Fire-ravaged Loch Tay crannog given £51,000 lifeline from Scottish Government

A tourist attraction which was ravaged by a fire earlier this year has been given £51,000 of Scottish Government funding to help its recovery.

The Scottish Crannog Centre's Iron Age roundhouse replica on the shore of Loch Tay burned down on June 12.

The Iron Age roundhouse, part of the Scottish Crannog Centre on the shore of Loch Tay, burned down on June 12.

Despite being engulfed in flames, the centre reopened five days later and continued to run events including sell-out performances of Romeo and Juliet, weekly music nights and a special midsummer celebration.

Ahead of plans to relocate next year, the funding will help cover some of the centre’s immediate costs.

Mike Benson, director of the centre, said: “We are incredibly thankful to The Scottish Government for this support.

“The fire is not the end of our story, it will become part of our story.

“This support will enable us to plan as we stride into our futures with confidence and to keep doing what we do best – to tell the inspirational stories of the Scottish crannog dwellers to the communities we are here to serve near and far.”

More than £12,000 has been raised on a JustGiving page.

The timeframe for developing a new Crannog Centre on the north shore of the loch at Dalerb will be re-examined ahead of hopefully going ahead next year.

Culture Minister Jenny Gilruth said: “I’m glad that the Scottish Government has been able to support the Crannog Centre after the recent devastating fire – I very much hope that this funding will support the first steps of the centre’s recovery.

“It is testament to their ambition and the dedication of the Crannog’s staff that they have reopened so swiftly, under incredibly difficult circumstances.

“It is clear that the excellent work of the centre is much valued by local communities with their strong record of providing employment opportunities and supporting vocational learning.”

The centre is almost halfway to its initial crowdfunding target which is at https://justgiving.com/campaign/crannog.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription at https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions.