Archaeology Scotland’s adopt-a-monument scheme – twenty-something years of community led stewardship
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 14/09/2016

Since 1991, Archaeology Scotland’s Adopt-a-Monument scheme has supported community heritage groups to take a lead role in recording, conserving and promoting their local heritage. This Scotland wide scheme has provided volunteer groups with the practical advice and training they need to care and conserve their local heritage. Within its current phase (2011 to 2017), the team are working with 55 community heritage groups on diverse projects from Neolithic chambered cairns to Second World War airbases. No project or group is the same and each individual case requires different areas of expertise and levels of project support. A key aim of our work has been to leave a sustainable legacy of our interaction with a community group by providing training opportunities alongside project support – too often community projects ‘die a death’ once professional support is withdrawn. This paper will reflect on the twenty-something years of the Adopt-a-Monument scheme, present case studies and discuss what
and where the scheme might go next. 

Cara Jones