Strathnaver Museum
Source: https://www.strathnavermuseum.org.uk/explore/museum-without-walls/mary-beith
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:09
Strathnaver Museum
Using local plants for healing is a tradition that has never died out in Sutherland. Mary Beith, who lived in Melness, did much to preserve this knowledge. Her life-mission was to study traditional medical practices of the Highlands and Islands. She talked to communities who still knew ancient cures and treatments. She also researched old Gaelic texts. She shared her findings in the West Highland Free Press and on the radio and TV. Her work has lessons for us today. Organic remedies for some illnesses might be just outside our doors.
Mary Beith talks about the Gaelic medical tradition
Fearchar
According to legend, a man called Fearchar became one of the first Gaelic healers. A royal charter from 1379 seems to support this. It shows that King Robert II granted lands in Melness to ‘Ffercado medico nostro’ (Fearchar our physician). A Medical College founded there trained people in the healing properties of plants, seaweed and lichen. Today, no traces are left of this once famous institution.
You can hear more about Fearchar as part of our traditional medicine exhibit in Strathnaver Museum.
Sites to visit:
Kyle Centre Community Garden, Tongue, IV27 4XA
Highland Archive Centre
, Inverness holds items from Mary Beith
Read more:
Healing Threads: traditional medicines of the Highlands and Islands,
by Mary Beith (available to purchase in the museum shop)
The Beatons: a medical kindred in the classical Gaelic tradition,
by John Bannerman (available to view in our Research Room)
Items in our Collection relating to Mary Beith or traditional medicine:
Shirley Poole, eight watercolours of Sutherland flora (2005.3.1-8);
Healing Threads: traditional medicines of the Highlands and Islands
(1st ed.), by Mary Beith (2023.3);
The Beatons: a medical kindred in the classical Gaelic tradition,
by John Bannerman (BKS2006.293)
Mary Beith papers (various papers relating to mostly folklore & archaeology);
Invalid feeding cup (DOM160);
Pestle and mortar, wooden, handmade (2023.4);
Hollowed out of stone (DOM215);
“British and Foreign Mineral Water Co., Glasgow”, glass bottle (DOM153);
Coins from Loch Mo Nàire (TRA4A to TRA4F).
Using local plants for healing is a tradition that has never died out in Sutherland. Mary Beith, who lived in Melness, did much to preserve this knowledge. Her life-mission was to study traditional medical practices of the Highlands and Islands. She talked to communities who still knew ancient cures and treatments. She also researched old Gaelic texts. She shared her findings in the West Highland Free Press and on the radio and TV. Her work has lessons for us today. Organic remedies for some illnesses might be just outside our doors.
Mary Beith talks about the Gaelic medical tradition
Fearchar
According to legend, a man called Fearchar became one of the first Gaelic healers. A royal charter from 1379 seems to support this. It shows that King Robert II granted lands in Melness to ‘Ffercado medico nostro’ (Fearchar our physician). A Medical College founded there trained people in the healing properties of plants, seaweed and lichen. Today, no traces are left of this once famous institution.
You can hear more about Fearchar as part of our traditional medicine exhibit in Strathnaver Museum.
Sites to visit:
Kyle Centre Community Garden, Tongue, IV27 4XA
Highland Archive Centre
, Inverness holds items from Mary Beith
Read more:
Healing Threads: traditional medicines of the Highlands and Islands,
by Mary Beith (available to purchase in the museum shop)
The Beatons: a medical kindred in the classical Gaelic tradition,
by John Bannerman (available to view in our Research Room)
Items in our Collection relating to Mary Beith or traditional medicine:
Shirley Poole, eight watercolours of Sutherland flora (2005.3.1-8);
Healing Threads: traditional medicines of the Highlands and Islands
(1st ed.), by Mary Beith (2023.3);
The Beatons: a medical kindred in the classical Gaelic tradition,
by John Bannerman (BKS2006.293)
Mary Beith papers (various papers relating to mostly folklore & archaeology);
Invalid feeding cup (DOM160);
Pestle and mortar, wooden, handmade (2023.4);
Hollowed out of stone (DOM215);
“British and Foreign Mineral Water Co., Glasgow”, glass bottle (DOM153);
Coins from Loch Mo Nàire (TRA4A to TRA4F).