This week sees the official launch of a new toolkit for heritage practitioners looking to understand and work with the social values of the historic environment. For the first time, the toolkit provides practitioners with detailed guidance on how social values can be assessed and brought into decision making as part of heritage management and …
Site Report: Sauchiehall Lane
Glasgow graffiti heritage isn’t normally thought of but, like any collection (whether of objects or something more intangible), this highlights the potential of heritage for a city, which only really equates its heritage to shipbuilding, the tobacco lords and CRM [Charles Rennie Mackintosh]. (email response to site report from City Council employee). In March 2018, …
Site Report: The Caterthuns
What is it that people value about the Caterthuns and what makes them a focus for particular types of activity? Is it the presence of the ancient monuments, or their location in the landscape, or that the route up each hill to the fort makes for a good walk? The pair of Iron Age hill …
Site Report: Kinneil House and Estate
October would normally see the last open days of the year at Kinneil House, with visitors invited inside the building to view the painted rooms, which date from the 16th and 17th centuries. This close to Halloween, a local volunteer dressed up as the White Lady ghost might well be lurking in the corridors, popping …
Exploring Collaboration
This month, Heritage 2020 published a series of case studies that showcase different models of collaboration between heritage organisations, higher education institutions and communities. The 'Wrestling with Social Value' project has been featured as a case study, with reflections on the formation, benefits, and legacy of the collaborative approach adopted. The full case study can …
Site Report: Cables Wynd House
“Nan grew up here, me, my mother-in-law, a lot of history” (photo exhibit response). “It’s a treasure and they should keep looking after it and the residents” (male, tenant of 5 years). In January 2017, Cables Wynd House was ‘listed’, i.e. placed on the national list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest. The …
Site Report: The Hood Stones
Seventy-nine years ago, on 24th May 1941, H.M.S. Hood, Britain’s largest battlecruiser, was sunk with the loss of 1,415 men. Last year, on the anniversary of the sinking, I travelled to Loch Eriboll, on the North coast of Scotland. Although the wreck lies many miles away and few if any of the crew on board …
Site Report: Dun Carloway Broch
Last year I was privileged to spend just over a month on the Isle of Lewis as part of my PhD fieldwork: one week during the wet and windy month of March; three weeks during the long, sunny days of June; and a few days in early November, before the worst of the winter storms …
Brown & White Caterthuns, West of Edzell, Angus
The Caterthuns are a pair of Iron Age hill forts, sited about 1km apart and each providing wide views of the surrounding landscape. Archaeological investigations have shown that both hilltops have been the sites of multiple phases of occupation. The Brown Caterthun was occupied during the 1st millennium BCE and the White Caterthun from the …
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The Hood Stones, Loch Eriboll
Launched in 1918, the battle cruiser H.M.S. Hood was Britain's biggest warship, earning it the nickname 'The Mighty Hood'. The vessel undertook missions and exercises around the world during the inter-war years before being mobilised for operations at the outbreak of World War II. In 1934, the Hood was anchored in Loch Eriboll, Sutherland. During …