Elgin’s past is helping to create a bright future

BY the end of 2016 Elgin will offer one Scotland’s most exciting and innovative town trails, taking locals and visitors from “Castle to Cathedral to Cashmere”.

Covering 1,000 years and winding through historic streets, it delivers Elgin’s fascinating history with information on site and a variety of virtual channels to enhance the experience.

The Castle to Cathedral to Cashmere initiative is the result of an extensive partnership, which commissioned the Conservation Area Appraisal, Management and Action Plans and the Heritage Trail Interpretive Plan. This combined local and national, public and private and resulted in investment of more than £3.6 million through the Town Centre Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) & Heritage Experience.

“The benefit of stakeholders coming together was not just financial but also bringing together expertise,” says Reni Milburn of Economic Development at Moray Council. “The CARS scheme has had a wider effect too. The grants for building repair and shopfront improvement have led to apprenticeships in trades to facilitate that. We needed something to dovetail with that, however, and that has been a calendar of events. The Sword, Fire and Stone weekend in August was incredibly popular.”

Milburn says this combination of events, the regeneration of the town and mobile technology such as the www.elginheritage.scot website will make Elgin’s past an important part of the future.