Explore millions of records online as Historic Environment Scotland (HES) unveils new website to access its collections, archives, images and information

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has today launched trove.scot, its new digital portal for the historic environment. Users can now delve into Scotland’s heritage with the platform, which brings together millions of HES’s unique and diverse collections of information, images, video, spatial data and archival material in one convenient place for the first time.

From standing stones to skate parks, trove.scot contains over 5,000 years of Scotland’s history in approximately three million records, combining designation records of Scotland’s most important historic sites and buildings; the catalogue of Scotland’s archaeology and built heritage; over 2,000 culturally significant objects from HES’s properties; and educational and archival images and media from SCRAN.

trove.scot will make this wealth of information more accessible than ever before, providing an exciting new resource for hobbyists, educators, historians and heritage professionals alike. Using filters, keyword and map searches, users can now unearth a range of detail from HES’s different sources in a single search.

Katerina Brown, Chief Executive of HES, said:

“We are excited to be bringing heritage even closer to people’s everyday lives with this new platform. trove.scot will make it easier to learn about the heritage and historic environment that surrounds you, whether that is the listed buildings on your street or archive images of historic events that shaped communities.

trove.scot marks one of the largest investments in our programme to improve and enhance digital access to information on the historic environment, and increase the number and diversity of people who engage with Scotland’s history and heritage.

“We hope that by making the vast store of information we hold more accessible, trove.scot will encourage more people to dig into Scotland’s past and see what they can discover with the new platform. Of course, the launch is just the beginning, and we’ll continue working hard behind the scenes to bring more exciting innovations to service.”

Unlock 5,000 years of history anytime, anywhere with trove.scot, the key to Scotland’s past.

At this launch stage, the data accessible through trove.scot will include information currently found on the Historic Environment Portal, Canmore, SCRAN and Property in Care Collections. These existing websites will still be available while development continues on trove.scot.