C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 25 David Fleetwood and Andrew Fulton Protecting and managing the military heritage of Scotland Historic Scotland is the Scottish Government agency charged with ensuring that our historic environment provides a strong foundation in building a successful future for Scotland.Through its designation teams, the agency is responsible for protecting historic buildings, archaeological monuments, historic shipwrecks, designed landscapes and battlefields which meet the criteria for designation. In recent years, the agency has seen a growing interest and understanding of 20th-century military heritage. Consideration and protection of this heritage goes hand in hand with managing and protecting other important elements of the historic environment which survive on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) estate. In Scotland there is a small but significant stock of protected heritage sites on the MoD estate, including the two world heritage sites of St Kilda (where there is a missile tracking station), Edinburgh garrison headquarters at Edinburgh Castle, and the spectacular Fort George (home to The Black Watch, 3rd BattalionThe Royal Regiment of Scotland, together with small arms ranges and a training area). In addition, there are over 100 listed buildings and scheduled monuments¹ on MoD land in Scotland. The job of regulating works to these relies on a good working relationship between the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Historic Scotland, local planning authorities and other stakeholders. It has been a challenging time across the sector in recent years, with both Historic Scotland and the DIO having seen organisational restructuring, as well as a wider review of the MoD and its various bases.This has highlighted the need for effective partnerships at all levels. In particular, it underlines the role which heritage can play in fostering economic growth and regeneration. Responding to the challenges in the change of use and occupancy at MoD bases has been and is a key focus. Innovative initiatives are being developed in Scotland in order to respond to these challenges. Both designations teams work across all of Scotland identifying, assessing and proposing historic assets for designation where they meet individual selection criteria2, in a variety of programmes, including maintaining and updating the schedule and list, and in response to individual proposals from members of the public and civic bodies. This includes military heritage in general and heritage assets on MoD land specifically. Recently, teams have been working on Royal Air Force sites including Leuchars and the former HMS Tern on Orkney. A former Royal Observer Corps observer post in Angus was recently designated as a B listed building. Along the Solway Coast in Dumfries and Galloway, the remains of a prototype floating harbour, which was critical to the success of the 1944 Normandy landings, were recently scheduled. Further remains are being scheduled in Shetland, where structures from the first and second world wars and the cold war survive. Both designation teams are active in assessing military structures, currently in an ad hoc way, combining thematic and other assessments with a range of designation requests from members of the public. There are many challenges facing heritage conservation and preservation on a working estate. In the case of an active military base, balancing defence needs with that of a live tourist attraction, while at the same time protecting the historic and archaeological character and fabric of the site, can be contentious, complex and time consuming. It can also be of tremendous benefit to the site since otherwise significant historic elements may be altered beyond recognition and repair.The designation of these sites as listed buildings or scheduled monuments is the key mechanism that allows Historic Scotland and local authorities to enter into dialogue with conservation and preservation issues at the heart of the agenda. At RAF Leuchars, Fife, an operational RAF base, a review of the site was completed in 2010 and a partnership developed with DIO. Eight buildings on the site were designated as listed buildings, including the General Service Aircraft sheds at category A, indicating a nationally important heritage asset. Leuchars is one of the earliest aerodromes in Scotland. Initially the locale was used for balloon flights and the area became a permanent establishment in 1918. Used as a training base in the 1920s, the site was chosen by theWar Office as part of the air force expansion in the 1930s.A number of hangars and other buildings were added at this time. Unusually, the airfield continued in use after the second world war. Jet fighters were introduced in 1950. The introduction of NATO cold war defences in the early 1980s was a further significant phase in the structures’ use. Buildings dating from all stages of the airfield’s development survive.The General Service Aircraft sheds were originally part of a group of three (with a further, This article was written for the theme feature on ‘The heritage of defence’ in the previous issue of Context (November 2011). RAF Leuchars, Fife: a Belfast truss hangar, listed at category A
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=