Folklore and Fairytales come to Shetland Museum and Archives
A magical and legendary part of Shetland’s folklore history has been re-created at the Shetland Museum and Archives.
A Trowie Knowe – said to be the hillside home of Shetland’s land-dwelling mysterious creatures – has been installed in the museum’s Customs and Folklore zone, thanks to collaboration between the Shetland Amenity Trust and the Shetland Folklore Development Group which locally leads a transnational LEADER+ project.
The transnational project is a part funded EU initiative and was created through a partnership between several regions including Shetland, Ireland, the North Highlands, the Western Isles and Skye & Lochalsh. It aims to explore new and exciting models of interpreting folklore in order to celebrate and promote regional culture locally, nationally and internationally and to also raise awareness of folklore heritage in the community.
The creation of the Trowie Knowe is a vital part of the project and will bring Shetland’s most popular folklore stories to the community. The exhibit has been created to highlight and continue the island’s long tradition of oral storytelling. Visitors will be able to enter through the stone-like entrance to reveal a mystical cave. Inside they will be able to watch a trow detector in action and listen to trowie tales, compiled with the help of local storytellers.
Davy Cooper, from the Shetland Folklore Development Group, says: “It is so important, particularly in an age of computers and digital TV, to revitalise our traditions of folklore and storytelling. Projects like the Trowie Knowe help get both adults and children interested in their cultural identity and history.”
The Robert Farrow Workshops, specialists in the production of scenic work for museums, had the job of creating the knowe on–site. With no photographic evidence of the troll-like creatures or their hiding places, the company had to learn about the trows from the stories themselves. The Trowie Knowe is made essentially from fibreglass, and although small, has been made accessible to wheel chair users. Observant visitors will notice the remains of brass pots, protruding roots and animal bones, all of which were used in construction to make the knowe as authentic as possible.
Bob Farrow, who led the re-construction, says: “As a company we have worked on some very different projects over the years, but the construction of the Trowie Knowe has been one of the more interesting ones, not least because it is steeped in such a fascinating legend. A trow’s home is very small and, therefore, the space we had to work with reflected this. However, the result is a magical cave filled with the sights and sounds of Shetland folklore that children and adults can enjoy and learn from.”
The illusive trows are known to be small, ugly creatures, who are often not the friendliest of beings. Usually no more than three feet tall, they are mischievous and can cause havoc especially at Yule time, where custom says that children on the islands had to be blessed to protect them from trows for the coming year. However, the trows are said to repay human kindness many times over and remain forever grateful to people who help them, granting good luck to the humans for many years.
Davy Cooper continues, “We have had immense fun in putting the project together, and we are all convinced that trows already reside in the knowe. Over the past few weeks a couple of small faults within the trow detector have mysteriously rectified themselves, so we are taking that as a sign that the trows appreciate their role in the museum!”
Katrina Wiseman, HIE Shetland Strategic Projects Manager says: “Over the years, Shetland folklore has been promoted in a rather ad hoc manner. However, there is growing interest in the Highlands and Islands in our culture and it is projects like this that help to continue to grow this interest for future generations.”
The Shetland Amenity Trust is indebted to LEADER + and HIE Shetland without whose valuable financial support this exhibit would not have been possible. They are also indebted to the Scottish Arts Council and the Esme Fairbairn Trust who provided funding for the trow detector, as part of the Shetland Museum and Archives public art project.