Urban Detectives sought to record a tiny piece of Kirkwall’s history

Scotland’s Urban Past are recruiting heritage lovers to investigate and record tiny urban buildings across the country, including here in Orkney.

Orkney folk are being asked to get hands on with history by taking part in the nationwide initiative to record the littlest local landmarks in Scotland’s towns and cities.

The initiative comes from Scotland’s Urban Past (SUP), a five-year community-engagement project from Historic Environment Scotland that puts local communities in charge of recording the history on their doorsteps, and is part of the celebrations for the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016.

Volunteers can become ‘Urban Detectives’ by submitting photographs and location co-ordinates of Kirkwall’s tiny buildings to the SUP website.

Users are also invited to take measurements and sketches, all of which will become part of Canmore, Scotland’s online record of architecture, archaeology and industry.

This national record is a digital time machine, holding images and information about more than 320,000 sites in Scotland. But with only 550 of those relating to Kirkwall, SUP is turning to local Urban Detectives to help fill in the gaps – starting with the smallest sites
in the town.

Chiara Ronchini, SUP project manager, said: “People throughout Scotland will be bringing our national collection to life by telling the big stories of our tiniest buildings.”

“Our dedicated digital team have made it easy to contribute information to Canmore on mobiles and tablets, as well as PCs and Macs, so you can even add a snapshot of local landmarks such as police boxes on your way to work.”

“Every contribution will be accessible to the wider public, helping to build a detailed and accessible history of our urban heritage by the people who live within it. It’s a great opportunity to help document the Borders, past and present, for generations to come.”
SUP provides free training, support and resources to people of all ages to help them discover and share the fascinating stories of Scotland’s towns and cities.

SUP is supported by the National Lottery with a grant of £1.65m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Free workshops for Urban Detectives will be taking place throughout Scotland.

For more information, visit www.scotlandsurbanpast.org.uk