DRAWN FROM THE PAST ​VOICES FROM DAVA MOOR

New research reveals a grim story of a failed experiment with tragic results.
Grantown museum’s latest exhibition shines light on the dark past of Dava moor where enlightened thinking led to misery, evictions and murder….
Combining art, sound, poetry and historical research it tells the story of the mostly abandoned crofts that lie dotted on the landscape of the wild stretch of moorland between Grantown and Forres. The exhibit accompanies a new book written by historian Charles Fletcher who has found evidence of an ambitious agricultural experiment carried out by the Laird of the Grant estates, Sir James Grant, founder of Grantown, which was doomed to failure and led to the eventual evictions of many families in Strathspey.
The show also features fascinating sound recordings of memories from the people who have lived on the Dava, many of whom were the last tenants of the small farms that can be seen today. They tell of happier times in the middle of the last century, scraping a living from the unyielding land but managing to create long lasting friendships within a tight knit community.
​The book accompanying this exhibition will be available
for pre-order from Saturday 22 May.