Hutton awarded £146,000 from National Lottery Heritage Fund to preserve Scotland’s soil mapping heritage
Today, The James Hutton Institute, Scotland’s leading interdisciplinary research institute for sustainable land, crop and nature management, is announcing a £146,485 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to protect Scotland’s soil and peat map archive and transform access to vital environmental information.
The project, titled Hutton Unearthed: A New National Soils and Peat Map Archive, will restore, preserve and digitise irreplaceable soil and peat maps, aerial imagery, field notebooks and survey records collected since 1947. This historically significant collection totals around 16,000 items, including:
- Hand-drawn and printed maps of soil and peat surveys of Scotland
- Site surveys and documentation of land utilisation
- Field survey notes and analytical records (e.g. botanical, chemical)
- Hand-drawn and interpreted land cover maps (1930s–1990s)
- All-Scotland aerial imagery and annotated photographs
- Soil memoirs (a series of books describing the soils and geography of specific areas and their associated soil maps
- Other ad hoc environmental studies
As a collection, these maps and auxiliary materials tell an important story about some of Scotland’s most valuable natural resources and how they have been managed. They document and illustrate how land was used, changed due to natural or anthropogenic influences. Funding will enable urgent conservation work, alongside the creation of an open-access digital archive to ensure these resources remain available for future generations.
In addition to conserving physical materials, the project will capture the memories and experiences of former surveyors and researchers whose knowledge helped shape Scotland’s understanding of its soils and landscapes. Their stories will help bring the collection to life, revealing the people, methods and motivations behind decades of mapping and environmental research.
The project will run from August 2026 to the end of February 2028, creating three new temporary posts – a part-time project manager, a full-time archivist and a part time assistant.
Together, they will create an archive that can support researchers, policy makers, land managers, educators, community groups and the wider public, offering new opportunities to explore the history of Scotland’s environment and understand the vital role that Scotland’s soils and peatlands play in addressing contemporary challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable land management.
Professor Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of The James Hutton Institute, said, “We are delighted that The National Lottery Heritage Fund has recognised the heritage value of this remarkable collection. Scotland’s soils underpin our food production, biodiversity, water resources and carbon storage, yet much of the history of how we came to understand them is hidden away in maps, photographs and archives that are becoming increasingly fragile. Hutton Unearthed will safeguard this unique heritage, make it accessible to all and ensure that the knowledge and stories behind it are not lost.”
Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland said, “The James Hutton Institute is one of modern Europe’s most important agricultural and research institutes and houses this incredible scientific archive gathered over eight decades – including maps, illustrations and arial photography. It is an invaluable record for historians and scientists alike and as our understanding of human impacts on the environment grows the importance of this historic data grows with it.
“Thanks to National Lottery players this archive will now get fresh investment in preservation, cataloguing, digitisation and more to ensure the vital survey work it holds is protected and accessible. Just as importantly this project will collect and save the stories of the people behind the surveys, a fascinating social history and vital context to add to the research records.”
