About
Strathaven Museum, which operates under the name of the John Hastie Museum, keeps the history of a South Lanarkshire town whose past is a good deal more turbulent than its present appearance suggests. Strathaven sits on the edge of the Avondale moors in country that was Covenanting ground in the seventeenth century, and the town was a handloom weaving centre in the eighteenth and nineteenth — a trade that produced not only cloth but a literate, argumentative and politically radical working population.
The museum's name commemorates John Hastie, a local merchant who bequeathed funds to build a museum for the people of Strathaven. The present organisation is more recent. When the town's museum closed in 2011, a group of local people formed the Strathaven John Hastie Museum Trust to keep the town's history in the town, and the museum now occupies premises at 10 Todshill Street. It is a registered Scottish charity run by volunteers, and its galleries are organised around the straightforward and effective themes of Old Strathaven, Strathaven Now, and Now and Then, alongside a programme of changing exhibitions.
The weaving history matters most for understanding what Strathaven became. Handloom weavers worked at home, set their own hours, read and debated while they worked, and formed one of the most politically conscious occupational groups in Scotland. Strathaven's most famous son is a direct product of that culture: James Wilson, a weaver hanged in 1820 for his part in the Radical War, remains one of the defining figures of the town's memory and of Scottish radical history more broadly. The Covenanting associations of the surrounding moors, including the fight at Drumclog a few miles away in 1679, form the older layer of the same tradition of local dissent.
The museum opens Friday afternoons from 1pm to 4pm, Saturdays from 10am to 4pm and Sundays from 1.30pm to 4pm, though the trust notes that advertised hours can occasionally change because of town events, and it advises checking its Facebook page. There is one step at the entrance and a ramp can be provided for wheelchair access.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum opens Friday 1pm to 4pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm and Sunday 1.30pm to 4pm only — closed Monday to Thursday.
- The trust advises checking its Facebook page before visiting, as hours can change for town events.
- Note that some listings give a 10am Friday opening; the trust's own published Friday time is 1pm.
- No admission charge is published, but the museum is a volunteer-run charity, so bring a donation.
- There is one step at the entrance and the volunteers can provide a ramp — ask if you need it.
- Ask about James Wilson, the Strathaven weaver hanged in 1820; his story is central to the town and to Scottish radical history.
- Combine the visit with a walk to Strathaven Castle and John Hastie Park, both within a few minutes.
- There is no museum car park; use the town centre parking a short walk away.
Highlights
Old Strathaven
One of the museum's principal gallery themes takes the town as it was, drawing on photographs, objects and documentary material to show streets, trades, buildings and people that have since changed or disappeared. For residents this is usually the most absorbing part of the museum, since a small town's built fabric alters slowly enough that most of what is shown remains recognisable, and the pleasure lies in identifying exactly what has gone.
For visitors it supplies the essential context for everything else in the collection.
The Handloom Weavers
Strathaven was a handloom weaving town, and that single fact explains a great deal about its character. Weavers worked at home rather than in factories, controlled their own hours, and were famously literate and argumentative — reading, debating and organising while they worked in a way that industrial factory discipline later made impossible.
The weaving communities of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire produced a distinctive political culture, and the museum's coverage of the trade is the key to understanding why so radical a movement should have taken root in so small a place.
James Wilson and the Radical War
Strathaven's most famous son is James Wilson, a local weaver executed in 1820 for his part in the Radical War, the rising for parliamentary reform and Scottish political rights that briefly convulsed the west of Scotland that spring. Wilson was in his sixties and his conviction and hanging made him a lasting symbol of a movement the authorities were determined to crush.
He remains central to Strathaven's sense of itself and to the wider history of Scottish radicalism, and no account of the town is complete without him.
Covenanting Country
The moors around Strathaven were Covenanting ground during the religious conflicts of the seventeenth century, when Presbyterians who refused to accept episcopal church government were driven to worship in the open and, ultimately, to armed resistance. The fight at Drumclog a few miles from the town in 1679 was one of the few Covenanting successes in the field.
This older layer of local dissent runs directly into the weaving radicalism of the following century, and the museum treats the two as parts of one continuous tradition.
Collections
Strathaven Museum, operating as the John Hastie Museum, holds the local history of the South Lanarkshire town of Strathaven and the surrounding parish of Avondale. Its galleries are organised as Old Strathaven, Strathaven Now, and Now and Then, supported by a programme of changing exhibitions arranged by year.
The collection covers the town's handloom weaving trade and the politically radical culture it produced — most notably James Wilson, the Strathaven weaver executed in 1820 for his part in the Radical War — together with the Covenanting associations of the surrounding moors, the growth and trades of the town, and its life into the present day.
The museum takes its name from John Hastie, a local merchant who bequeathed funds for a museum for the people of Strathaven.
It is run by the Strathaven John Hastie Museum Trust, a registered Scottish charity formed by local people after the town's museum closed in 2011.
Old Strathaven
Photographs, objects and documents showing the town's streets, trades, buildings and people as they were.
Strathaven Now and Now and Then
The contemporary town, and paired past-and-present views making a century of change directly visible.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.