Description of the Historic Environment

The historic environment enriches Scotland's landscapes and townscapes and is central to the country's distinctive character. It also makes a major contribution to Scotland's national identity, culture and economy. The various elements that make up the historic environment are explained below.

World Heritage Sites

Scotland has five World Heritage Sites (sites of outstanding universal value) under the terms of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. 

Four are cultural World Heritage Sites:

• Edinburgh Old and New Towns
• New Lanark
• The Heart of Neolithic Orkney
• The Antonine Wall

St Kilda is a mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Site.

Property in Care

A Property in Care is an ancient monument and/or historic building that is cared for by Historic Scotland under the terms of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

There are 345 properties in the care of Historic Scotland.

Listed Buildings

Historic Scotland lists buildings of special historic or architectural interest and maintains an associated dataset of listed building descriptions available on the Historic Scotland website.

The lists ensure that the planning process takes the needs of the historic environment into account and guides the management of change. As of March 2010, there were 47,540 listed buildings, an increase of 375 since 2008.

The number of records relates to listing entries, not individual buildings or ownerships. A number of individually owned properties, such as a terrace of houses, may be covered by a single listing entry.

Buildings are assigned to one of three categories according to their relative importance. All listed buildings receive equal legal protection, and protection applies equally to the interior and exterior of all listed buildings, regardless of category.

• Category A: buildings of national or international importance, either architectural or historic, or fine, little-altered examples of a particular period, style or building type (around 8% of the total)
• Category B: buildings of regional or more than local importance, or major examples of a particular period, style or building type, which may have been altered (around 51% of the total)
• Category C: buildings of local importance, lesser examples of any period, style or building type, as originally constructed or moderately altered, and simple traditional buildings that group well with others in categories A and B (around 41% of the total)

This split has remained consistent since 2008.

Scheduled Monuments

Scheduled monuments are sites or monuments of national importance that are legally protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Historic Scotland maintains the schedule of monuments.

As of March 2010, there were 8151 scheduled monuments in Scotland, an increase of 130 since 2008.

The oldest scheduled monuments date from around 8000 years ago, when people first settled in Scotland; the most recent include Second World War defences. In between is a wider range of monuments of all types, including: prehistoric chambered cairns, Roman forts, early medieval carved stones and industrial mills.

Information on scheduled monuments and GIS maps of scheduled areas are available from the Historic Scotland data website

Gardens and Designed Landscapes

There are 386 sites on the inventory of gardens and designed landscapes in Scotland, compiled and maintained by Historic Scotland. Sites on the inventory are considered to be of national importance and should be taken account of in the planning process.

Wreck Sites

There are eight wreck sites designated by Scottish Ministers (through Historic Scotland) under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Seven other offshore wrecks are scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

Battlefields

There are 14 nationally important battlefields on the Inventory of Scottish Battlefields maintained by Historic Scotland.

Conservation Areas

Conservation areas are designated by local planning authorities as:

"…areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance"'.

As of March 2010, there are 641 conservation areas in Scotland, compared to 636 in 2008.  Information on Scotland's conservation areas is available on the Historic Scotland website.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) and local authority Sites and Monuments Records (SMRs) also hold information on historic environment assets, which are not necessarily nationally important or statutorily protected but which nonetheless contribute to Scotland's overall historic environment.  

There are currently 290,565 RCAHMS records and 265,354 SMR records. RCAHMS records are available online.

Historic Land-use Assessment

Historic Land-use Assessment (HLA) is an ongoing project undertaken by RCAHMS and Historic Scotland. It is designed to map past and present land use across Scotland to help us understand how today's landscape is influenced by human activities in the past.  As of March 2010, around 68% of Scotland is mapped using HLA.

Condition of the Historic Environment

Although there is limited nationally collated information on the condition of the historic environment, the presence of management plans and regular inspection regimes for many historic environment assets means that a considerable amount is known locally.

The sources listed below provide useful national data on condition

Condition of Listed Buildings (Buildings at Risk Register)

Established in 1990 and managed by Historic Scotland, the Buildings at Risk Register (BARR) for Scotland highlights properties of architectural or historic merit throughout the country that are considered to be at risk or under threat.

Buildings at risk are not necessarily in poor condition - like many buildings on the BARR, they may simply be standing empty with no clear, future use.

A national report on A-listed buildings at risk is available from Historic Scotland. Key points are:

• In 2011, 8.2% of A-listed buildings (nationally or internationally important) are at risk, compared to 8.7% in 2009
• A-listed entries in rural areas are more likely to be at risk than those in urban areas
• Four out of five A-listed BARR entries are vacant
• Once on the BARR, eleven A-listed buildings are saved for each one demolished   

Changes in the proportion of A-listed buildings at risk are used to measure the 'Scotland Performs National Indicator: Improve the state of Scotland's Historic Buildings, monuments and environment'. The Scotland Performs Technical Assessment Group has awarded a 'Performance Improving' arrow for this indicator.

Condition of Scheduled Monuments

Historic Scotland's monument warden reports (MWRs) provide the only systematically generated, detailed condition data about ancient monuments in Scotland. The data relate only to scheduled monuments and need careful interpretation. It is not possible to extrapolate figures to produce estimates of condition and risk among the population of ancient monuments as a whole. However, the range of issues faced by unscheduled monuments is likely to be very similar. 

In 2010:

• 85% of scheduled monuments are perceived to be in an optimal or generally satisfactory condition
• 13% are in a generally unsatisfactory condition with major localised problems
• 2% have extensive significant problems
• Prehistoric monuments are generally recorded as being in the best condition, with the lowest proportion of monuments in unsatisfactory condition and the highest proportion in optimal condition
• Ecclesiastical and secular scheduled monuments have proportionally higher unsatisfactory condition scores than other types of scheduled monuments, largely because more of these are upstanding structures

MWRs also provide an assessment of the risk of future deterioration in the condition of scheduled monuments.

In 2010:

• Just under two-thirds of scheduled monuments are at minimal or slight risk of deterioration
• Around a third are likely to deteriorate in the next five years
• Around 2% are subject to immediate risk of deterioration

The profile of monument condition and risk has remained relatively similar over the period analysed 2007–2010. Further analysis is available from Scotland's Historic Environment Audit.