eigg

Museum of Crofting Life

Welcome

A croft house at Cleadale on Eigg kept as it was lived in, with the box beds, the dresser, the range and the tools of a crofting life a century ago all in their places.

It is a small museum, run by the island's history society, and it takes half an hour. What it does is explain the landscape you walked through to reach it: the strip fields on the slope, the ruined houses, the reason the cliffs above are called what they are. Usually open in summer, and always free. Combine it with the Singing Sands at the end of the road and the walk back along the cliff path.

Round the cornerCleadaleEigg's crofting township, white houses and narrow fields under a wall of basalt cliffs above the Bay of Laig.1 min by roadSee itA row of white cottages beneath layered rocky cliffs, evening light catching the grass
Close by
  1. Wooden pews line a church nave leading to an altar lit by a quatrefoil window.St Donnan’s Roman Catholic ChurchA small white Arts and Crafts chapel of 1910 in Cleadale, named for Eigg's seventh-century saint.Under a mile1 min by road
  2. Waves reflecting a golden sunset beneath a silhouetted headland on the beachBay of LaigEigg's great west-facing beach of pale sand, looking straight across the sound to the mountains of Rum.Under a mile1 min by road
  3. Isle of Eigg BreweryIsle of Eigg BreweryScotland's first cooperative brewery, making beer from Eigg's spring water, with a taproom open on summer afternoons.Under a mile1 min by road
  4. A green corrugated cottage with a red postbox set into the wall beside the doorEigg MuseumThe Old Island Shop at Cuagach, a green tin hut holding an exhibition of Eigg's geology, natural history and recent past.Under a mile1 min by road
  5. Museum interior with fishing nets, an orange buoy and a Cabinet of Local Curiosities displayLand, Sea and Islands Centre5 miles11 min by road
Directions
A row of white cottages beneath layered rocky cliffs, evening light catching the grassAttractionsCleadaleA step away
Stay nearby

Places to stay near Museum of Crofting Life, and when each is next free.

Coruisk House
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Elgol
  • 16 miles from Museum of Crofting Life
Check datesGravel path curves through green fields towards mist-covered mountain peaksGlenbrittle Campsite
  • To stay
  • In the Isle of Eigg
  • 20 miles from Museum of Crofting Life
Check datesEilean Sionnach Lighthouse Cottage
  • Sleeps 8
  • In the Isle of Eigg
  • 20 miles from Museum of Crofting Life
Check datesThe house's gabled wing with a decked terrace and two chairs, solar panels along the roof, seen across a grassy slope.Borradill House
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Glenborrodale
  • 20 miles from Museum of Crofting Life
Free 15–17 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay on EiggAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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