A bounty of £852,000 has been awarded to community projects to mark the Year of History Heritage and Archaeology
Communities around Scotland are exploring and celebrating their roots.
According to figures from the Heritage Lottery Fund, 460 community groups have taken the opportunity to get hands on with the stories, traditions, industries and landscape which surround them thanks to funding from the National Lottery.
Funding of £852,000 has been awarded to community projects to mark the Year of History Heritage and Archaeology.
From Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway, 98 projects dotted across the country have inspired people of all ages to investigate, preserve and share the heritage on their doorstep.
Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Hundreds of community groups across Scotland have embraced the Stories, Stones and Bones programme. It underlines Scotland’s place as a nation with rich history, heritage and impressive archaeology.”
In Whithorn, young people have turned their hand to Iron Age interior design exploring how their ancestors would have lived in a roundhouse, from the furniture they sat on to the music they danced to.
Hundreds of children have used the new structure as a prehistoric-style classroom to experience the life of 450BC. The roundhouse has been constructed using detail from an archaeological discovery of an incredibly well-preserved roundhouse under the peat nearby.
Julia Muir-Watt, development manager at the Whithorn Trust, said: “We wanted to involve young people and children and make the most of our new Iron Age roundhouse, and this was a programme which fitted our plans.
“Fun events, with a serious archaeological basis, are showing how people decorated themselves, their homes and enjoyed cooking and entertainment around the fire with their extended families 2,500 years ago.
A 2000-year-old cold case is being explored at what was the largest and most powerful Roman fort in Scotland - Trimontium near Melrose. Using forensics excavated at the site over 100 years ago, a citizen jury of teenagers will give their verdict on what lay behind the discovery of several bodies in a pit, a mystery which continues to baffle historians and archaeologists.
And an outdoor classroom in Glen Strathfarrar near Beauly has welcomed 400 children from urban schools to learn about the Sheiling way of life in the Highlands. They got stuck into the mud as they learned the traditional skills of cutting and building with turf to help to construct a livestock pen.
Lucy Casot, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: “We are very excited about Stories, Stones and Bones and have been overwhelmed by the interest it’s had from people wanting to explore what’s important to them and their community. It’s been a real opportunity to open the door to those that don’t normally get involved in heritage, particularly young people, and let them see what it has to offer.”
