The National Trust for Scotland charity has pledged to work with Historic Scotland to ensure that the Trust’s Bannockburn battlefield and other important battle sites across Scotland are better protected.
The National Trust for Scotland charity has pledged to work with Historic Scotland to ensure that the Trust’s Bannockburn battlefield and other important battle sites across Scotland are better protected.
The Trust owns major Scottish battlefields at Bannockburn, Culloden and Glen Shiel, and has interests in other sites like Killicrankie, Auldearn and Fyvie.
Experts at the charity are supportive of Historic Scotland’s draft Scottish Historic Environment Policy (SHEP) on Historic Battlefields. The SHEP sets out proposals for recognising Scotland’s important battlefields and how they can be acknowledged and better protected through the planning process.
Under the plans, Historic Scotland - the government agency with responsibility for safeguarding the historic environment - will draw up an Inventory of Historic Battlefields. Being listed on the inventory would reduce the likelihood of inappropriate development at battle sites. To qualify, a battlefield must be able to be located accurately and be considered nationally significant because of its historical importance, archaeological potential or the value of its undamaged landscape.
Responding today (Friday 25 July) to a consultation on the SHEP, the National Trust for Scotland said that as the draft policy stands it is concerned that Bannockburn may not qualify for inclusion on the inventory, because its landscape has been compromised by development. Over the years, large areas at Bannockburn have been given over to housing.
Head of Archaeology at the National Trust for Scotland, Robin Turner said:
“As the owner of some of Scotland’s most important battlefield sites, we welcome these moves which will help protect key historic sites for the future. However, we would like to see the criteria adjusted to better reflect the full range of factors that combine to make a battlefield of national significance – including recognising the importance of what the public value, regardless of the state of preservation.
“We would argue that at sites – like Bannockburn - where parts of the battlefield have already been lost, there can be an even greater need to protect what survives. We will continue to talk to our partners at Historic Scotland to make our concerns known and ensure that we work together to protect Bannockburn and other battlefields for the future.”
The conservation charity also highlighted the need to consider a range of factors that make a battlefield important beyond the number of combatants on each side. Experts said that archaeological potential, military, political or cultural significance could contribute to making a site nationally important.
The Trust also made the point that having a non-statutory inventory may not produce the desired results, suggesting a fully statutory inventory may provide better protection. In England, where the Battlefields Register is non-statutory, there is evidence that major sites continue to be eroded. English Heritage’s Battlefields at Risk Register shows that 43 nationally important sites are at risk – in many cases through disturbances by metal detectorists, whose activities would also not be regulated under the Scottish proposals.
The Trust’s full consultation response to the consultation is available at
www.nts.org.uk/Policy/Work/