About
Turriff Museum and Heritage Centre, run by the volunteer Turriff and District Heritage Society, occupies a building on the town's High Street and presents the history of Turriff and the surrounding Aberdeenshire farming district across several centuries. The museum's permanent exhibition covers the town's civic history through its former Town Council records and functions, its significant role in the seventeenth-century Covenanting movement, and, most distinctively, the story of the Turra Coo, one of the best-known local incidents in Aberdeenshire's twentieth-century history.
The Turra Coo affair took place in 1913, when a Turriff farmer's cow was seized and publicly auctioned by officials enforcing contributions under the recently introduced National Insurance Act, a piece of Liberal government welfare legislation deeply unpopular with many farmers who resented compulsory contributions for staff they considered casual or seasonal labour. The seizure and auction sparked a genuine local uprising, with crowds disrupting the sale, the cow being repeatedly rescued and hidden by sympathetic townspeople, and the episode becoming a national news story and a rallying point for opposition to the new insurance scheme. The museum's exhibition tells this colourful and locally cherished story in detail, using contemporary material and photographs that capture both the humour and the genuine political anger the episode represented.
Alongside its historical exhibitions, the museum hosts temporary displays of farming artefacts and machinery, reflecting Turriff's continued identity as a market town at the heart of one of Scotland's most productive agricultural districts and its position as a stop on the Aberdeen Angus Trail, a route celebrating the history of Aberdeenshire's famous cattle breed. This agricultural focus connects naturally to the Turra Coo story itself, both rooted in the district's long relationship with farming and livestock.
The Society also operates Session Cottage, a separate preserved historic building nearby, extending its heritage work beyond the museum itself into the wider preservation of Turriff's built heritage, and reflecting the depth of local volunteer commitment that has sustained the town's history-keeping efforts for many years.
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Plan Your Visit
ā±ļø Recommended Visit Duration
š” Visitor Tips
- Phone or email ahead to arrange a visit, as opening hours are limited and much of the year operates by appointment.
- Ask about the Turra Coo story specifically, the museum's most distinctive and locally cherished exhibit.
- Combine your visit with nearby Delgatie Castle or a stop on the wider Aberdeen Angus Trail.
- Ask staff about visiting Session Cottage, the Society's other preserved historic building nearby.
- Donations are welcomed to support the volunteer-run Heritage Society.
- Allow extra time if visiting during a temporary farming artefacts exhibition, as these change periodically.
Highlights
The Turra Coo Incident of 1913
The museum's most distinctive exhibition tells the story of the Turra Coo, when a Turriff farmer's cow was seized and publicly auctioned in 1913 by officials enforcing contributions under the National Insurance Act, deeply unpopular legislation that many local farmers resented as an unfair burden for casual or seasonal labour.
The seizure sparked a genuine local uprising, with crowds disrupting the auction and the cow being repeatedly rescued and hidden by sympathetic townspeople, turning the episode into national news and a lasting symbol of local resistance still celebrated in Turriff today. Contemporary newspaper coverage and photographs on display capture the genuine drama and humour of the episode, which briefly made this small Aberdeenshire town a household name across Britain.
Turriff's Covenanting History
The exhibition covers Turriff's significant role in the seventeenth-century Covenanting movement, the widespread Scottish Presbyterian resistance to attempts by the Crown to impose episcopal church governance, which drew deep and often violent commitment from communities across Aberdeenshire.
Local material relating to this turbulent period of Scottish religious and political history situates Turriff within the wider national story of the Covenanting Wars, giving visitors insight into how profoundly this conflict shaped local identity and memory. Turriff is traditionally associated with an early skirmish of the Covenanting conflict, sometimes called the first armed clash of the Bishops' Wars, giving the town a specific claim within this wider national story.
Turriff Town Council History
Displays document the history of Turriff's former Town Council, its civic functions and records, tracing the town's governance and municipal development across the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries before local government reorganisation absorbed such burgh councils into wider regional authorities.
This civic history material gives visitors a grounded sense of how a Scottish market town of Turriff's size actually governed itself across the centuries. Council minute books, civic regalia and photographs of past provosts and councillors document generations of local self-governance before Turriff's council was absorbed into wider Aberdeenshire administration.
Farming Artefacts and the Aberdeen Angus Trail
Temporary displays of farming artefacts and machinery reflect Turriff's continued identity as a market town at the heart of one of Scotland's most productive agricultural districts, and the museum's position as a stop on the Aberdeen Angus Trail, a route celebrating the history of Aberdeenshire's famous cattle breed.
This agricultural focus connects naturally to the wider farming history that also produced the Turra Coo incident, rooting the museum firmly in the district's long relationship with livestock and land. Rotating displays mean the specific farming artefacts on show vary between visits, giving repeat visitors genuinely different content to explore across successive trips to the museum.
Collections
Turriff Museum and Heritage Centre's collection covers the civic history of the former Turriff Town Council, the town's significant role in the seventeenth-century Covenanting movement, and the celebrated 1913 Turra Coo incident, in which a farmer's cow was seized and auctioned under the National Insurance Act, sparking a local uprising that became national news.
Temporary displays of farming artefacts and machinery reflect Turriff's ongoing agricultural identity and its position on the Aberdeen Angus Trail. The collection has been built up over several decades by volunteers of the Turriff and District Heritage Society, which also maintains the separate Session Cottage heritage building nearby.
The Turra Coo
The museum's core exhibition on the 1913 Turra Coo incident, a locally celebrated act of resistance to the National Insurance Act.
Turriff: Covenant and Council
Displays covering Turriff's Covenanting-era history and the civic history of the former Turriff Town Council.
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Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.