Crofthouse Museum

The Shetland Crofthouse Museum is now closed for the season and will reopen in May 2025.

Head down to the delightful setting of Dunrossness and step back in time as you enter the traditional 19th century thatched crofthouse.

Opening Times: view the Shetland Crofthouse Museum's opening times here.

Admission: The Crofthouse Museum is free to visit, with donations welcome.
Group Tours: For groups of eight people and over please email us to book.
Note: small charge of group tours.

The Shetland Crofthouse Museum is operated by Shetland Museum and Archives.

The property is presented in the style of how it would have looked in the 1870s. Smell the peat fire, discover the box beds and try to set the traditional Shetland mouse trap. The crofthouse also has a lovely garden.

Hear our knowledgeable custodians tell stories about how it would have been to live in a typical crofthouse and what families would have to have done to make a living from the land.

Location
The Shetland Crofthouse Museum is situated in Dunrossness, Boddam and is easy to reach by public transport. Click here to view the ZetTrans website for the latest timetables and information.


Accessibility: Due to the nature of the building it is not suitable for wheelchair access. Entry to the crofthouse site is down a narrow, steep sloped track with three steps at the start of the path. The doorways into the interior of the buildings are narrow, the door-lintels are low and the floor is uneven.

Group Tours
For groups of six people and over please email us to book. Please note the Crofthouse Museum's capacity is 15 people - larger parties can be split, while one group has the tour the other can explore the gardens and surrounding area.

Crofthouse Museum Blog Posts

Finland

The Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1940. World opinion at large supported the Finnish cause and they received foreign aid ...

Read more

The Laurel

The Shetland Times, 12 October 1907 reported an important event at the Ness. Harry Irvine of Glenfield got a Fifie fishing boat, the ...

Read more

Shetland's jubilations (Part 2)

2022 is the third time in twenty years there’s been a Royal Jubilee, so you might think they come around often. In fact, it’s in ...

Read more

Shackleton's Shetland Pallbearers - A Talk

Shetland Museum and Archives will be kicking off its Year of Stories by marking the 100th anniversary of the burial of Sir Ernest ...

Read more

550 Years Ago: how Shetland became part of Scotland - part 2

Shetland and Orkney became part of Scotland 550 years ago, on 20 February 1472. Denmark’s economic interests were concentrated in ...

Read more

A reminiscence of a traditional Shetland wedding

When lockdown came, one of our first sad tasks was to tell two couples who’d planned a wedding in the museum that it couldn’t ...

Read more

550 Years Ago: how Shetland became part of Scotland

A fortnight ago some women and men from the South Mainland of Shetland marched in Glasgow with torches. They were commemorating the ...

Read more

Up Helly Aa - the Venues

We’re missing Up Helly Aa again - not just a fire spectacle but a major social event, with dances and performances in many venues in ...

Read more

Origins of the Up Helly Aa Song

A huge procession of torch-carrying guizers is one of the most spectacular sights of the Shetland year.  For anyone who heads out in ...

Read more

A historical walk to Culsetter

There is much more to Shetland than the popular places where people go: the Hams of Muckle Roe and the Sands of Breckon, for instance. ...

Read more

A Lerwick Christmas One Hundred Years Ago: 1921

The Town Council decided which day the Christmas holiday should be on, there had been petitions. After some deliberation they settled ...

Read more

Shetland Museum and Archives awarded funding for Year of Stories

Shetland Museum and Archives is delighted to announce that it will be celebrating and showcasing many of Shetland’s untold stories ...

Read more

The Maiden

Hallowe’en at the end of October is traditionally a part of the year when macabre things are thought of and expressed. Perhaps a ...

Read more

The Tolbooth Jail

We don’t have many records that make a direct reference to a person’s personal appearance. Important people might be described, ...

Read more

A Day in Bigga

Bigga, a little island in Yellsound, 80 hectares in extent, is not easy to visit. It has been uninhabited for 200 years, largely ...

Read more