Welcome

Welcome to the Heritage Paths Project website. Heritage paths are old paths or roads that have been used for a specific purpose and can include various types of path such as:

•  Roman roads
•  Drove roads
•  Pilgrimage routes
•  Miners’ paths
•  Smuggling routes
•  Trading paths
•  Military roads
•  Turnpike roads
•  Shieling paths
•  Peat-cutting paths

There are many more types of path out there and a heritage path that you know of could have an entirely unique history and could be in a group of its own.

Getting Involved

We know of a great many heritage paths already and details of these are being added to this website, there will also eventually be a high quality book available through mail order. We are continuing to search for more old paths to add to our knowledge so that more people can find out about them and explore them.

You can get involved by getting in touch and letting us know about heritage paths in Scotland that you know of and we will publish your information once it has been verified. You can also get involved by sending us updated route surveys or informing us about changes to paths that are already contained in this website or you could download pictures or simply walk a heritage path and enjoy yourself.

Mapping

The maps used on this website were kindly designed and donated by the National Library of Scotland's Map Library.  They are made up of a Google Maps street map overlaid with 1930s mapping by Bartholomew and Ordnance Survey.  If you would like more detailed maps you can zoom in until you are able to see the path, in purple, on a 1 inch to the mile scale Ordnance Survey map.   If you would like to see the path on a background of satellite images then you can click the 'satelite' button on the top right corner and if you would like to see the path without the historic map then slide the slider in the corner to the left and it will disappear.  If you are unable to see the paths then it may be because you have Internet Explorer 6, upgrades to Internet Explorer 7 or 8 are free.