Help celebrate Scotland’s inaugural day of history

SCOTLAND’S first day dedicated to celebrating heritage takes place next week.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is urging people across Argyll to come face to face with history for the inaugural Heritage Awareness Day on Friday October 6, as the country continues to celebrate the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.

‘Whether it’s highlighting local heritage projects, theming a community event or gathering, encouraging schools to research or dress up as a historical character to raise funds for a community project of their choice, or taking the opportunity to share and celebrate heritage through a virtual conversation online, Heritage Awareness Day is a chance to collectively celebrate Scotland’s vibrant and varied heritage,’ an HES spokesperson said.

HES chief executive Alex Paterson said: ‘Scotland’s first Heritage Awareness Day will provide a platform for people across the country to celebrate heritage in all its different forms.

‘Heritage means different things to different people and spans everything from places, traditions, buildings and landscapes to family history, people and archaeology. It promotes a sense of place, shapes and defines communities, and we want the day to be a celebration of this.’

As part of the celebration of Heritage Awareness Day, HES has extended opening at its sites across Scotland, meaning that more sites will be welcoming visitors on October 6, including Dunstaffnage Castle and Rothesay Castle, which will be extending to open for seven days throughout October.

Canmore, compiled and managed by Historic Environment Scotland, is the online catalogue to Scotland’s archaeology, buildings, industrial and maritime heritage.

It contains more than 320,000 records and 1.3 million catalogue entries for archaeological sites, buildings, industry and maritime heritage across Scotland.

To see more historical images, visit https://canmore.org.uk.

From the Canmore catalogue, Oban and Sound of Kerrera circa 1880.

Two ladies in Iona Abbey’s north transept. No date.

Oban train station, demolished in the late 1980s.

Engraving of sheilings and the Paps of Jura.

Craighouse on the Isle of Jura, 1817.

1967: before ferries, vehicles going to the islands had to be brought ashore in small boats.