|
About two hundred individuals have been resident. A
hotel, guest house, pony trekking centre, worm factory, fly tying,
self-sufficiency have been enterprises operating at some time along side
a wide variety of crafts.
This collection of unusual buildings was
built in the mid 1950’s as an early warning station
in the case of nuclear attack. It was never commissioned,
and in 1964 was turned into a craft centre, since then it
has housed a wide variety of crafts. The shops, and some
workshops, are open throughout the summer, with a few
open throughout the year.
The
properties since 1980 have been bought and sold as any other and no
commitment to a craft is required to live and work in Balnakeil. All the
buildings are privately owned
Balnakeil
Craft
Village
has been
described as "a glum collection of concrete buildings that is HM
Forces contribution to architecture". The Old Manse, and the
surrounding land was commandeered for construction of an intended early
warning radar station and supporting barracks, but it was obsolete in
1954 before it was complete, and abandoned, all but the use of two
units.
A
small-scale industrial site, to attract established businesses, was
envisaged and the buildings were acquired for development by the county
council for three thousand pounds. No interest was shown from commerce.
In 1963, an imaginative development officer of the Sutherland
County
Council suggested its conversion into a
Craft
Village
. From advertising the response was enthusiastic and was known as the
Far North Project. The County Council would interview and vet all
applicants for suitability and on condition of producing craftwork were
given the buildings at a minimal rent, approximately fifty pounds per
annum. The aim was to attract experienced craft workers resident all
year and if they left, any improvements to the buildings had to remain.
These
Tile panels were made by the children and adults of Durness at
the studio of Ceramic Artist Lotte Glob. Until 2003 Lotte had a
workshop in Balnakeil Craft Village when she moved to a croft in
Laid.
|
The
buildings were bare concrete shells with no plumbing or electricity,
some with no glazing and were barely habitable. Single storey cavity
breeze block flat roofed construction, the conversions of the bleak and
deserted barracks into suitable properties was daunting. During these
early years much work was done by the International Voluntary Service,
erecting poles and running electricity power lines. The County
Councillor Mr. Christie Campbell a Durness resident instigated a great
deal of help and gave generous support to the early settlers. Two ex
college lecturers took up residence at the old manse on the verge of the
site and a large unit was renovated into a hotel. Craftworkers had to
make the others habitable, construct workshops, seek out sources of
supply, organise reliable deliveries and produce work with no guarantee
of an immediate income. The buildings remain unsightly and require
regular maintenance, flat roofed with water towers. A coffee shop and
the first commercial transport to Cape Wrath
were
instigated from the first
Craft
Village
settlers Paul and Yvette Brown.
There were
many attempts at many different projects during the early years failing
and succeeding in various degrees. Social gatherings were frequent and
the musicians formed a band that played regularly in the Durness village
hall. Informal meetings were regular and at the end of each season,
there was a celebratory party.
|
|
|
It was not
until around 1970 that any form of association was attempted. Meetings
were held to discuss such things as signs, posters, and provision of
public toilets. In 1974 - 1975, another tenants association tackled the
problems and Sutherland
County
Council formed a Balnakeil Craft Village
Management
Committee and two people from the village were invited to attend but
they had no vote. A member representing the
Highlands
and Islands Development Board was also included.
|
Matters discussed were
mostly concerned with applicants to join the village and to get the
Ministry of Defence out of their building and to curtail their use of
the car park as a helicopter pad. Efforts were made to smarten up the
site. The
Highlands
and Islands Development Board paid fifty pounds toward paint; a job
creation scheme provided labour to paint buildings, plant trees and mow
grass. Tenants had been pressing the County Council for a chance to buy
their buildings and around 1978 discussions started to take place with
this view and in 1980 the Highland Regional Council, after local
government reorganisation, offered to sell the properties to the sitting
tenants and the residents took up the offer to buy. Some sixteen
independently owned businesses, operated by Craftspeople from all over
the world made
Balnakeil
Craft
Village
not only the first establishment of its kind in
Britain
but also the only one to be owned by its residents.
|
In 1982 to
provide a focal point for the village a Visitors Centre was opened,
designed and furnished by the residents housing a permanent exhibition
of craftwork from the village, a history of the craft village, a lounge
and coffee shop. In 1983 Balnakeil Craft Village
Community
Co-operative was formed, a social development project, to provide
facilities and services to residents, independent business and visitors.
The population of the craft village at that time was forty eight, thirty
three adults and fifteen children in twenty households. Thirty seven
shares were issued to twenty six shareholders and by October 1986,
seventy nine shares had been issued to thirty six shareholders. The
response to the Community Co-operative was mixed from the residents,
hostility to total commitment. The Community Co-operative was wound up
in late 1986. The endeavour can be summarised as producing a clash of
ideologies.
Balnakeil
Craft
Village
, for uncertain reasons, since its inception has had
a transient population, though from 1996 a relative stability appears
evident. A trivial turbulent history has prevailed with the reputation
of being everything from a tinker encampment to a hippie commune.
Generally people have either succeeded in their craft and moved on,
failed and moved on, or remained single proprietor operations.
|
The
actual tiles can be seen on the wall at the community garden at
the Village
Hall.
|
There is
no constituted umbrella organisation. Small groups get together
occasionally for activities of common interest.
People have
moved from Balnakeil to Durness finding the life style of the district
more suitable than the way of life in the craft village. The most
prominent was elected as member of the Highland Council. Business
success allowed a move to Durness to expand the craft enterprise and
open the Sango Sand Oasis
Businesses
are operated at varied levels, from unqualified responsibility and the
only source of income, to opening a shop for particular weeks of the
year to augment other work. Some are unconcerned with business liability
and aim to earn enough to enjoy a quality lifestyle at a basic level.
The contrast of commercial features, personal factors and visitor
attractions are closely interlinked with the individual commitments and
objectives. The preference of priorities is dependent on the agreement
of the ensemble and has been contended and unresolved to any great
degree.
At first
sight,
Balnakeil
Craft
Village
can look
a forbidding place. The ex-military buildings do not lend themselves to
being prettified. Each building has a plot of ground and the remainder
of the land is owned in common by twenty two property owners. Some of
the buildings have been further divided internally and split for sale
since original sales in 1980. The buildings are all at dissimilar
standards of refurbishment but most are weatherproof, insulated and
centrally heated making comfortable homes and working environments.
Balnakeil
is dependent on the wider community of Durness for its facilities and
services and currently is not attracting people committed totally to a
full time craft as the only means of earning a living. For the first
time, 1987, there is no expectant mothers and no pre school children.
Although generally the people of Durness have been very supportive to
the concept of such an entity being successful, the craft village has
had very little attraction for the native population of Durness.
The earlier
settlers were collectively known as the Crafties but the use of this
name has lessened. The craft village has sporadically provided
employment but has never fulfilled the economic potential for the area
as was at one time envisaged. A proprietor of the now non-existent
guesthouse was a Durnessian. The ferryman for the Kyle of Durness
and his
family moved to a building in the craft village in 1984 when the
Community Council sold this unit. The Community Council obtained the
building when the military finally moved out in 1993. The boatyard was
started by a local man.
Curious
articles and reports have been written about
Balnakeil
Craft
Village
for
multiform reasons and by assorted authors. Some have lived and worked
here for some time and written of their interpretation and experiences,
some have visited and written objectively on some aspect of interest or
curiosity, some have used the concept as a subject for dissertation and
some have recorded for tourist magazines. Each feature has presented an
image at some stage of its progress. A varying account from every
inhabitant can be relayed and to this end, perhaps the complexity,
intricacy and uniqueness of Balnakeil can be appreciated.
|
