Time Travel on Academy Street

Join staff and the Heritage Heroes from the Inverness Townscape Heritage Project (THP) and Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (IMAG) at the Victorian Market’s Main Hall on Saturday 6 October between 10am and 3pm.  They invite you to experience time travel via your fingertips by trying the new digital heritage trail, celebrating Academy Street’s unique history and heritage.  Some of the team will be in Victorian costume and have planned many fun activities for you to enjoy! 

The Heritage Heroes are made up of Valuable Volunteers who wish to share their interest and knowledge with the public and will be joining the team on Saturday. 

The Inverness THP has worked in partnership with High Life Highland and AOC Archaeology Ltd to create a digital heritage trail to preserve the history of work, shopping and leisure on Academy Street.  

The website has been designed so that new content can be added to enable stories, memories and photographs of life on Academy Street to be captured and preserved for future generations.  The website showcases much of the material which local people have generously shared over the last two and a half years, together with the rich variety of materials available from the city’s museum, library and archive collections.  The website address is: http://www.highlandexplore.scot/ 

A range of the results from the public engagement are also on display at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (IMAG), including stunning detailed line drawings of Academy Street in 1920 by Gordon Lynn. 

Chairman of the Townscape Heritage Partnership, Councillor Richard Laird said:  “I would encourage everyone to visit the team at the Victorian Market this Saturday for family fun and to be guided through this exciting new digital heritage trail to experience many of the previously un-heard stories that it captures. I am personally delighted to know that the team have worked with young people who have shown their passion for heritage, particularly in the Year of Young People.” 

High Life Highland Chief Executive, Ian Murray added: “Saturday’s event promises to be an exciting opportunity for members of the public to experience the new digital heritage trail. I am delighted that following a period of feedback and development, the trail is now live and I am particularly excited by the opportunities that it offers to engage in innovative ways with the heritage of Inverness and the extended access to High Life Highland’s Museum and Archive collections.”

Focusing on Academy Street, the Townscape Heritage project is a collaboration of funding partners including The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Inverness City Heritage Trust (ICHT),  Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and is co-ordinated and led by The Highland Council, contributing to a project fund, from which grants are given to local property owners, businesses and organisations to allow them to carry out high-quality repairs and historic reinstatement to properties and spaces within the defined townscape heritage area.

3 Oct 2018