There are a number of databases available for you to search. Access to all of these is free of charge.

Canmore     |     PASTMAP     |     HLAMAP
AirPhotoFinder    |    Accessing Scotland's Past    |    Hamilton Palace

The chart below has been prepared to help you decide which database to use.

What do you want to find?	USE:
	Canmore	PASTMAP	HLAMAP	AirPhoto  Finder
Archaeological sites and ancient monuments
Historic Scotland Scheduled Ancient Monuments information
Buildings
Historic Scotland Listed Buildings information
Scottish Natural Heritage Designed Landscapes and Gardens information
Drawings, photographs etc held in RCAHMS
Images on line
Historic Landscapes
Vertical aerial photographs

Canmore contains details of c.250,000 archaeological sites, ancient monuments, buildings and maritime sites in Scotland. It also provides an index to the catalogued collections of RCAHMS. Images of some of the photographs or drawings in the collection are also available in Canmore.

New information is added to Canmore on a daily basis.

Register to use Canmore or if you have already registered start a search.

PASTMAP is a separate website, produced jointly by Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and RCAHMS which brings together four main databases: Canmore, Scheduled Ancient Monuments, Listed Buildings and Designed Landscapes and Gardens. PASTMAP is updated every two weeks.

PASTMAP displays the location of:
· listed buildings
· the boundaries of legally protected ('scheduled') ancient monuments
· the boundaries of designed landscapes and gardens
· every site, building, maritime feature or find recorded in Canmore

Go to PASTMAP

HLAMAP provides access to information gathered by the Historic Land-use Assessment Project (HLA), a joint project with Historic Scotland. The HLA project is creating a digital map of the historic landscape of Scotland and through HLAMAP it is possible to view land-use by category, type, period or relict period.

Go to HLAMAP

AirPhotoFinder is an application hosted by RCAHMS to help you to locate and order vertical Aerial Photography in Scotland. Contained within AirPhotoFinder are details of flight plots which illustrate where there will be vertical aerial photographic coverage. The system is not yet comprehensive and it is always recommended that you contact info@rcahms.gov.uk to check whether additional aerial photographs are available.

Go to AirPhotoFinder

Accessing Scotland's
Past screen

Accessing Scotland's Past (ASP) was an exciting pilot project undertaken by RCAHMS in 2002-3 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Focusing on the Cairngorms and the Merse, the aim of the project was to explore presenting information about a number of sites and buildings in Canmore in a clearer more useful way. Short descriptive accounts were written and further information sources were identified. The project was completed in 2003 but we intend to explore developing this style of presentation further. Please let us know what you think. Contact info@rcahms.gov.uk.

Go to the Accessing Scotland's Past website

In association with the Virtual Hamilton Palace Trust and Scran, RCAHMS led a project in 2003 to recreate aspects of the long lost Hamilton Palace. A website was produced to document Hamilton Palace, its magnificent contents, its occupants throughout the centuries and a 3D reconstruction of aspects of the Palace was prepared.

Go to the Hamilton Palace website