Explore Inverness

Hugh Miller Museum and Birthplace Cottage.

Hugh Miller was born in 1802, and raised in Cromarty, just a short distance from Inverness, he rose from humble beginnings as a journeyman stonemason to international acclaim as a geologist, editor, writer and folk historian.

Hugh Miller was unquestionably one of the great Scots of his age, but a man whose lifework and legacy has fallen into unjustified obscurity, even in his native Scotland, many have never heard of him before.

• In 1819 at the age of 17 he was apprenticed to a stonemason, and his work in quarries, together with walks along the local shoreline, led him to the study of geology.

Miller held that the Earth was of great age, and that it had been inhabited by many species which had come into being and gone extinct, he denied the Epicurean theory that new species occasionally budded from the soil.

• In 1829 he published a volume of poems.
• In 1834 he became an accountant in one of the local banks.
• In 1835 he brought out his Scenes and Legends in the North of Scotland.
• In 1840 the Church, with which he had been associated, started a newspaper, the 'Witness', Miller was its editor in Edinburgh, a position which he retained till the end of his life.
• He published a series of geological works 'The Old Red Sandstone' (1841) - his best known.
• 'Footprints of the Creator' (1850)
• The 'Testimony of the Rocks' (1856).
• 'Sketch-book of Popular Geology'.  

Hugh Miller was a self-taught geologist. His history of the earth was written with powerful descriptive power like no one else had done then or since. His fossil collection of over 6,000 specimens became the founding core of what is today's Scottish national collection in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. To learn more indepth about Hugh Miller we suggest you visit the web site dedicated to Hugh Miller written by Frieda and Martin Gostwick, who are championing the great man today.

The Hugh Miller museum presents his life and work, while his birthplace cottage, built around 1698, is the home of his ancestors and his formative early years.

The Museum comprises two buildings; Miller House, a handsome Georgian-period villa, - the artefacts on display include Miller's plaid, masins, mallet, geologist's hammer, manuscripts and disruption brooch.

 The second building is the 17th Century thatched house, Hugh Miller's Birthplace.
Beautiful small gardens lie behind both buildings.

Parking is available in Church Street near the property, on the shoreline, and in two car parks within a few hundred metres. Admission prices: FREE to members of the Scottish National Trust, charges apply.

Hugh Miller Cottage and Museum;
1 Apr to 30 Sep, daily 12-5pm; 1 Oct to 31 Oct, Tues, Thur and Fri, 12-5pm.
Tel 0844 493 2158