SCOTLAND'S colourful history has long been a vital draw for tourists. But one of the country's leading business minds yesterday warned that action was needed to interpret the country's heritage for the future - by recognising the historic importance of existing industries, such as oil and fishing, and buildings like football grounds.
Shonaig Macpherson, chairman of the National Trust for Scotland, said she was also in favour of keeping the Dounreay nuclear plant's dome, which is the subject of a consultation on whether it should be scrapped or kept as a hotel or museum.
Ms Ma
cpherson said: "In agreeing what constitutes our heritage we must ponder on what is the heritage of the future and why steps are not being taken now to conserve it.
"Our oil industry is undoubtedly an important part of Scotland's history, yet there are no museum rigs to explore; our fishing industry has almost disappeared unnoticed yet it remains virtually uninterpreted."
Speaking at the Vital Spark tourism conference in Aviemore, she said heritage could mean a castle, monument, factory or tenement, or a landscape such as Glencoe or St Kilda. It could also be a contemporary place.
She added: "If you look at all the wonderful things that have happened in the 20th century I think we should be looking now to identify places and buildings that should be conserved for future generations."
Plans for an oil rig visitor centre have been mooted before but never got off the ground.
"There is stuff on rigs in the Maritime Museum in Aberdeen," she said, but nothing in Cromarty, "where the industry has had a huge impact". The former lawyer said other sites, such as Hearts Football Club's Tynecastle ground in Edinburgh, should be considered in heritage terms.
"I thought it interesting when Tynecastle was threatened with being knocked down," she said. "To me that is an important piece of Scottish heritage, one of the very few stadiums that is right in the community."
The Dounreay dome was also a possible contender for saving. The Scotsman revealed last week that a new report showed that, once cleaned out, it would cost £13.7 million to demolish or up to £35 million to preserve for another use.
"I think it's an important building; I would rather see it there than knocked down", she said.
Ms Macpherson said communities played an important role in identifying and conserving local sites of interest.
"A lot of it should come from communities, but maybe there should be an overview as to what we should protect. We are happy to work with the government and others in that regard."
Bill Taylor, the conference chairman, said he was amazed there has never been an oil heritage project in the Cromarty Firth.
"There have been a few attempts but no-one has really done it," he said. "However, we are going to look back in ten-15 years' time at this whole industry which has propped this country up for 30 years, and there will be no evidence of it left.
"Too often we lose things and afterwards we say we should have done something about it".
Meanwhile, Professor Jim Hunter, a historian, will tell the conference today that key to the regeneration of the Highlands has been a reinterpretation of its heritage.
Prof Hunter said from the Middle Ages on, the Highlands and Islands were incorporated into the Scottish and then the British state, with the people "denigrated, devalued and dehumanised".
He said Highland communities have had to be encouraged to take pride in their background "to show that a region once dismissed as hopelessly impoverished is actually rich in music, architecture, literature, archaeology and much else."
EXPANDING OUR INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
SCOTLAND has heritage tourism projects in the mining, jute, whisky and banking industries. However, others could follow suit.
• OIL - A rig berthed near a beach in Aberdeen or the Cromarty Firth has been talked about for years. It has been suggested taking visitors on board by boat or helicopter would give them a feel for how the floating structures operate.
• DOUNREAY - A consultation is taking place on what to do with the famous golf-ball-shaped fast reactor after the complex is decommissioned. A hotel, museum or space observatory have been suggested.
• ALUMINIUM - The industry brought work for thousands at Foyers, Fort William, Invergordon and Kinlochleven. The UHI Millennium Institute is working with Alcan to compile a history of the industry, although so far there are no plans for a museum.
• WIND FARMS -Turbines are going up across Scotland. In other parts of the UK, wind farms are attracting tourists and a climb or lift to the top inside a turbine can be an experience.
• FOOTBALL STADIUMS - With the trend towards developing traditional grounds for housing or shops and relocating clubs to the outskirts of cities with better parking, the days of the stadium in the heart of the community are numbered.
The full article contains 832 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
