22,000 Ruins to be investigated

While many of the more important historical ruins around Scotland have been documented and even taken into care by Historic Scotland, there are still many thousands of abandoned farmsteads, crofts, hamlets and clachans - and maybe even a few illicit whisky stills - dotted around the landscape which are not documented. Now researchers from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) has obtained a £594,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and will embark on a project to document them all as fully as possible. The staff at RCAHMS have already scrutinised Ordinance Survey maps from the 18th and 19th century as well as today and have come up with 22,000 sites. They are now seeking volunteers to be recruited and trained to investigate what remains of the settlements, establish how old they are, and check what state they are in. Some may eventually become historic places of interest, with official interpretation boards. The work should also provide a new insight into Scotland's past, particularly settlements that were left to die as a result of the Clearances - both in the Highlands and the Lowlands.