Historic Scotland Collectible Cards: The History Hunt

Disclosure: We were gifted membership in return for this post about Historic Scotland Collectible cards, History Hunt

Historic Scotland

The public body, Historic Scotland, is the leading public body that cares for Scotland’s historic places. They care for over 300 different properties, from castles to mills. Some of their more famous properties are Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Fort George and Skara Brae. The properties are dotted all across the country, including the islands and highlands.

Historic Scotland Membership

Historic Scotland membership gives you free access to all the Historic Scotland sites (provided they are currently open!). It also has the benefit of free entry to many of their events. Including Spectacular Jousting, Siege on the Forth and smaller events such as Stirling Castle’s Unicorn Weekend.

Benefits also include free entry into partner organisations (free for renewal members and 50% discount for 1st year members). Including English Heritage, CADW and Manx National Heritage. There are also discounts in the Historic Scotland shop and cafes when you show your card. Plus a free quarterly Historic Scotland Members magazine.

The cost for membership varies depending which combination you go for. An example for families is a membership for 2 adults (and up to 6 accompanying children) for £101 a year. If a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children) visit just Stirling Castle and Edinburgh Castle as 2 separate non-member visits it would cost £106.50 (£50.50 for a family ticket to Stirling Castle and £56 for Edinburgh castle). So if you intend to visit these big two castles, then it’s actually more cost effective to buy the yearly membership and also get free entry to other properties throughout the year! And there are so many other places to visit that are well worth the membership too!

History Hunt Collectors Cards

New for 2024 are the members only History Hunt collectors cards. The Historic Scotland collectible cards are only available to members! You can collect them at a variety of staffed properties throughout Scotland. You can find the entire list of properties and which cards they offer at this History Hunt Collectors Card page.

There are currently 7 main cards to collect, these are listed below:

• Formidable Fortress – Including Edinburgh Castle, Threave Castle and Fort George
• Sacred Site – Glasgow cathedral, Iona Abbey and Elgin Cathedral
• Halls of History – Duff House, Huntingtower Castle and Bishops and Earl’s Palaces
• Tall Towers – Broch of Gurness, Smailhome Tower and Corgarff Castle
• Icons of Industry – Bonawe Iron Furnace, Stanley Mills and Kinneil House
• Social Settlement – Linlithgow Palace, Skara Brae and Jarlshof
• Spellbound Stones – Cairnpapple Hill, Ring of Brodgar and St Vigeans Stones

There are also 3 other ‘special’ cards to collect at specific events. These are the Spectacular Jousting Card, Elgin 800 and Siege on the Forth. They are rare, so make sure you head to these events to collect them!

Once you have collected the 7 main collectors cards then you can show these to a staff member at one of the staffed properties to collect a special History Hunter badge!

How To Collect The Historic Scotland Collectible Cards

We are almost finished collecting all the main cards. One thing we have found is that the cards are never offered (perhaps because they are quite new) and you generally have to ask staff for the cards. So just remember to ask for the History Hunt collectors card when you show your tickets and membership card at reception.

At the first property you start collecting at you will also need to ask for the little pocket to keep the cards safe! You can see them in my images on this page.

Our Top Historic Scotland Properties To Visit

So, decisions on where to visit first. Definitely check out the list of properties on the History Hunt page, you can see that some cards are more difficult to visit than others. However, as a long-term member collecting these cards has pushed us to visit properties we hadn’t previously been to! So it is well worth it to see some other places that we hadn’t previously considered visiting.

We have visited a large number of Historic Scotland Properties over the years. So I do feel like I have a good idea of the top Historic Scotland properties to visit! And these aren’t just castles, and Edinburgh Castle is not included!

Our Top Historic Scotland Sites

• Inchmahome Priory – Located on an island in Lake of Mentieth, interesting history and lovely place to relax and if you’re lucky watch Ospreys.
• Stirling Castle – Great castle for a day out with the family, so much to see and do, excellent re-enactors and a fab cafe too.
• Skara Brae – One of the oldest sites Historic Scotland own, dated at 3100BCE, an interesting village to make you ponder the similarities of life then and now.
• Craigmillar Castle – Edinburgh’s other castle, an interesting layout with amazing views, plus somewhere visited many times by Mary Queen of Scot’s.
• Doune Castle – Used in a variety of films and tv series, from Monty Python to Outlander. An interesting history and looks like a ‘proper’ castle.
• Stanley Mills – Old cotton mill buildings that have been renovated and used as a museum to show life back when it was in use. Very interactive for kids.
• Dumbarton Castle – High on Dumbarton rock this is a good weather Castle, incredibly interesting history and strange layout due to the rocks shape.
• Dunadd Fort – Location where the kings of Dalriada were crowned. Stand on the footprint rock (which kings did as part of the ceremony) and find the outline of the boar scratched into the rocks.
• Kilmartin Stones – Kilmartin standing stones are excellent to view, but also visit as many of the other rock art stones in the area too. Lots of cup and ring marks to investigate.
• Jarlshof – On Shetland this is more than a Viking remnant. There are layers of history here stretching well before Vikings landed on the islands!
• Maeshowe Chambered Cairn – Located on mainland Orkney, hugely significant for the size of stone in the entrance way and how it lines up with the solstice. Plus some Viking graffiti too!

These are just a few of our favourite sites that we’ve visited! I can easily suggest plenty more places too. The truth is that Scotland has so much history and Historic Scotland are doing a great job at preserving as much of it as they can! Where is your favourite historic site in Scotland?

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