In Scotland, there is no simple mechanism for securing legal protection of a battlefield site.
However, their significance is recognised by the government and its heritage agency, Historic Environment Scotland. They agree that: “Historic battles hold a significant place in our national consciousness and play an important part in our sense of identity.”
Scottish battlefield sites which are deemed to be of national significance receive designated status under the Inventory of Historic Battlefields, collated and maintained by HES (detailed information here). This list, initially launched in 2010-11, now contains 40 designated sites. This status makes the battlefield a material consideration in planning matters, requiring developers and planners to evaluate the impacts of proposals on the historic battlefield, and that the proposals should sustain the letter and the spirit of the Scottish Government’s historic environment policy (here). Guidance on how to manage change on designated battlefields has been produced (here).
As a planning tool, the Inventory necessarily focuses on identifiable landscape features and archaeological potential. However, policy also requires consideration of less tangible features, including historical and cultural association, setting, and commemoration. Planners are required to consult Historic Environment Scotland’s casework team for a view on all proposals within the boundaries of a designated battlefield.
This situation has weaknesses, in that designation alone cannot ensure the protection of a battlefield site. Nor does the battlefield have a stipulated weighting in considerations. A recent test case at Killiecrankie also demonstrated the Inventory’s failure to ensure due significance to areas of actual fighting or casualties, whereas physical landscape features were more easily addressed. At SBT, we believe that designation should lead to a presumption against development unless an exceptional case can be made and proper mitigations applied.
Individual monuments or features within battlefields can receive separate and sometimes stronger designations, which help to increase protection within the battlefield. For example, an upstanding ruin or an earthwork feature could become scheduled monuments, or a commemorative tower could be a listed structure. HES is currently exploring a local heritage designation system, to allow communities to secure a form of recognition for assets which they value.
Risks to battlefields are not confined to insensitive development/construction projects, although these are usually the most high profile. Our colleagues at the Battlefields Trust (UK) have identified four classes of threat, which we have paraphrased below:
DEVELOPMENT: eg, construction or infrastructure proposals, which can result in changes to the landscape, character and setting of a battlefield, affecting views or artificially separating once-connected features (affecting the site integrity). Other risks include the loss of unknown archaeological deposits, decreased public access or awareness, or insensitivity towards places of remembrance or human burial.
METAL DETECTING: a less visible but ongoing threat is unrecorded or unsystematic metal detecting. This leads to the removal of artefacts which could disguise or remove critical evidence which could be found using systematic surveys. Individual artefacts are often far less useful than their context within an object scatter. There is currently no additional level of permission required for detecting battlefields as long as landowners have given their consent. At SBT, we believe that additional permission should be required from HES, which should only be granted with an obligation to report find locations. As it stands, we simply cannot know how much metal detecting takes places on Scottish Battlefields and how much archaeological evidence is being removed. Treasure Trove have issued guidance (here). At SBT, we wish to work with responsible amateur detectorists to ensure finds are recorded and the potential evidence monitored.
AGRICULTURAL: the uses of the land can affect both the integrity of the battlefield and the archaeological record it contains. Commercial forestry, for example, can severely impact views and therefore landscape understanding, whilst also having a serious impact on the archaeology with their root systems and the resulting changes in the acidity of the soil. The use of chemicals and deep ploughing can have similar effects, and the latter can migrate artefacts considerable distances from their deposition point or reduce the prominence of landscape features (eg, ploughing out temporary fieldworks or ramparts).
CONTAMINATION: the archaeological record on a battlefield can become contaminated by activities which take place on the land, even if they are temporary in nature. For example, open air events, camping, and even battle re-enactment can deposit material which obscures, slows, or confuses the archaeological picture. Centuries of hunting and sports shooting can also cause misleading results, especially in relation to musket ball finds for example.
At SBT we do our best to provide responsible and reasoned comments to planning applications which have the potential to impact Scotland’s battlefields. We take each case on its merits, and are keen to work with others by either supporting local campaigns or assisting in suggesting alternatives or mitigations. We are all volunteers, and this workload can be considerable at times. However, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have concerns or wish to gauge our thoughts on a specific issue.
We are also proactively working towards legislative change which provides better protection to our battlefields. We are engaging with others, such as politicians, HES, NTS and other independent societies, to work out how that might look and how it might be achieved.
We also believe that one of the best pathways to protecting a battlefield is for its local community to take a proactive interest in its future. We are keen to offer support if we can to those who wish to do so, and that is why we have created our Battlefield Communities’ Guide.