Cramond Management Group

Despite the concerted activities of The Cramond Association and Cramond Heritage Trust, the area continued to suffer from piecemeal inappropriate development and neglect. The Scottish Parliament subsequently instructed Historic Scotland to bring together the many interested parties to ensure a coordinated approach to the area. The task was eventually taken up by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) who formed the Cramond Management Group.

Members

Membership consists of all the owners of land within the Cramond Scheduled Area together with its elected representative on the city council. It also includes representatives from Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural History, Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society, Cramond Kirk, The Cramond Association, Cramond heritage Trust, Cramond Community Council (since its recent formation) and CEC’s Planning Department and Recreation & Leisure Department.

The remit for this group is restricted to the area covered by the Scheduled Ancient Monument designation.

Benefits

While we still believe that Cramond should be considered as an entity and that this narrow remit does not completely answer the requirements placed on it by the Scottish Parliament, its activities are starting to show a benefit. While the remit for the group is too narrow, it has had the fortunate effect of raising awareness of the area within the city and there has been a wider appreciation of Cramond’s unique character. Maintenance within the area has improved.

Future Activity

Work is now proceeding to rehabilitate the area surrounding Cramond House with a view to making it more accessible to the public. In the longer term it is hoped to rehabilitate the old kennels – in the woodland between Cramond Kirk and the public car park – into an education centre and museum to house the large quantity of archaeological artefacts which have been discovered in the area. Some of these are of major importance, such as the large sculpture of a Roman Lioness which was recently found in the River Almond. This is only the most recent of a large number of other items which remain in storage due to lack of a suitable display space.