Harbour, Boats & Fishing: Lochinver’s Living Maritime Heritage
Fishing has shaped Lochinver and Assynt in many different ways — from earlier herring fisheries and local boats to the twentieth-century white-fish industry, the development of the harbour and the experiences of the people who worked at sea and ashore.
Date: Saturday 24 October 2026
Venue: Assynt Leisure Centre, Lochinver
Booking: Click here to book
About the event
This event will bring archive sources, film, personal memories and the modern harbour together to explore fishing as a living heritage.
What we’ll be doing
The programme is being developed around several complementary activities, including:
- archive photographs, maps and records;
- a screening of the short film Herring Stories;
- a talk by Dave McBain drawing on his research into fishing in Assynt;
- discussion with people connected to fishing and the harbour;
- opportunities to contribute photographs, stories and memories;
- stalls from the RNLI and Assynt Ranger
- a short heritage walk around the village and harbour, finishing in the Culag Hotel
What you’ll learn
Rather than concentrating solely on archaeology, this event explores how historians record a living industry.
Participants will see how maps, photographs, newspapers, oral history and personal collections can be combined to tell the story of a place.
Who is it for?
Everyone.
We would particularly like to hear from people with memories, photographs or family connections to fishing, the harbour, boats and associated businesses.
You don’t need to consider yourself an historian — lived experience is part of the historical record.
Accessibility
Much of the event will take place indoors. Any outdoor heritage walk will be optional and further accessibility information will be provided once the programme is confirmed.
Part of Historic Assynt: (Re) Connecting Communities Stage 2 — connecting archives, landscapes and the people who know them best.