RCAHMS surveyors are part of a team of Scottish heritage experts travelling to India to help record an endangered historical graveyard.

The Scottish Cemetery of Kolkata, which contains over 1600 headstones and is the burial site for both Bengalis and many hundreds of Scots who died far from home, is now derelict and overgrown by jungle.

Since the 1820s the Cemetery has served St Andrews Church in Dalhousie Square, the first Church of Scotland Church to be built in Kolkata. Formerly known as Calcutta, the city was the headquarters of the East India Company and the capital of British India until 1912. The Cemetery is an invaluable record of the ties between Scotland and India in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and the handwritten register of interments lists names from every part of Scotland and occupations including industrialists, engineers, jute traders, soldiers and missionaries.

The project, which was initiated by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), and is led by the Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust, aims to restore as many of the monuments as possible and retain the site as a managed open space for the large surrounding urban population. Edinburgh-based conservation architects Simpson & Brown, together with RCAHMS' surveyors and a cemetery expert from Highland Council, have been invited by the Trusts to carry out a first survey of the site, looking at the condition of the monuments and developing a plan for restoration. Many of the headstones, which are comprised of Aberdeen granite or brick and lime with marble tablets, are broken and decayed.

By researching and recording the Cemetery, the team will improve the understanding of its cultural importance and unique history. The long term goal is to establish an on-site centre for training in the traditional skills necessary for the future maintenance and repair of historic buildings.

Clare Sorensen, Architectural Historian at RCAHMS said, "The Commission has many years of experience and expertise surveying and recording threatened buildings in Scotland - it is just one aspect of our role recording the nation's built environment. The Kolkata Cemetery is an important monument to the joint heritage of both Scotland and India, and we are delighted to be asked to survey and record this treasured place overseas."

Linda Fabiani, Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture said, "The Scottish Government's International Framework highlights the importance that we place on strengthening the existing links between Scotland and India. I am pleased that the work the team is undertaking seeks to preserve the historic importance of this site for both Scotland and Kolkata, as well as working to improve the landscape for the benefit of the local community."

The team leave for India on 8 November. Survey information from the visit will be made available to the public online through our searchable database Canmore and members of the team will be blogging daily during the trip at http://scottishcemeterykolkata.wordpress.com. Anyone who thinks they may have relations buried in the cemetery can send enquiries to ajuler@simpsonandbrown.co.uk.

The cemetery is a rare green space in a heavily populated part of Kolkata	Many of the headstones, which are comprised of Aberdeen granite or brick and lime with marble tablets, are broken and decayed	RCAHMS surveyors will record the site, looking at the condition of the monuments. The results will be made available online in Canmore

The publication of The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland has been moved to Monday 17th November.  The book is priced at £20 and you can pre-order copies now from all good booksellers or by ringing 0845 370 0067 or emailing orders@booksource.net.

The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland

Editor: Iain Fraser

Of all the early historic peoples of Scotland, the Picts capture the popular imagination like no other.  Although archaeology is gradually uncovering more information about how they lived, they are still best known for their carved monuments, which offer remarkable testimony to their artistic skills.

The symbol stones of the Picts are among the most fascinating and enigmatic groups of early medieval sculpture. The purpose and meaning of the stones and carvings still remain something of a mystery – theories range from their use as personal memorials and testaments of clan membership to records of ancient ceremonies and rituals. Pictish sculpture has been the focus of in-depth study for over 200 years, yet RCAHMS approach of taking photographic records using oblique peripheral flash and producing measured drawings on site, has led to many exciting advances in the field.

This highly illustrated volume is an essential guide to the arcane history of Scotland’s Pictish stones, for the first time featuring every symbol stone in Scotland, including a large number of previously unseen discoveries.  Over 100 new drawings by John Borland, plus photographs and archive sketches, will feature alongside the details and locations of all the Scottish stones recorded so far. Combining expert research and photography with unique artwork, The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the history of one of our nation’s most mysterious and captivating ancestors.

Tillypronie Pictish Symbol Stone in Aberdeenshire. The stone originally stood on a low hillock called Tom a Char, was removed and built into the farmhouse wall of the Mill of Newton, and was rediscovered and finally erected on a modern base in the garden of Tillypronie House. SC 932337	RCAHMS Measured Survey Projects Manager John Borland drawing the Fordoun Stone held in Fordoun Parish Church, Aberdeenshire. SC 043468	RCAHMS photographer using oblique peripheral flash to photograph a Pictish cross slab held in Logierait Parish Church, Perth and Kinross. DP 007250

Last month RCAHMS launched the first of two major exhibitions as part of the keystone Centenary project ‘Treasured Places’.

The Creative Connections exhibition is a dynamic touring exhibition that showcases artworks produced by community groups that have been inspired by RCAHMS’ collections. Created during workshops organised and led by RCAHMS specialists and local artists as part of the Treasured Places project the exhibition offers a visual array of animation, expressive art, poetry and photography. The creative workshops were based around a significant local place or relevant topic, such as the Forth Bridges in Fife and renewable energies in the Highlands.  Participants were encouraged to interpret this using the fascinating archive of drawings and photographs held by RCAHMS in a new and imaginative way, drawing on their own responses and experiences. 

A range of different audiences have taken part in the workshops, from primary school children learning about the architecture of religious buildings through model making, to war veterans who explored the role of war memorials through poetry. Over the next six months, Creative Connections will visit eleven traditonal and non-traditional exhibition venues across Scotland, close to the communities that participated in the original workshops.

To celebrate 100 years of the work of RCAHMS, the Treasured Places exhibition will be launched at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh in October 2008. The exhibition will explore the evolving work of the Commission from its earliest days to the present and celebrate the gifts of material to the collections from all over Scotland, reflecting the diversity of the nation’s history and geography. Newly commissioned films and podcasts will offer a unique and accurate insight in to the story of Scotland’s past, whilst the development of the online Treasured Places exhibition will enable a much wider audience to gain a greater understanding of their own treasured places. Scotland's top ten 'Treasured Places' as chosen by the public in the online vote will also be showcased, alongside personal reflections detailing why places can be treasured in many complex ways.

The workshops and exhibitions are part of the ‘Treasured Places’ project, which was launched in September 2007 with an online vote to find the nation’s most Treasured Place.  The project received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Scottish Government.

Creative Connections tour dates are listed in ‘Dates for Your Diary’.  For more information please contact the Treasured Places Team on 0131 662 1456 or visit www.treasuredplaces.org.uk

A Scout looks at the animations created as part of the 'Renewable Energy' workshop displayed in the Creative Connections exhibition. DP044556

We are delighted to announce that Scran (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) has become part of RCAHMS. Scran is Scotland’s foremost online educational resource, providing access to more than 360,000 rights cleared images, movies and sound clips from museums, galleries, archives and the media.

Scran takes its name from the Scots term for ‘food’ and this unique service offers historical and cultural ‘food’ for research in the form of an extensive gallery of online resources to suit every taste. Resources are fully searchable, and each one is accompanied by contextualising information and a range of supporting tools which enable the user to see where the subject is located on a map, save it for future reference, share it with friends and even publish it directly to a blog.

Scran is a subscription service providing users with full access to these functions. All local authority schools and most colleges and universities in Scotland have full access, and many local authorities support it in their public libraries. Individuals can also take out a subscription to the service – full details are available on the Scran website at www.scran.ac.uk .

Although Scran staff will be moving a few blocks from their Causewayside base to join us at John Sinclair House, they will continue to operate as usual through www.scran.ac.uk as part of RCAHMS’ public service. Scran will be developed in the future and will be integrated into RCAHMS’ Education and Outreach activity.

Scran Image - Aerial photograph showing castles Girnigoe and Sinclair, and Castle Haven Dyke in the Highlands. SC 496740	Scran Image - Photographic copy of aquatint of Dingwall by J. Clarke, Published by Smith and Elder 1824, London. SC 398451	Scran Image - photographic copy of engraving showing main entrance of Royal High School of Edinburgh. SC 465058

An exciting archaeological survey has just taken place in Cape Wrath, one of Scotland’s most remote and rugged locations.

Best known for its lighthouse, built by George Stevenson in 1828, and its spectacular scenery, Cape Wrath also contains evidence of occupation since the prehistoric period. Extending over some 60 square kilometres of rough moorland, much of it blanket bog, the empty wilderness that greets visitors today belies a history that has seen the land used for subsistence farming, a giant sheep-run, a shooting estate for the Duke of Sutherland, and a naval bombing range.

The area has never before been systematically searched for its hidden past and RCAHMS survey has made a number of discoveries that give a better understanding of the human influence on the landscape throughout the past 4000 years.

At Port Odhar, on the coast overlooking the mouth of the Kyle of Durness, an aspect of the Cape’s more distant past has been revealed in the form of a small farmstead containing a round-ended building, a smaller structure and a ruined field wall. The building is characterised by a large boulder set into one end, echoing a similar feature in a building of Norse or medieval date excavated near Loch Boralie, near Durness, in 2004.

Another important result of the survey was the recognition at Kearvaig, of a hunting lodge built by the Sutherland Estate in 1874. This, and the re-evaluation of other buildings in the area, has completely altered our perspective of what was once considered to be simply an abandoned farmsteading. 

The most recent history of the area is as a military gunnery and bombing range. Armoured personnel carriers and large transport containers have replaced the scrap cars that once served as improvised targets. While it might seem incongruous to record these, they form an integral part of the landscape and, more so than any other factor, will continue to contribute to the changing environment of Cape Wrath in the future.

The full results of the survey will be incorporated into a report for Defence Estates and also RCAHMS searchable online database Canmore.

Cape Wrath lighthouse.SC 903117	Aerial view centred on the Cape Wrath lighthouse, keepers' cottages and support buildings with the radar station adjacent. SC 958511	The round-ended building at Port Odhar. IMG_0010a

RCAHMS provides regular work experience opportunities for students and school pupils. Find out how Indigo Reeve, a pupil from Edinburgh, enjoyed her week with the Commission.

By Indigo Reeve
On Monday 16th June I arrived at RCAHMS for my first day of work experience. This involved a detailed tour of the building, including some rooms filled with the first boxes of the new TARA collection, and time spent on Canmore selecting possible images for the BBC Scotland’s Big Picture item. One of these pictures was an aerial view of Faslane Submarine Base under construction, taken by the RAF in 1941.

Later on in the week I worked with Kevin McLaren in the Aerial Photography department studying photographs of Edinburgh from the 40s, 50s and 80s and noting the various changes Edinburgh has seen over the years; from three train stations down to two, a change in the layout of Princes Street Gardens, various buildings erected and demolished where Princes Mall now stands, and many more. I selected several images, was shown how to find the negatives in the storeroom by Public Service Officer Lydia Fisher, and Production Imaging Manager Anne Martin then explained how to print them.

The staff in Survey Photography and Graphics gave me a detailed explanation of their work and how they put together various types of map and the software involved. Here I also learned about the fascinating past of St Kilda, an island barely bigger than the centre of Edinburgh, and was shown how well a GPS survey can be applied to aerial photographs of the area.

I was given an interesting tour of the collections and their stores and an explanation of their management. I learned that books have to be kept in a dry room, as humidity would provide a chance for mould to grow and destroy the various books, and their beautiful bindings, within the collection. This led on to a brief visit to the conservation department and an explanation of how acidic paper can destroy a document or drawing and the methods used to prevent or fix damage to an item.

Lastly I had the opportunity to go to Castle Law Fort just outside Edinburgh and see the various features there including a souterrain, which would have had a very low roof, the remains of a ring ditch house looking out over the valley, and finally, more recent but equally interesting, the remains of a clay pigeon shooting range built by an army commander stationed on the land in the 50s.

The souterrain at Castle Law. DSCF0870	Standing in the remains of a ring ditch house, with Flotterstone reservoir in the distance. DSCF0873	Walking the long road home after a day of fieldwork. DSCF0876

The Antonine Wall received UNESCO ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’ World Heritage Site status on July 7. To support the Wall’s application for this status, RCAHMS have produced a map on a modern base at a scale of 1:25,000 showing the course of the Wall, and the locations of its major surviving features.

Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered the construction of the 60km (40 Roman miles) Antonine Wall to indicate the northwestern frontier of the Roman Empire in the mid 2nd century AD. Running from modern Old Kirkpatrick on the north side of the River Clyde to Bo’ness on the Firth of Forth, it consisted of a turf rampart fronted by a deep ditch, with forts linked by a road called the Military Way. It was through the gates of these forts and fortlets that many Roman goods passed into the lands of Caledonia beyond.

Inclusion on the World Heritage List is a high accolade and provides international recognition of the importance of the Antonine Wall. The new RCAHMS map is an essential resource for anyone wishing to visit the Wall, providing detailed archaeological information and highlighting specific areas of interest, such as the Roman Fort at Rough Castle near the Falkirk Wheel and the Bathhouse at Bearsden. It also gives advice on the best vantage points to see the Wall, and provides photographs of specific features – such as the Fortlet at Kinneil in Bo’ness.

Plans are currently in progress to cater for more visitors at the Wall, including improving facilities such as road signs, car parks and on-site notice boards.  The Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, museums at Kinneil and Callander House in Falkirk, and Kirkintilloch Museum already exhibit finds from the Wall, and next year, the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum will open a new Antonine Wall Centre.

Dr Rebecca Jones of RCAHMS, said, “We are delighted to have produced this map to celebrate the Antonine Wall’s new status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Wall is now part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Sites and has been recognised as historically important as Hadrian’s Wall and the German limes. We look forward to Scots and tourists alike using the map to explore the Wall.”

The map is priced at £5.00 and is available now from all good booksellers. You can also order direct from BookSource, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow, G32 8NB, telephone 0845 370 0067, email orders@booksource.net, or visit the publications page of our website and download our publications brochure complete with order form

One of the world’s most important aerial photography collections has moved to RCAHMS. The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (TARA) is made up of over 10 million photographs, from images of Second World War Allied and German aerial reconnaissance, to RAF aerial photography around the world up to the 1990s.

The move is part of a joint initiative between RCAHMS, The National Archives and Keele University to secure TARA’s future long-term preservation and continued development. The imagery held by TARA is also being enhanced by the transfer of post-war aerial photography from the Ministry of Defence.

Over 100,000 canisters of film and boxes of prints have been transported by articulated lorry from Keele University, the home of the archive for the last 45 years, to storage facilities near Glasgow and the RCAHMS premises in Edinburgh.  The sheer size of the archive has seen the relocation process take several months.

RCAHMS has a track record of effective archive management of large collections of aerial imagery, and is a world leader in the delivery of heritage information and digital imagery on-line.  RCAHMS already holds collections of RAF and Ordnance Survey aerial imagery of Scotland and undertakes regular aerial survey works as part of its Survey and Recording programme.

After a period of assimilation, TARA will be preserved, further digitised and made accessible to the general public.

An evocative feature of RCAHMS 'Defence of Britain' survey programme has caught the attention of the national press.

An article in Saturday's Times Newspaper highlights the remarkable collection of images of wartime graffiti held in the RCAHMS archive. The graffiti comprises both drawings and paintings and ranges from pencil scribbles to elaborate murals stretching round the walls of entire rooms. It also features poems, limericks, sayings and mathematical calculations.

Examples include portraits of three members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force on the wall of a church in Castletown (used in the war as an officer's mess); a large number of portraits of women and poems at Dalbeattie Royal Naval Armaments Depot; a large scale mural of a dance scene painted by Polish soldiers at Grant's Shoe Factory in Arbroath; and a mural at Donibristle airfield in Fife depicting the workers in the officer's mess and airfield as Egyptians.

The recording of wartime art and graffiti became an established part of the 'Defence of Britain' survey programme several years ago after David Easton, the investigator on the survey, discovered a Mason's mark in the concrete used to convert a 19th century Orkney farmhouse into a pillbox. This recognition that so many wartime buildings hold secret social and personal histories has added a new dimension to an already fascinating body of survey work.

For more images and information go to our searchable online database canmore.

For the next fortnight Alex Hale, Archaeology Survey and Recording Projects Manager at RCAHMS, will be blogging from the remotest part of the British Isles. As a team member on the first of two summer expeditions by RCAHMS to map the archaeology of St Kilda, Alex will give a detailed account of what it's really like to eat, sleep, live and work on a near uninhabited island.

Situated 41 miles to the west of Benbecula in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, St Kilda is the only location in the UK to hold dual UNESCO World Heritage Status for both its environment and culture. The islands were evacuated on August 29, 1930, bringing to an end the troubled history of Europe's last surving hunter-gatherer community. In a three-year partnership project with the National Trust for Scotland, an RCAHMS team are using the most advanced modern surveying techniques to produce the first-ever comprehensive map of all the surviving archaeological sites on the archipelago.

In his blog Alex will describe a specific hour of activity from each day on St Kilda, moving from morning porridge, through afternoons identifying and recording remote archaeological sites, to how to find entertainment in the evenings. Updated daily - or when access to the island's military radar-station broadband allows - he will give a unique insight into the highs and lows of working in the field.

To keep up to date with Alex's blog, and to leave any comments, go to http://st.kilda.tinyv.com/.

The fourth in a series of linked workshops with the title Identifying Scotland - Context and Collaboration will take place on 14 May :

Excavating the Future - Towards an Archaeology of the Modern City

14 May 2008.

These workshops are supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Award from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Further details on the workshops can be found on their companion website at http://centenary.rcahms.gov.uk/.

A poem by Valerie Gillies commissioned by RCAHMS to celebrate Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, the winner of the Treasured Places public vote:

The Lady Victoria Colliery

The Lady is the last of all her kind.
Headframe in the clouds, these pulley-whorls
Change with the light, a beacon to remind
Who fuelled Scotland, lit us, kept us warm.

The shaft was sunk to reach the deepest seams:
The Jewel, clear shining, the Splint, hard glinting,
The Parrot crackling with its bright papingo flame,
All the extent and take of the colliery workings

For miles underground below the valley of the Esk.
Where a face opened, they cut the coal out
With pick and shovel. Deep mining mechanised
With ear-splitting shearers, self-advancing supports.

The miner was always listening to make sure
If he could hear the earth shift, the creak of props
Before roof-fall, the squeal of chocks under pressure.
Working underground gave him an edge.

Men and hutches shot up and down the shaft
In double-decker cages with a balance rope,
With brakes, jacketed cylinders, drop valves,
Steam-powered by winding-engine, lion rampant.

Steel-framed, arcaded, with sheet-metal roofs,
The red-brick buildings are fit for purpose.
The endless rope, tub circuit, tipplers moved
Into the estuary of railway yards and sidings.

At washers and hoppers, at the jigger screens,
The shades that leant across the picking-tables
Never stopped the chutes of coal in a torrent,
Their teamwork controlling drum and cable.

Keep her headgear. The Lady burns our minds.
Without her wheels we could never know
How, in the miner's eye, a coal glows.
The Lady is the last of all her kind.

For further information on the Treasured Places project, visit www.treasuredplaces.org.uk .

RCAHMS recently announced the acquisition of one of the world's most important aerial photographic imagery archives. The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive -known as TARA - will be transferring to RCAHMS in Edinburgh from Keele University, where it has been housed for the last 45 years, in a joint initiative between the National Archives and Keele to ensure its long term preservation and improve its public access. The archive, which comprises over ten million photographs, is of Second World War Allied and German aerial reconnaissance photographs, as well as more recent aerial photography from around the world by the Royal Air Force up to the 1990s.

The National Archive, the UK government's official archive, had been searching for a suitable organisation to provide a long term home for TARA, and RCAHMS, which has a long track record of effective archive management and is a world leader in the delivery of heritage information and digital imagery on-line, was an obvious choice. RCAHMS already has the most extensive collection of aerial photography in Scotland, and has a department specialising in preservation and the commission of new aerial photography.

The move will enable TARA, after a period of assimilation, to be preserved, further digitised and made accessible to the general public. The transfer will take place in early 2008 and will be completed in six months, with public access being available later in 2008.

Mulberry harbour at Arromanches, Normandy, in September 1944. These prefabricated floating harbours, constructed three days after the initial landings, were used to offload men and equipment at Gold and Omaha beaches. The harbour at Omaha beach was destroyed within 10 days, but the Arromanches harbour at Gold beach provided an essential landing base for Allies forces for 8 months, landing millions of men and millions of tonnes of equipment.	Aerial image of the Pegasus Bridge area of Normandy taken on 6th June 1944. This was the scene of the first British landing on D-Day, when men of the 6Th Airborne Division used gliders (which can be clearly seen in the image) to land behind enemy lines and secure the bridge over the Caen Canal. This was later re-named 'Pegasus' bridge, in honour of the badge worn by the 6th Airborne.	Railway viaduct at Bielfeld, northern Germany, taken in 17th March 1945, three days after it was destroyed by the first use of Barnes Wallis' ground-penetrating 'Grand Slam' bomb. This ten tonne bomb could only be carried by a specially adapted Lancaster bomber, which had to have its gun turrets and bomb doors removed in order to carry the weight of a single one of the huge bombs.	Oblique aerial photograph of the Mostar Bridge, in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina, taken in 1944. The original 16th-century bridge seen here was subsequently destroyed by artillery fire by Croatian forces in 1993 during the Bosnia and Herzegovina conflict of 1992-1995.

In a thrillingly close competition, a survey drawing of Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, Midlothian, has won RCAHMS' public vote to find Scotland's most treasured place.

The online and postal poll attracted over 20,000 votes, with the Colliery surging ahead of former front-runners Glasgow School of Art and King's College Aberdeen in the final days to win the coveted title.

The wining image of the Colliery is a survey drawing prepared in 1999 by Heather Stoddart, Surveyor and Illustrator for RCAHMS. The drawing was originally commissioned to illustrate a book entitled 'Scottish Collieries', published by RCAHMS in 2006. Lady Victoria Colliery was a working mine until it closed in 1981. It is now the home of the Scottish Mining Museum.

The Minister for Culture, Linda Fabiani, said: "Treasured Places has brought together such a range of meaningful and enchanting images. Many people voted on their favourite out of the top ten and I am delighted that the Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange has won the treasured place award.

"Asking people to vote for their treasured place has encouraged the nation to think about its cultural heritage and what it means to them personally. It has evoked memories and stirred debate, and has proved beyond doubt that Scotland's wide and diverse built heritage is something we, as a nation, treasure."

The winning image of Lady Victoria Colliery will be celebrated in a poem specially written by the Edinburgh Makar, Valerie Gillies, which will be published in February 2008. All of the Top Ten 'Treasured Places' images will feature in a major Treasured Places exhibition at the Edinburgh City Art Centre at the end of 2008 and in a touring exhibition around Scotland.

RCAHMS recently purchased an original copy of an eight-page book of engravings depicting the aftermath of the 'Great Fire of Edinburgh' which occurred between the 15th and 17th of November 1824. Thirteen people were killed in the fire, with many hundreds being made homeless and the booklet was produced by the Edinburgh firm of engravers, W.H. Lizars shortly after the fire in order to raise money 'for the benefit of the sufferers'.

The 1824 event remains the largest fire ever to have occurred in the city and affected large parts of the area around the High Street, Parliament Square and the Cowgate. Many of the oldest buildings in the city were destroyed, either by the fire itself or in the subsequent demolition. These included an eleven-story tenement on Parliament Square overlooking the Cowgate (which was the tallest building in Edinburgh at the time), the offices of one of the main newspapers of the day, the Edinburgh Courant, and several old timber-fronted tenements on the High Street.

Demolition procedures were in their infancy at the time and the buildings were eventually destroyed by a combination of explosives and manual destruction by means of chains and pulleys. The images below, taken from the book, depict three stages in that demolition process

Fire continues to be a threat to the built heritage of Edinburgh in the present-day, as the destruction of a section of the Cowgate in 2002 has shown. RCAHMS has a statutory duty to be kept informed of buildings under threat, and completed a survey of the Cowgate area shortly after the 2002 fire was brought under control, recording what was left of the affected buildings before they had to be demolished. It has also been working closely with Historic Scotland and the Scottish Fire Services to create the Scottish Historic Buildings National Fire Database (PDF, 388KB). This has collated fire risk information on all Category-A listed buildings in Scotland and provides access to plans, drawings, photographs access routes and water supply locations in one database. This is now directly available to fire incident crews to help improve the effectiveness of fire-fighting operations.

RCAHMS has recently completed a project, in conjunction with English Heritage, to create a photographic and photogrammetric record of The Kennedy Monument, St. Salvators Chapel, St. Andrews.

Further details on this project can be found on our current projects page.

Trace the remarkable evolution of this area's landscape from the Pictish era to today, following thousands of years of human settlement.

300 pages, 100 maps and illustrations and 150 photographs.

A centenary publication of RCAHMS, one of Scotland's National Collections, in partnership with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

To purchase a copy of this publication (price £30 + postage and packing), contact RCAHMS directly at +44 (0)131 662 1456 or email info@rcahms.gov.uk. For a full list of RCAHMS publications visit the Publications List.

The Lighthouse, Mitchell Lane, Glasgow

2 Nov 07 - 10 Feb 08

Galleries 4 + 5

This exhibition is the first major retrospective of the work of one of the UK's most prominent architecture practices. Based in Glasgow, Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's imaginative approach to architecture resulted in a wide range of significant buildings throughout Scotland and England. Although Gillespie, Kidd & Coia were formed in 1927, the period between 1956 and 1987 was particularly fertile. During this period, Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein were at the company's creative helm, and it is their work that forms the subject of this exhibition.

MacMillan and Metzstein's first building was St Paul's Church, Glenrothes, Fife and the completion of this modest project heralded a new direction for Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, as its architects explored and brought an original perspective to modern architecture. Over the next 30 years, the partnership enjoyed the loyal patronage of the Roman Catholic Church, building a series of churches and ecclesiastical buildings that are widely considered to be the practice's most significant work. Alongside this work, Gillespie, Kidd & Coia also completed housing, schools, hospitals and colleges, all associated with the socially-inspired urban renewal programmes of post-war Britain.

Much of the source material for this exhibition is drawn from the Gillespie, Kidd & Coia archive, which was gifted to the Glasgow School of Art in 2005. Using this rich source material, the exhibition - presented over two floors of The Lighthouse - begins by focusing on St Paul's Church, Glenrothes, before exploring a series of themes inherent in MacMillan and Metzstein's work. The lower level of the exhibition, invites a more detailed study of 22 of the most significant buildings completed by the practice, including input from people using the buildings today.

This exhibition is part of a wider project celebrating the work of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, which will also include a publication, website, an education and outreach programme and the cataloguing and conserving of the Gillespie, Kidd & Coia archive held at The Glasgow School of Art. RCAHMS are one of the partners involved in the project in conjunction with Glasgow School of Art and The Lighthouse.

For exhibition opening times, ticket prices and further information visit http://www.thelighthouse.co.uk/ or the exhibition website at http://www.gillespiekiddandcoia.com/.

A parish church, an old colliery, a 'new town' centre and a Neolithic settlement are among the Top Ten of Scotland's 'Treasured Places', according to the results of RCAHMS first ever public vote.

Treasured Places, RCAHMS keystone centenary project, asked the public to vote for their favourite image of a treasured place from a longlist of one hundred from RCAHMS' national collection. The images represent places and spaces that are 'treasured' for many reasons, both on a personal and national level. The images are also interesting in their own right as they show different perspectives and views of well-known places and of Scottish life throughout history.

Over 9,000 votes have been counted to date, and the resulting Top Ten reflects the strength of feeling for places which are locally important, as well as those which are well-known everywhere.

The Top Ten, in order of number of votes, is:

1. Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange, Midlothian
2. Glasgow School of Art
3. King's College, Aberdeen
4. St Meddan's Church, Troon, Ayrshire
5. The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk
6. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
7. Skara Brae, Orkney
8. The Standing Stones of Stenness, Orkney
9. Cumbernauld Town Centre, Strathclyde
10. Rosslyn Chapel, Midlothian

The public vote was launched on 19th September, and has been conducted on a specially created website, www.treasuredplaces.org.uk, and via postal vote. Voting was suspended at 12 noon on Thursday 25th October, and resumed on Saturday 27th, where the public can now vote for their favourite from the Top Ten.

The image with the most votes from the Top Ten will be announced on 11th December, and will be celebrated by a poem written by the Edinburgh Makar, Valerie Gillies.

The Top Ten images are guaranteed a place in a major Treasured Places exhibition at the Edinburgh City Art Centre at the end of 2008 and in a touring exhibition around Scotland.

"Five Stars" The Guardian

"Fresh, accessible and seductive" Scotland on Sunday

"Innovation is the order of the day" The Scotsman

The exhibition Back to the Future; Sir Basil Spence 1907-1976 opened last week to resounding critical acclaim. The show has attracted rave reviews from both local and national media with The Guardian awarding it their highly coveted Five Star rating and Scotland on Sunday declaring it "a triumph-among the best exhibitions [of] the last decade".

Appearing at the Dean Gallery, Edinburgh until Feb 10th 2008, the exhibition showcases some of the major highlights of the Basil Spence Archive, gifted to RCAHMS by the architect's family in 2003. It is the first time that the National Galleries of Scotland has devoted an exhibition to the work of a single modern architect.

A series of free talks and lectures accompanies the exhibition:

Basil Spence in the 1930's

Monday, 12th November 2007 12.45-1.30pm

Gymnasium - Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Art Galleries) , Edinburgh

Free. No booking required.

Architectural historian, Clive Fenton, concentrates on Spence's early work when he was in partnership with Sir William Kininmonth (1940-88).

Evolution of a practice

Tue 11th Dec 2007 12.45-1.30pm

Hawthorden Lecture Theatre, National Gallery complex, Edinburgh

Free

Jane Thomas, co-curator of the exhibition Back to the Future, considers Spence's career through the legacy of his office archive which is held within the collections of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

Phoenix at Coventry: Basil Spence and Coventry Cathedral

Mon 17th Dec 2007 12.45-1.30pm

Hawthorden Lecture Theatre, National Gallery complex, Edinburgh

Free

Dr Louise Campbell, Reader in Art History at the University of Warwick and author of Coventry Cathedral; art and architecture in post-war Briatin (Oxford, 1996), discusses the origins and development of the design of Coventry Cathedral and assesses its significance for Spence's architectural career.

Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks: Sir Basil Spence and The Architecture of Modern Military Ceremony

Mon 21st Jan, 2008.

Gymnasium - Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Art Galleries) , Edinburgh

Free

Miles Glendinning, Director of the Scottsih Centre for Conservation Studies at Edinburgh College of Art, explores Spence's ingenious and controversial design for the Knightsbridge barracks for the Household Cavalry (1959-70).

The Architect and the Artists

Mon 4th Feb 2008 12.45-1.30pm

Dean Gallery

Basil Spence considered art to be an essential component of architecture. Philip Long, co-curator of the exhibition Back to the Future, traces the architect's extensive involvement with figures such as Graham Sutherland, Jacob Epstein and John Piper.

Basil Spence and adventures in exhibtion architecture

Tue 5th Feb 2008 12.45-1.30pm

Hawthorden Lecture Theatre, National Gallery complex, Edinburgh

Free

Brian Edwards, Professor of Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, explores the methods used by Spence to develop new ideas through the medium of temporary exhibtion architecture including the controversial British Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal.

For further information about the exhibition, special events and the archive, visit www.basilspence.org.uk.