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Explora: Environment
and Resource Conservation, recreation, or both?

of government and of policy-makers, not only on heritage with a fifth site that became a country park toward the end
but on a much wider range of conservation and cultural of this period. Given the strong recreational focus of the
issues. However, its remit is limited to England, Wales country park initiative, it is curious to see a conservation
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and Northern Ireland; a similar, but autonomous, body body like the NTS taking so close an interest in it, and this
exercises a comparable role in Scotland and is similarly merits further exploration.
influential with the Scottish devolved government. The paper also notes attempts made by NTS to access
The NT for Scotland (NTS) was established in 1931, the National Land Fund (NLF). This had been established
much later than its English counterpart. It emerged in in 1946, to the tune of £50 million (nearly £3 billion in
response to the possibility that a particular Scottish property 2024 equivalent terms) by the post-war Attlee government
might be acquired by the NT, a prospect that alarmed a with the intention of funding property of significant
group of influential Scots, led by Sir John Stirling-Maxwell heritage value as a memorial to lives lost during the Second
of Pollok, who thought that Scotland should manage its World War. The NT benefitted significantly from this
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own heritage and should establish a body to do this. The fund, acquiring several properties, and also contents, left
government statute empowering the NTS confirmed its to the nation while the value of the taxes levied on these
purpose as ‘promoting the permanent preservation for the properties on the death of their owner was transferred
benefit of the nation of lands and buildings in Scotland from the NLF to the Treasury. However, the fund never
of historic or national interest or natural beauty.’ Like its achieved its early aspirations and was wound up in 1980,
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counterpart, it holds land (including wild land), heritage replaced by the National Heritage Memorial Fund with a
buildings and their contents, and planned gardens, whether vastly smaller budget. 9
associated with country estates or created separately. The The NTS has been largely by-passed by academic
NTS manages these to ensure they are protected, but also research. Studies focus on the much larger NT in England
available to access by the public; and provides extensive and Wales (NT), and although there are parallels between
interpretation of its portfolio to inform visitors as to their the two bodies, they are separate entities with different
significance. contexts to their work. Several histories of the NT exist,
Both the NT and the NTS are registered charities, mainly written by staff and therefore well-informed but
independent of government, and funded by a combination variable in their objectivity, and also in the extent to which
of charitable donations, public funding, and private they recognise the NTS. Fedden includes a short chapter
endowment funds provided by property owners seeking on the Scottish body, acknowledging that this is merely a
to transfer their property (and its ongoing costs) to one of brief overview, but Gaze only notes the NTS in passing,
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the Trusts. They have been granted important legal powers, while Newby’s contributors barely mention the NTS at
including the right to own land and property and to declare all. Waterson’s centenary history of the NT also mentions
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it inalienable, thereby protecting the property against the NTS only in passing, although an NTS property
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compulsory purchase, and preventing it from disposal – an features prominently in his more recent work. Beyond
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important security for those making donations. The trusts these insider perspectives, Lowe and Goyder’s exploration
also have the power to create restrictive covenants over of the role of the voluntary sector in environmental politics
land owned by others (with cooperation, naturally), giving analyses the influence of the NT, but again only mentions
them a measure of control over any adverse intentions on the NTS briefly in the context of a specific campaign it
the part of future heirs. 8 shared with the NT. 15
This paper explores the relationship between the NTS Even in literature more closely focused on Scotland, the
and the country park initiative, which emerged through NTS is marginalised: Linklater and Denniston’s analysis
the Countryside (Scotland) Act of 1967, legislation which of ‘how Scotland works’ mentions it only as part of a
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also established the Countryside Commission for Scotland wider network of influence, and the NTS is also only a
(CCS) as the body responsible for promoting the country passing thought in Mackay’s analysis of Scotland’s rural
park as a recreational concept. During CCS’ lifetime, up to land management, where the NTS’ important role surely
1992 when it was merged into Scottish Natural Heritage deserves greater attention. Histories of the NTS largely
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(now NatureScot), a total of 36 country parks were focus on its acquisition record and offer only limited
designated in Scotland. The NTS had a close association analysis of policy-making; Ryan is an example, with little
both with the idea of the country park in a Scottish context, to offer the historian beyond a description of its origins.
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and with its practical implementation, and by 1992 owned Two smaller, undated publications from the early 1970s,
and managed two of the 36 Scottish parks, was closely both celebrating the NTS, are of more interest: in one,
involved with two others, and had also engaged strongly Prentice echoes Linklater and Denniston by noting the

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 2 doi: 10.36922/eer.5890