Pouring money into an Edinburgh Castle masterplan will come at a cost

Edinburgh Castle – Scotland’s most visited paid-for attraction – draws more than 1.4 million visitors a year.

And the ticket prices, starting at £19.50 online for an adult, help bring in all-important revenue for property manager Historic Environment Scotland (HES).

So faced with the quandary of where to spend an especially tight budget, it is only natural that HES would consider pouring substantial investment into a site that is a major year-round drawcard.

HES is drawing up a masterplan to improve the complex over the coming years.

This has coincided with Edinburgh Castle scoring an average of 8.64 for visitor enjoyment – below the average of other properties across the HES portfolio of 8.9.

Investing in the estate’s ‘jewel’ – a site that towers majestically above the centre of Scotland’s capital and houses the Honours of Scotland – makes plenty of sense on paper. However, that investment is likely to come at a hidden cost.

As detailed in our sister title Scotland on Sunday, HES is coming under scrutiny over management decisions taken for its overall estate amid a perception the body is favouring the big “money spinning” popular sites.

HES says it is looking to develop “authentic and memorable visitor experiences” at its “key sites”, but has acknowledged some properties could fall into “managed decline” or “curated decay”.

It is a position that has come in for criticism from the Architectural Heritage Society for Scotland, which has stressed HES must be “very careful to maintain a spread of historic properties across Scotland”.

So is it wise to invest mainly in the big-ticket destinations, like Edinburgh, Stirling and Urquhart castles, or to spread the wealth?

If it is to be the former, those in charge of protecting our nation’s built heritage must be upfront about the physical cost – and what could be lost – in doing so.