News 
Expert Training Offered To Help Preserve The Rural Heritage Of Dumfries & Galloway
31 August 2009
A team of highly experienced archaeologists from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is coming to Dumfries & Galloway in September to run a free archaeological training course as part of the Scotland’s Rural Past nationwide project. They are calling for local people to sign up and get involved.
Training will take place in the deserted township of Polmaddy, near new Galloway, across two days on September 24 and 25 from 9.30am to 4pm.
Scotland’s Rural Past project manager Tertia Barnett said: “We already have two groups undertaking fieldwork near Newton Stewart and Glenluce and know that there is lots of potential for more projects in this interesting and archaeologically diverse region.”
On the first day of training at Polmaddy, volunteers will be joined by students from Carsphairn, Kells and Dalry primary schools accompanied by RCAHMS interpretation officer Brian Wilkinson. The outing is part of a Year of Homecoming project the students are undertaking.
Scotland’s Rural Past (SRP) is a five year project, working with local groups, schools and individuals to investigate, record and raise awareness of abandoned settlements in their local area. SRP aims to encourage volunteers to discover more about historic rural settlements and the people that lived in them, and to improve understanding of rural heritage dating back several hundred years. The SRP team teaches valuable new techniques and skills in identifying, surveying and recording archaeological features, and in researching historical documents. Volunteers come away from the courses with new expertise and a greater understanding of the changing historic landscape in their area.
The information on historic rural settlements gathered by the volunteers across the country helps build our understanding of this important period of Scottish history. This information becomes part of the local Sites and Monuments Records, and the RCAHMS database, housed in Edinburgh, where it will be made accessible to the general public and preserved for years to come.
The September course is free and open to anyone interested in researching rural history. No experience is necessary, just a genuine desire to learn more about rural past and built heritage, and an interest in getting involved in a local project. Places on the course are limited so early booking is advised.
More information about Scotland’s Rural Past and its training programme is available from www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk. To register interest in the training course, please email the Scotland’s Rural Past team at srp@rcahms.gov.uk or phone on 0131 662 1456.
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For further information please contact: Barbara Fraser at Pagoda PR 0131 556 07670 / barbara.fraser@pagodapr.com
Notes to Editors:
- RCAHMS is the National Collection of materials on Scotland’s built environment that connects people to places across time. It:
- Offers a first port of call for information about the built environment of Scotland, from prehistory to the present
- Employs expert staff and cutting edge technology to make its collections easy to access
- Makes accessible a wide range of resources from maps and manuscripts to photographs and drawings, for people interested in Scotland’s culture and heritage
- Is Scotland’s National Collection for information and material on the built environment
- Records and interprets the changing landscape of Scotland and collects material relating to it
- Involves people in discovering and investigating Scotland’s built environment
