THE quango in charge of Scotland's historic sites plans to spend up to £60,000 mapping their "imperial connections", including any links to the slave trade.

Historic Environment Scotland is launching a project to detail the legacies of the British Empire across its 336 "properties in care".

The 18-month commission will aim to create family history timelines revealing the imperial links of past owners.

HES said it has a responsibility to "shine a light on the different parts of our history".

Properties under the quango's care range from castles and standing stones to churches and relics of the Industrial Revolution. 

They include some of the most iconic sites in Scotland, including Edinburgh Castle, Glasgow Cathedral and Holyrood Palace.

A spokeswoman for HES said: “As Scotland’s lead heritage body, we have a responsibility to shine a light on the different parts of our history, and ensure that how we tell the story of our past reflects the difficult as well as the celebratory. 

"This is an important part of recognising that there are many histories which have formed the Scotland of today.

“This project aims to explore and better understand the connections that some of the properties in our care have to areas including the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism. 

"It will seek to uncover these connections in order to provide a more inclusive reflection of the past, with a view to providing further information about these sites and the people and experiences which shaped them.”

HES is now seeking individuals or organisations to carry out the research, with a budget of between £30,000 and £60,000.

Documents say the project aims to "investigate and understand the imperial connections of the 336 properties in care (PICs), by situating the historical landowners within the activities of the British Empire, including the transatlantic slave economy and other colonial activities".

They add: "This project will take the form of an 18-month external commission, during which a desk-based survey of the PICs will be undertaken, with the aim of creating family history timelines revealing imperial connections of the owners of the properties prior to their coming into care."

HES said it "requires a detailed report that reveals the legacies of the British Empire" across its estate.  

This will include a list of the known owners of properties between 1600 and the date they were taken into care.

Documents posted to the Public Contracts Scotland website add: "This list will be used to understand the links between these owners and any imperial legacies, using existing databases including but not limited to British Legacies of Slave Ownership, Enslaved.org, and Runaway Slaves."

A list of memorials under the care of HES with known connections to events and individuals of "imperial significance" will also be produced.  

HES said the final report should highlight "connections outwith these categories, such as relevant historical figures associated with a PIC, links with the collections of a PIC and functional connections where the purpose of a site has clear links to empire".

It said several examples from each category should be expanded as case studies in the report, which it plans to publish.

HES is already part of a two-year project funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh called Managing Imperial Legacies. 

Established in June last year, this aims to "build conversations on the links and legacies of the transatlantic slave trade, empire, and Scotland’s built environment", and includes Edinburgh University and the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights.

Its website notes that Glasgow Cathedral contains memorials to wealthy patrons to the church, many of whom were "associated with the tobacco and sugar trades in Glasgow – trades that were built largely on the enslavement of human beings and their labour".

HES said the latest project will focus specifically on its own properties, rather than Scotland's wider built environment.