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28 Mar 2022

Sound installation at Moirlanich Longhouse

A white stone longhouse with a red corrugated metal roof stands in a valley, with hills rising behind.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the National Trust for Scotland have collaborated on an exciting project to deliver a sound installation at Moirlanich Longhouse.

In partnership with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, we have created a specially-commissioned soundscape at Moirlanich Longhouse, a beautifully conserved byre dwelling nestled in Glen Lochay near Killin. The longhouse offers a unique opportunity to visit a traditional rural home, which has scarcely changed since its last inhabitant left in 1968.

The soundscape is the first in a series of collaborative projects for the Trust and Pitlochry Festival Theatre and is designed to enhance the visitor experience, connecting visitors with the people in the past.

For the project’s lead Amy Liptrott (Associate Director at Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Moirlanich Longhouse is a time capsule: ‘It really felt like the outside world had been paused when I went inside. I knew immediately I wanted to create a soundscape inside the house to bring the sense of the hustle and bustle a busy, working house would have had.’

White earthenware pots stand on a row on a rough wooden table in a stone building. Two old-fashioned box beds stand top to tail. They are covered with floral bed linen and surrounded by floral curtains and patterned wallpaper. A wooden kitchen table with a mixing bowl on it stands in front of the fireplace in Moirlanich Longhouse. Above the fireplace is a large chimney, with a shelf at the top holding a teapot and vase.

The installation was created by sound designer Fraser Milroy and features the voices of three actors: Elspeth Turner, Iain McRae and Fergus Munro. Visitors can hear people going about their daily lives, minding the fire, laughing, talking, singing, milking and praying before bed. The soundscape hints at the world outside too. Amy wanted to share the everyday lives of people from the past with people now and show that we’re really not that different.

Quote
“The people who lived in and around Moirlanich Longhouse over an almost 200-year period, between the early 1800s to the late 1960s, were skilled, in tune with nature, got hungry and thirsty, wept at loss, rejoiced and celebrated, and didn’t always mind their manners.”
Amy Liptrott
Associate Director at Pitlochry Festival Theatre
A black and white photo of an older man with a white beard, sitting by a open fireplace, with his legs stretched out in front of him. A large kettle is suspended over the fire. A black and white photo of three men sitting on a bench outside a stone house. They are smiling in the sunshine. They are wearing working clothes. A black and white photo of an old lady sitting by the side of a fireplace, with a large hanging chimney above. The fireplace is open and a pot hangs from a metal hook over it.

Property Manager Helen Cole (National Trust for Scotland) said: ‘The project at Moirlanich Longhouse brings the site to life through the sounds of the past and lets us hear the echoes of the people who used to live here. It really does make you experience the property in a different way and connects us with the people who lived and worked in this extraordinary place.’

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Moirlanich Longhouse

Beautifully conserved cottage giving unique insight into rural family life in 19th-century Scotland

Loch Lomond, The Trossachs, Stirling & Forth Valley

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