Historic Environment Scotland

10/10/2026

Caption this for ! 🥣

These farm lads eating their porridge are posing like a boy band. Maybe Oat-asis? The Bay City Rolled Oats? 🤔 Let us know what you think in the comments 👇

09/10/2026

As the Royal National Mòd returns to Glasgow, we're taking a look back at the people, performances and stories that have made it one of Scotland's most important cultural celebrations.

Founded in 1892, the Mòd was created to promote and celebrate Gaelic language, literature, music and the arts. More than 130 years later, it continues to bring together singers, musicians, poets, storytellers and audiences from across Scotland and beyond.

Glasgow has always played an important role in that story. While Gaelic is often associated with the Highlands and Islands, generations of Gaelic speakers made their home in the city, creating vibrant communities and helping Gaelic culture flourish in Scotland's largest urban centre.
The city's connection to the Mòd runs deep. In fact, a Gaelic concert performed by the choir of St Columba's Church in Glasgow in 1891 helped inspire the creation of the festival itself.

Over the years, the Mòd has welcomed some of the most influential voices in Gaelic culture while also nurturing new generations of performers. It remains a powerful reminder that Gaelic is a living language and culture that continues to evolve today.

To mark the Mòd's return to the city, visit our pop-up archive and explore a fascinating collection of photographs and stories from Mòds past. Discover memorable moments, familiar faces and the enduring legacy of one of Scotland's most important cultural gatherings.

📍 City of Glasgow College
📅 Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 October
⏰ 9am to 5pm

All images © The Scotsman Publications Ltd, licensed by SCRAN.
Four boys at the Mòd in Perth in 1959.
Gold medallists from the Mòd at Rothesay in 1958.
Glen MacFarlane competes in a fiddle competition at Mòd at Largs, 1956.
Mr Farquhar MacRae, Mrs MacLeod and Mr Gillies at the Mod at Inverness in 1953.

07/10/2026

Have you seen the news today? New research from historian Marc David Jacobs is rewriting film history, and it's sent us digging into our archives to investigate one of Edinburgh's lost cinemas.

The discovery centres on 'Till the Bells Ring', a Scottish feature film that premiered 100 years ago in Edinburgh. Jacobs' research suggests that 'Till the Bells Ring' featured synchronised dialogue throughout and reached audiences almost a full year earlier than 'The Jazz Singer' (1927), which is widely credited as the world's first feature-length "talkie". 🗣

If confirmed, the finding could challenge one of cinema's most enduring origin stories and place Scotland at the forefront of the transition from silent films to sound. Written and directed by the Scottish playwright Graham Moffat, the film was made in Glasgow and performed in Scots. Contemporary reviews described the film as a groundbreaking achievement, with audiences reportedly astonished by the seamless synchronisation of image and sound.

The film's premiere took place at Edinburgh's Poole's Synod Hall, where it enjoyed a week-long run in October 1926. Here it is pictured around 1930, with posters for Alfred Hitchcock's 'Murder!' outside. The building stood on the site now occupied by Saltire Court, just behind the Traverse Theatre on Castle Terrace, before being demolished in 1966.

Designed by J. Murray Bell and F.T. Pilkington, the building had several lives. It opened as the New Edinburgh Theatre in 1875, became the Synod Hall of the United Presbyterian Church just two years later, and found a new role as a cinema in the 1920s.

Now, a century after one of its most memorable screenings, Poole's Synod Hall is back in the spotlight. 🎬

Image credit: © Courtesy of HES (Photographs by Violet Banks, professional photographer, Edinburgh, Scotland)

05/10/2026

Happy Heritage Careers Week! 👋

Throughout the week, museums, heritage charities, archaeologists, archivists, traditional craftspeople and more will be showcasing the wide range of skills and careers involved in understanding, protecting and sharing our heritage.

All around Scotland a wide range of activities will be taking place designed to inspire young people. There are talks and workshops, online resources and opportunities to hear directly from people working across the heritage sector.

To mark the week, our Digital Documentation and Innovation team has created a new learning resource exploring Kisimul Castle through an interactive 3D model. Discover how technologies like laser scanning, drones and photogrammetry help us record historic places, support conservation work and make Scotland's heritage accessible to people around the world.

🔗 Explore the lesson and model: https://ow.ly/49Ss50ZUzrS

🔗 Most of the activities are now fully booked but a few still have spaces remaining. Take a look here: https://ow.ly/aZqv50ZUzrR

04/10/2026

Are you an employer looking to help young people take their first steps into a heritage career?👣

Join our free online session to discover practical ways to create opportunities for the next generation. You'll hear from experts across the sector about skills development, funding, work-based opportunities and engaging with educators and young people.

Whether you're part of the heritage sector or a related industry such as tourism, construction or the creative industries, this session will help you build a toolkit to support young people and strengthen future career pathways.

Thursday 8 October, Online, free to attend. 📅💻
Book your place: https://ow.ly/SfRn50ZTql0

03/10/2026

This Black History Month, dig deep into Scotland’s Black history with us 📚

Find out more about John Edmonstone’s unusual profession on his journey to freedom. Or read about the Black drummer who served at the court of James IV in the early 16th century.

Read more stories on our blog: https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/category/black-history/

02/10/2026

Did you watch Celebrity Traitors last night? 🤫We're wondering whose coffin will be closing tonight...⚰️

We've pulled some pics from our archives of the Traitors church AKA Ardross Church. Long before it hosted star-studded hundy-P Faithfuls and deceitful Traitors, it was a joint Church of Scotland and free Church of Scotland.

The church was built in 1899 by Charles William Dyson Perrins of Ardross as a thanks offering for the recovery from a severe illness of his wife Catherine Christine. As well as a setting for Claudia Winkleman's dramatic entrances, the building is still in use as a place of worship today, and is now known as Ardross Ark. ⛪

📷Crown Copyright: HES (Scottish Development Department)

01/10/2026

Scotland’s Places of Worship Fund opens for applications today! £1m are available to help listed places of worship across Scotland with repair and conservation work.

🗣 Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic, has said: “Historic places of worship are centres of religious life, cherished landmarks and community hubs which bring people together, provide space for local groups and offer support to vulnerable people.”

Find out more 👇

More than 100 faith group representatives and stakeholders have expressed interest in the £1m pilot fund, which opens for applications today.

30/09/2026

The Royal National Mòd is almost here, and we're excited to be part of it!

From 9 to 17 October, Glasgow will host Scotland's biggest celebration of Gaelic language and culture, and our Gaelic team will be there to share the work we do with communities, organisations, groups, schools and universities to support Gaelic.

The Mòd has been bringing people together through music, literature, song and storytelling for more than 130 years, and we're looking forward to celebrating its return to a city with such strong Gaelic roots.

Whether you're a fluent speaker, a Gaelic learner, or simply curious to discover more, we'd love to see you.
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Cha mhòr nach eil Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail oirnn, is sinn a tha air ar dòigh a bhith mar phàirt dheth!

Eadar an 9mh is an 17mh dhen Dàmhair, bidh Glaschu a’ cur fàilte air comharrachadh cànan is cultar na Gàidhlig as m***a ann an Alba, agus bidh an sgioba Gàidhlig againn ann airson an obair a nì sinn le coimhearsnachdan, buidhnean, sgoiltean is oilthighean gus taic a thoirt do Ghàidhlig a cho-roinneadh.

Tha am Mòd air a bhith a’ toirt daoine còmhla tro cheòl, litreachas, òran is seanchas airson còrr is 130 bliadhna, is tha sinn a’ dèanamh fiughair ri bhith a’ comharrachadh a thilleadh gu baile aig a bheil freumhan Gàidhlig cho làidir.

Ge b’ e fileantach no neach-ionnsachaidh a th’ annaibh, no fèir feòrachail gus barrachd fhaighinn a-mach, bhiodh sinn air leth toilichte ur faicinn.
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Image credit: Gold medallists from the Mòd at Rothesay in 1958. © The Scotsman Publications Ltd, licensed by SCRAN.

25/09/2026

"By east the Isle of May, twelve miles from all land in the German seas, lies a great hidden rock..."

So begins one of Scotland's most famous maritime legends. For centuries, the Bell Rock struck fear into sailors navigating the North Sea. Barely visible except for a few hours at low tide, the reef lurked just beneath the waves, waiting to catch out unwary ships.

According to legend, the Abbot of Arbroath placed a warning bell on the rock to alert passing mariners to the danger. The tale goes that a pirate removed the bell, only to be shipwrecked on the very same rock a year later, meeting what chroniclers described as "the righteous judgement of God".

While the story may belong to folklore, the danger was very real. Countless ships were lost on the Bell Rock before advances in engineering finally made it possible to build a permanent lighthouse on this notoriously exposed reef.

After years of discussion and delays, Parliament approved the project in 1806. Celebrated engineer John Rennie produced the designs, while Robert Stevenson took on the immense challenge of bringing them to life. The lighthouse was painstakingly assembled like a giant stone jigsaw, first on shore in Arbroath and then, course by course, on the rock itself. Construction began in 1807 and, remarkably, was completed just three years later.

More than two centuries on, Bell Rock Lighthouse remains the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse, a testament to one of Scotland's greatest engineering achievements.

The trove.scot archive image below captures the construction of Bell Rock Lighthouse. On Maritime Day, we’re flicking through the images and histories of lighthouses across Scotland. If you’d like to join us, check out For the Safety of All: A Story of Scotland’s Lighthouses: https://stor.scot/products/for-the-safety-of-all-a-story-of-scotlands-lighthouses