Scotland's Rural Past Projects
Scotland's Rural Past (SRP) is a five-year project run by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland with the aim of working with local communities across Scotland to discover and record abandoned rural settlements. The four-strong SRP team will provide training and support to local volunteers who would like to develop their own heritage projects. Staff from the RCAHMs will give expert advice and training in archaeological field-surveying, recording sites through drawing and photography and researching historic documents. The data collected by all SRP volunteers will be added to the RCAHMS database and will have a real impact helping our understanding of these long-neglected rural sites and promoting their future conservation.
A number of projects currently in the process of being developed will survey and recorded abandonned rural settlements within the WoSAS area. Projects currently proposed include:
- Bute - In collaboration with the Bute Landscape Partnership Scheme and Bute Archaeological and Natural History Society, the aim is to record a number of settlements on the island, including Kingaven on the south of the island.
- Islay - The Islay Archaeological Group will be recording at least one site, starting with Cuirlach and hope to be working with the Islay school on this.
- Mull - There are likley to be a number of small projects around Mull with separate groups recording settlements. These include: Torrens in Pennyghael, Baliscate near Tobermory, Cruckamull near Ulva and Craickaig in Treshnish. Other projects will also hopefully develop over the next year or so.
If you are interested in taking part in one of these surveys, or would like to undertake a survey of an abandoned rural settlement in your local area, please contact Tertia Barnett of the SRP Project Team.
