Bunker Museology: Reincarnating a Scottish Cold War Monument as the Gairloch Museum

Gledhill, Jim

Bunker Museology: Reincarnating a Scottish Cold War Monument as the Gairloch Museum

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Gledhill, Jim

ORCID

Date published

April 15, 2024

Abstract

After the Cold War ended in 1991, many former nuclear bunkers were discarded by the British state and left as field monuments. This article examines the two-stage evolution of bunker museology in Scotland, wherein these archaeological remains have been converted into museums, initially by private collector-enthusiasts and latterly by community groups. My case study of the Gairloch Museum in the Wester Ross documents the reincarnation of a Cold War monument as a community museum, illustrating the positive potential of transforming unofficial into official heritage with the participation of local people. The Gairloch Museum is considered alongside two other local bunker restoration projects in Edinburgh and Dundee, advocating the need for public bodies to give greater priority to the preservation of Cold War heritage in Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole.