On the road to the Crannogs

In this exemplar we take in a few shops, some magnificent bridges, pass by some magnificent country homes on the road to the Crannogs. Th Crannogs are part of our evolution of marketing and society a time before roads and a time when people began to form communities for safety & security. 

We are heading to Kenmore, to visit the Crannogs, via Aberfeldy where we have heard, coincidently, there is the best independent bookshop in the UK. The bookshop, a gift shop, and a café are housed in a former mill. The building is constructed of stone and slate and has a watermill located on one side.

Within the 3 storey bookshop [story/storey] are reminders of the mill’s past with bookshelves and old machinery creating a unique environment.  Jayne and Kevin run The Watermill Bookshop and their mission is to create a place and an experience that inspires people to search the shelves for their next read. This is certainly a great example of the theatre of business a metaphor discussed in themarketingconcept [e-book].

After a cup of fine leaf tea and a slice of cake we scoot through the Scottish rain and back to the Ford Focus and continue our journey.

I first became familiar with Crannogs through a documentary and recognised the important role they played in the evolution of marketing in Scotland in particular the forming of settlements. Therefore, it was important that we visited The Scottish Crannog Centre on the side of Loch Tay in Perthshire.

Crannogs, are iron age buildings just off the shore. They are circular structures built on stilts, they have a floor of wood and were insulated with wool or available materials, the roofs are thatched and steeply peaked to keep out the rain, they are connected to the land by a jetty, however, the jetty would contain a gangway that could be lifted at night to keep out strangers.

Within the Crannog the community and their animals would live. A fire would be kept burning for cooking and the smoke would help cure meats that would hang from the roof rafters. A Crannog would remain intact for a bout 200 years. In the history of marketing they represent temporary settlements used to protect the people, the stored produce, the animals, cloths and tools.

Within the Crannog the community and their animals would live. A fire would be kept burning for cooking and the smoke would help cure meats that would hang from the roof rafters. A Crannog would remain intact for a bout 200 years. In the history of marketing they represent temporary settlements used to protect the people, the stored produce, the animals, cloths and tools. They were employed until the community was large enough to build secure and more permanent villages on land.  According to our guide, Daniel, marine archaeologists have found evidence of trade outside of their communities and stones from other parts of the UK and Europe have been uncovered during their research.  Scotland has many lochs and the waterways would have enabled trade, this is important consideration because the deeply forested mountainsides would have made human movement and trade extremely difficult. The Scottish Crannog Centre is an interesting exhibition and well worth a visit for people of all ages.