Mary Smyth, one of our volunteers who works on the museum’s collections writes:
In the courtyard of Groam House Museum is a Mysterious Object which has puzzled us all for ages. It’s a cast iron ‘ball’ measuring about 40cm diameter and about 30 cm high. It’s hollow, with openings top and bottom. Part of the ring around the circumference has broken off but otherwise it seems to be complete. And it’s heavy – I’ve not attempted to lift it!
What is it? Who put it there? How old is it? These were questions volunteers and visitors at Groam House museum have asked over the years and no one had any answers so a couple of years ago we decided to try to find out. Surely someone would be able to tell us what it is? We started off with a post on our Facebook page and received lots of suggestions, including:
A WWI mine casing from the Moray Firth – We’ve been told that there are still mines tethered to sea bed in the Moray Firth but the openings are apparently too large for this to be a mine casing …
A sinker from WWI anti-submarine net that stretched from Rosemarkie to Fort George in 1918 – Nobody seems prepared to say ‘yes’ to this suggestion …
A fishing bobbin – We’ve asked a local fishermen but he assured us that such bobbins are usually smooth …
All the suggestions we received via Facebook were discounted for various reasons, so I decided to ask others. The possible WWI and WWII connections seemed a good place to start, so I contacted the Imperial War Museum in London. When that proved fruitless, I got in touch with the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, once again no success. Considering the possibility it is connected with fishing, I contacted the Hull Maritime Museum who were also unable to identify it. One of my cousins is a retired army colonel and an eminent military historian so I asked him to get involved in helping to solve the mystery. He had seen nothing like this in all his years and having shared it with his military and naval colleagues he drew another blank… However, he did say he thought it most likely to be of naval significance.
By now, I became even more curious, almost to the point of obsession! I wondered if local historians might be able to shed some light on it. Susan Kruse of ARCH and her colleagues in the archaeology world did some research were unable to help. Other local historians including Freda Bassindale attempted to find out, all without success. Colleagues in Groam House Museum contacted historians and archaeologists with whom they were personally acquainted but up to now NO ONE has been able to tell us anything about it …
We were left with no option but to give up for now – unless YOU might know what it is? It would be wonderful if we could identify it and perhaps display it in such a way as to illustrate its story. Please get in touch if you think you know what it is.
