News

Argyll Locals Take on Time Team-Style Training to Discover Scotland's Rural Past

27 April 2010

Local volunteers will be trained in exploring and recording heritage sites this week as they gather in Kilmartin for a two-day course on archaeological survey techniques run by Scotland’s Rural Past (SRP).

The course follows the screening of C4 programme Time Team last Sunday (April 25), featuring the excavation of a 7th century Mull chapel which included ancient human remains, thought to be the body a saint. The chapel site was initially discovered by SRP-trained volunteers, and the find is thought to be one of the most significant in the programme’s history.

SRP is run by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), the organisation which collects and curates the national collection of material and information on Scotland’s built heritage. The SRP team provides communities with expert training in archaeological survey techniques and historical document research which helps them to investigate and record rural settlement remains, and pass on what they have learnt to others.

Pleased with the bookings for this course, SRP project manager Tertia Barnett commented, “We have had a fantastic uptake for this course. Over the two days, local people will learn to explore and record their rural past in a fun, hands-on way, developing invaluable skills and learning more about communities and how they have changed over the centuries.

“Volunteers who work with SRP are often amazed and intrigued by what they discover more-or-less on their doorstep – like Hylda Marsh and Bev Langhorn did on Mull, prompting them to alert Time Team. Our volunteers pass their survey results onto RCAHMS, building our knowledge of rural heritage across the nation.”

The Kilmartin course takes place at Arichonan on April 29 and 30. This course is booked out but there are other training events in coming months which cover a range of skills, including several in Newtonmore. See Scotland's Rural Past  for details. 

The Kilmartin course will also be attended by staff from the Forestry Commission, Glasgow-based Galagel, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs and Cairngorm National Parks. These staff will then pass their skills on to colleagues and the wider public.

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For further information please contact: Esther Black or Shaheena Abbas at Pagoda PR 0131 556 0770 / esther.black@pagodapr.com or shaheena.abbas@pagodapr.com

Notes to Editors:
1) Scotland’s Rural Past is a nationwide project launched and supported by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Trust for Scotland, Historic Scotland, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The project was developed through the work of the Historic Rural Settlement Trust which recognised the need to improve our understanding of rural sites and encourage their conservation by involving local people.

2) RCAHMS is the National Collection of materials on Scotland’s built environment that connects people to places across time. It:
• Is the 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, for people interested in Scotland’s culture and heritage
• is Scotland’s National Collection for information and materials on the built environment
• records the changing landscape of Scotland and collects materials relating to it
• involves people in discovering and investigating Scotland’s environment