“You’re seeing letters, you’re seeing diaries, you’re seeing wedding rings of people who lost their lives and with photographs of them from their families it is really quite astonishing.” – Gillian Martin, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy in the Scottish Government.
How important is our heritage to us – protecting and conserving our culture but also respecting that of others ? As an archipelago Orkney is a choice destination for divers and for those interested in maritime history, however marine archaeology is often the poor relation of its landed sister.
Recently a couple of Australians who call themselves ‘influencers’ climbed all over the remains of Ruthven Barracks, Badenoch, throwing some of the stones about. The men were on a fundraising campaign for Cancer Research UK. Ruthven Barracks date back to the 1700’s.
Ruthven Barracks is the best surviving example of four new Highland garrisons
built by the Hanoverian government in the wake of the Jacobite Rising of 1715. Historic Environment Scotland.
Museums across this country are filled with artefacts collectors removed from countries colonised or invaded by Britain. Today, museums and academic institutions are recognising that this was theft of items important to those cultures, and are returning stolen artefacts.
In Scotland there are protections in place to deter those who would damage or loot from our places of significance. These protections cover our lands and extend to our seas. War graves have specific protection but there are also Historic Marine Protected Areas.
Orkney “has been so important at key moments in time.”
On 11 August this year Gillian Martin, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy in the Scottish Government, announced Historic Marine Protected Area status for Scapa Flow, Orkney, and the remains of the 18thC Queen of Sweden, in Shetland.
The Queen of Sweden is one of the best-preserved remains of a Swedish East India Company ship located in waters around Scotland. She was built in Stockholm in 1741 to trade with China – the largest ship built for the company at that time – and sank in the Bressay Sound in 1745 during strong winds.
Scapa Flow, Orkney, has the largest number of warship wrecks and associated artefacts in the UK. Many of the wrecks are designated war graves, but there are also the remains of vessels from the German High Seas Fleet scuttled in 1919.
Historic Environment Scotland has had some bad press recently but it cares for over 300 properties, many of which are manned by hard working and knowledgeable staff. It also has skilled masons, researchers, and educational services. National Trust for Scotland, local heritage organisations, and a huge variety of museums, many of which are run by volunteers, ensure that in Scotland we not only are preserving our past but finding out more about the people who formed it.
Orkney has always had a strategic position both for military purposes and for trade. Our children should know how their islands were, and still are, a part of a wider world – today as a gateway to the Arctic as we look increasingly northwards.
When Gillian Martin visited Hoy to announce Historic Marine Protected Status for the sites in Orkney and Shetland, she was visibly moved by the personal stories on display in the Scapa Flow Museum at Lyness after her conducted tour of Scapa Flow itself.
Gillian Martin explained why extending it beyond the protection already in place for war graves was important :
” But also the other activity that’s happened, the accidents, naval accidents that have happened, the loss of life, the strategic importance of Orkney as a key area in the whole of Europe and how it has been so important at key moments in time.”
And she continued:
“The Historic Marine Protected Area status is one thing but there’s actually the practicalities of giving it that protective status as well. It is an area which divers want to come to and they want to be able to see the wreckage and it’s been a destination for many many decades but now we’re getting to the point where we need to recognise that to protect it for future generations who also want the privilege and honour of seeing the various sites of historic importance that has to be a look don’t touch approach.
” What happened in Scapa Flow is taught in every school and it continues to have to be talked about more and more.
“You ask what it means to me personally, I would like to think that as a result of today that more people when they come to Orkney they will take into account that obviously there’s lots of areas in Orkney from a Neolithic point of view.
“But also the military history and also the social history, the social history of Hoy which housed the 12,000 military personnel over that time. It is one of the best preserved sites on land of military history but also underneath those waves in Scapa Flow. “
In praising the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre she said:
“You’re seeing letters, you’re seeing diaries, you’re seeing wedding rings of people who lost their lives and with photographs of them from their families it is really quite astonishing.”
” The existence of the museum is critically important because they have access to footage of the wrecks so that actually individuals can come here and they can actually see what’s underneath – what’s in the water.”
Rory MacDonald, is Deputy Head for Designations at HES. He explained that both sites which received the status were important not just to Orkney and Shetland, or even to Scotland, but to the countries those vessels came from – Sweden, and Germany.
He said that there was a desire to promote tourism and they want divers to visit these wrecks but to do so responsibly.
” It’s going to be with a Look Don’t Touch kind of attitude.”
He said when items are removed from wrecks “it’s a loss to everybody’s heritage.”
“It is about protection, but it’s more than that. The Historic Marine Protected areas come with preservation objectives. And that’s unusual for our designated sites in Scotland. They’re the only ones in Scotland that have these. And so we set right at the start what we want to achieve by protecting these sites.
“And in the case of Scapa, one of the big things is making it preserved for future generations to study, to visit, to understand and appreciate the past.”
Fiona Grahame