Cookie policy
Find out what cookies are and how they are used on the Historic Environment Scotland website and our subdomains.
This policy refers to cookies used on our Historic Environment Scotland (HES) domain www.historicenvironment.scot/ and subdomains www.blog.historicenvironment.scot/ and portal.historicenvironment.scot/.
Like many websites, the HES corporate domain and subdomains (the Service) use small files called cookies to help provide the best possible online experience for you.
Below, we explain what cookies are, what they do, how we use them, and how you can view or change your cookie preferences.
Who are we?
The HES website and subdomains are managed by Historic Environment Scotland, the lead public body established to investigate, care for and promote Scotland's historic environment. We're a non-departmental public body (NDPB) with charitable status.
We are committed to protecting your personal data and your privacy. Find out more about how we handle personal data in our privacy notice.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of text sent by your web browser on a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows the Service or a third-party to recognise you.
Cookies can be either "persistent" or "session" based.
Persistent cookies continue to exist after you finish your website visit. They are eventually deleted, often after 6 months or longer. They are used to help the Service recognise when you return to the site; these cookies will remember key information about you, such as your site preferences.
Session cookies are deleted automatically soon after you finish your website visit, usually within 30 minutes. They are used to help the Service remember the status of your current visit, for example, a session ID might be stored to ensure you remain logged in.
You can remove cookies from your device at any time, and your device will automatically delete expired cookies.
First-party cookies entail a small text file that is stored on your computer when you visit a specific domain (website) and which cannot be shared with others. These cookies are set directly by the Service and only the Service can read them.
Cookies that do not originate from the Service are called 'Third Party' cookies. Such cookies are set by other digital services and are accessible by those services only. For example, if a webpage contains an embedded YouTube video, YouTube will set its own cookies to enable the video to work properly.
Some cookies are set by services for advertising purposes. For example, an advertising platform may set a cookie that recognises the online journey a user has taken across different websites. The advertising partner may set or read the cookies on other websites/services and link the users' activity on this Service. Third-party cookies are not set by the Service itself.
How we use cookies
We categorise cookies based on how they are used; this section will help you make broad choices about which cookies you set.
Essential cookies
These cookies let you use all the different yet essential parts of the Service. Without them, the Service cannot be provided. Therefore, they are sometimes called "strictly necessary" cookies.
For example, we use essential cookies to:
remember your preferences (for example, whether you have given your consent for cookies to be set),
remember security settings that affect access to certain content, for example, whether you are logged in or for enabling consistent access to our web servers,
enable certain essential services you need, such as a shopping cart.
Functional cookies
These cookies are used to provide functionality. For example, we use functional cookies to:
enable embedded imagery and zoom functions,
enable embedded video or audio content,
enable embedded blog commenting functionality,
remember that you have visited the website before so that messages for new visitors are not repeated to you,
remember certain preferences such as language or text size.
Where we embed content from third-party services, those services may set their own cookies which we cannot control or monitor. If you choose to view this embedded content, you accept that these third-party services may set cookies on your device.
Performance cookies
These cookies help us ensure the website is working properly and they highlight when we need to fix issues or improve experiences.
While we do not collect data directly about each user's age, gender, or interests, we use Google Signals to receive anonymised data that groups and summarises information about the users who visit our Services. This includes the categorisation of users' ages, genders, and interests, which provides more context to our performance data.
Any performance cookies we use only collects anonymised data to protect your identity, so we cannot identify any individuals from this data. We do not collect any data on sex, political or religious beliefs, nationality, or postcodes through cookies.
You can manage what data Google stores about you, and whether it can collect or share that data at myadcenter.google.com/controls
Third-party personalised ad cookies
From time to time we may use advertising services to help reach users on our sites with offers and content. Furthermore, we offer some content on the website embedded from third-party platforms such as YouTube, Soundcloud and others. Where we embed content, we cannot control the cookies that are set by such embedded content, and thus we treat the categorisation of these for cookie consent purposes as though they will set marketing cookies.
Where we use personalised ad cookies, it is to understand your interests and show you relevant adverts based on your browsing habits.
We work with third-party advertising networks to display adverts (ads) for the products and services we offer. The personalised ad cookies we collect for the Service are outlined below under 'The cookies we set' and within the cookie banner. You can choose to accept or reject these cookies by indicating your preference at the bottom of this page or within the banner.
These advertising networks may also be able to track your browsing across different websites. Giving or declining your consent for personalised ads does not change the online advertising you will see in general. It will only determine whether you will view the personalised ads our advertising networks present to you following your use of this Service.
The marketing and remarketing cookie services we use are managed by third parties. Find below the privacy policies for the third-party cookie providers we use for the HES domain and subdomains:
Google Adwords allows conversion tracking, optimisation and remarketing.
Google DoubleClick allows conversion tracking, and optimization.
Google YouTube allows advertising and personal recommendations, as well as security measures.
The third-party embedded content providers may set their own marketing cookies from other advertising services, and we cannot control or monitor what cookies they set. Where you view content from these services you accept that they may set these cookies. You can adjust your consent preferences for such third-party content at their own cookie policy functions. You can decline consent for marketing cookies on our services and our websites will continue to work for you without any embedded third-party content.
The cookies we set - essential cookies
The following cookies can be found on historicenvironments.scot, blog.historicenvironment.scot and portal.historicenvironment.scot.
Load balancer
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
ARRAffinity, ARRAffinitySameSite | A unique identifier | This cookie is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. | This expires at the end of your session. |
Fonts.net bot management
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
__cf_bm | A unique identifier | This cookie is used by third party fonts provider for anti-bot security (via Cloudflare). | After 30 minutes |
The following cookies can be found on historicenvironments.scot and blog.historicenvironment.scot only.
Microsoft Application Insights
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
ai_session, ai_user | A unique identifier | This cookie is used for Microsoft Application Insights software, which collects statistical usage and telemetry information for apps built on the Azure cloud platform. This is a unique anonymous session identifier cookie. | The longest lasting cookie expires after 1 year, the other expires on the same day. |
ASP.NET
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
ASP.NET_SessionId | Session ID | This cookie us used to identify the users' session on the server. The session is an area on the server used to store session state in between HTTP requests. | End of session. |
Consent preference cookie
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
.HESCookiePreferences | A string for each preference set | This cookie us used to store information about a visitor's cookie preference settings | After 1 year |
The following cookies can be found on Portal.historicenvironment.scot only
The cookies we set - performance cookies
Google Analytics is an example of a first party cookie used for performance. Other organisations can't access your data or view cookies used by our website, and we do not sell your data to any third parties. We also do not allow Google to share our analytics data.
The following cookies can be found on historicenvironments.scot, blog.historicenvironment.scot and portal.historicenvironment.scot.
Google Analytics
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Browser ID | This cookie collects information about how you use this website. | After 2 years |
_gid | User ID | This cookie is used to distinguish users. | After 24 hours |
The following cookies can be found on historicenvironments.scot and blog.historicenvironment.scot only.
Google Analytics
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga_LFVMXMFPCX | Session | This cookie is used to persist session state. | After 2 years |
The following cookies can be found on Portal.historicenvironment.scot only.
Google Analytics
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga_JPK1NXP86B | Session ID | This cookie is used to persist session state which means remembering data about the user. | After 2 years |
The cookies we set - functional cookies
These cookies are used to provide functionality.
The following cookies can be found on historicenvironment.scot and blog.historicenvironment.scot.
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
SOCS | Session ID | This cookie stores the user's state regarding their cookie preferences/choices | 13 months |
__Secure-ENID | Session ID | This cookie stores user preferences and settings, such as language or other personalisation. | 13 months |
receive-cookie-deprecation | Session ID and Testing ID/labels | This cookie is part of Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative. The cookie is used to test and preview how websites behave without third party cookies. | End of session. |
Google Authentication
The following essential Google authentication cookies may be set when accessing Google services or embedded Google content:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
APISID | Google API authentication token | This cookie is used by Google to authenticate users and maintain secure sessions across Google services including YouTube | After 2 years |
HSID | Google authentication hash | This cookie is used by Google for authentication and to prevent cross-site request forgery attacks | After 2 years |
SAPISID | Google API authentication token | This cookie is used by Google to authenticate users and maintain secure sessions across Google services including YouTube | After 2 years |
SID | Google session ID | This cookie is used by Google to maintain secure user sessions and prevent malicious attacks | After 2 years |
SSID | Google secure session ID | This cookie is used by Google to maintain secure sessions across Google services | After 2 years |
SIDCC | Google session validation token | This cookie is used by Google to validate user sessions and prevent security attacks | After 79-91 days |
LOGIN_INFO | YouTube login authentication data | This cookie is used by YouTube to store user authentication information when logged into a Google account | After 330 days |
__Secure-1PAPISID | Google API authentication token | This cookie is used by Google to authenticate users and maintain secure sessions across Google services including YouTube | After 2 years |
__Secure-1PSID | Google session ID | This cookie is used by Google to maintain secure user sessions and prevent malicious attacks | After 2 years |
__Secure-1PSIDCC | Google session validation token | This cookie is used by Google to validate user sessions and prevent security attacks | After 90 days |
__Secure-1PSIDTS | Google session timestamp | This cookie is used by Google to timestamp secure sessions for security purposes | After 97 days |
__Secure-3PAPISID | Google API authentication token | This cookie is used by Google to authenticate users and maintain secure sessions across Google services including YouTube | After 2 years |
__Secure-3PSID | Google session ID | This cookie is used by Google to maintain secure user sessions and prevent malicious attacks | After 2 years |
__Secure-3PSIDCC | Google session validation token | This cookie is used by Google to validate user sessions and prevent security attacks | After 91 days |
__Secure-3PSIDTS | Google session timestamp | This cookie is used by Google to timestamp secure sessions for security purposes | After 97 days |
__Secure-BUCKET | Google experiment bucket ID | This cookie is used by Google for experimental features and A/B testing | After 19 days |
SEARCH_SAMESITE | Google search security token | This cookie is used by Google Search to enhance security and prevent cross-site attacks | After 23 days |
Oracle
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
ORA_WWV_APP_1505 | Session IDs | This cookie is to store the user's usage history. | End of Session |
ThingLink
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
AWSALBAPP-0, AWSALBAPP-1, AWSALBAPP-2, AWSALBAPP-3 | Session ID | This cookie stores user's cookie preferences to avoid repeated consent prompts. | End of session. |
Microsoft Analytics and Performance
The following performance cookies may be set when visiting Microsoft services or embedded Microsoft content:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
MC1 | Microsoft user identifier | This cookie is used by Microsoft for advertising site analytics and other operational purposes | After 365 days |
MS0 | Microsoft user identifier | This cookie is used by Microsoft to identify a specific session | After 35 days |
MUID | Microsoft user identifier | This cookie is used by Microsoft to identify unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites for advertising and analytics purposes | After 365 days |
_clck | Microsoft Clarity session ID | This cookie is used by Microsoft Clarity to remember a unique user ID and maintain consistent settings across visits | After 33 days |
_uetvid | Microsoft UET visitor ID | This cookie is used by Microsoft Advertising to store a unique anonymized visitor ID for personalised marketing | After 93 days |
Adobe Analytics
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
AMCV_EA76ADE95776D2EC7F000101@AdobeOrg | Adobe Experience Cloud visitor ID | This cookie is used by Adobe Experience Cloud to identify unique visitors across Adobe solutions | After 303 days |
mbox | Adobe Target session ID | This cookie is used by Adobe Target to determine which content or offers to display to visitors | After 107 days |
Sketchfab
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
OptanonConsent | Cookie preference and consent | This cookie stores a user's state regarding their cookie choices. | Up to 365 days |
aws-waf-token | Session | This cookie is used to identify and separate malicious clients (bots) from legitimate sessions. | Up to 3 days |
Soundcloud
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
OptanonConsent | Cookie preference and consent | This cookie stores a user's state regarding their cookie choices. | Up to 365 days |
__qca | Browser and HTTP request | This cookie is set by Quantcast, who present targeted advertising. | Up to 13 months |
sc_session | Unique session ID | This cookie is a critical component in maintaining user sessions within a web application. | Up to 6 days |
ajs_anonymous_id | Anonymous ID | This cookie is used to store data about the user's last visit to the web application. | Up to 365 days |
sc_anonymous_id | Anonymous ID | This cookie is used to track anonymous user interactions. | Up to 10 years |
datadome | Unique user and session ID | This cookie is used to identify and separate malicious clients (bots) from legitimate sessions. | Up to 365 days |
eupubconsent-v2 | Cookie preference and consent | This cookie is used to store data for remarketing purposes. | Up to 365 days |
rubicon_last_sync | User browser ID | This cookie is used to sync cookie identifiers between different advertising systems and ensures users' data is consistent across different platforms. | Up to 5 hours |
Additional SoundCloud cookies may be set when viewing embedded SoundCloud content:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
__eoi | Unknown identifier | This cookie is used by Google to detect and prevent spam and improve the overall security of the website. It helps Google distinguish between legitimate human users and automated bots or malicious traffic | After 82 days |
OptanonAlertBoxClosed | OneTrust banner dismissal timestamp | This cookie is used to remember when a user has dismissed the cookie consent banner | Up to 365 days |
connect_session | SoundCloud connection session | This cookie is used by SoundCloud to maintain connection sessions | End of session |
sc_theme | SoundCloud theme preference | This cookie is used to store user theme preferences for SoundCloud | After 12 days |
sc_tracking_anonymous_id | SoundCloud tracking ID | This cookie is used by SoundCloud to track user interactions anonymously | Up to 365 days |
soundcloud_session_hint | SoundCloud session hint | This cookie is used by SoundCloud to maintain session state | End of session |
Disqus
The following cookies may be set when Disqus commenting functionality is embedded:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
disqus_unique | Disqus user identifier | This cookie is used by Disqus to identify unique users for comment functionality | After 25 days |
zeta-ssp-user-id | Zeta SSP advertising identifier | This cookie is used by Zeta SSP for advertising targeting and user identification | After 55 days |
TripAdvisor
The following cookies may be set when TripAdvisor widgets or content are embedded:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
PAC | TripAdvisor authentication cookie | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for user authentication and session management | After 239 days |
PMC | TripAdvisor personalisation cookie | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for personalisation and user experience | After 365 days |
SRT | TripAdvisor sync token | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for synchronisation purposes | After 12 days |
TACds | TripAdvisor click data sync | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to sync click data and track user interactions | After 27 days |
TADCID | TripAdvisor device/user ID | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to identify unique devices and users across visits | After 105 days |
TART | TripAdvisor response token | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for analytics and user tracking | After 91 days |
TASameSite | TripAdvisor security flag | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for security purposes to prevent cross-site attacks | After 11 days |
TASession | TripAdvisor session data | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to manage user session data | End of session |
TASID | TripAdvisor session ID | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to identify user sessions | After 37 days |
TASSK | TripAdvisor analytics token | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for analytics and to track user interactions with the website | After 153 days |
TATravelInfo | TripAdvisor travel information | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to store user travel information and preferences | After 39 days |
TATrkConsent | TripAdvisor tracking consent | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to store user consent preferences for tracking and analytics | After 76 days |
TAUD | TripAdvisor user data | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to store user-specific data | After 32 days |
TAUnique | TripAdvisor unique identifier | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to identify unique users across sessions | After 97-99 days |
VRMCID | TripAdvisor VRM customer ID | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for vacation rental management and customer identification | After 85 days |
__vt | TripAdvisor visitor token | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor to track visitor behaviour and preferences | After 158 days |
ServerPool | TripAdvisor server pool | This cookie is used by TripAdvisor for load balancing and server pool management | End of session |
datadome | Bot detection and security token | This cookie is used to identify and separate malicious clients (bots) from legitimate sessions | After 136 days |
TripAdvisor also uses OneTrust consent management:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
OTAdditionalConsentString | OneTrust additional consent | This cookie is used by OneTrust to store additional consent preferences for IAB TCF compliance | Up to 365 days |
OptanonConsent | OneTrust cookie consent settings | This cookie stores a user's state regarding their cookie choices | Up to 365 days |
eupubconsent-v2 | IAB Europe consent string | This cookie is used to store IAB Transparency and Consent Framework consent data | Up to 365 days |
Vimeo
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
vuid | Browsing behaviour | This cookie is to store the user's usage history. | After 399 Days |
The cookies we set - third party cookies
These cookies are set to allow us and our partners to improve how we advertise to you. Declining consent to advertising cookies does not mean you will not see advertising, only that the advertising may be less relevant to you.
Google Advertising, and Google Marketing Platform
Cookies set by Google's Marketing Platform will vary depending on the types of advertising you encounter. Not all of the cookies listed here might be set, even if you consent to marketing cookies.
How Google uses cookies for personalisation and advertising
The following cookies can be found on historicenvironment.scot and blog.historicenvironment.scot.
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | Browsing behaviour | This cookie us used for advertising and personalised YouTube recommendations based on past views and searches. | Up to 6 months |
YSC | User ID | This cookie ensures that requests within a browsing session are made by the user, and not by other sites. These cookies prevent malicious sites from acting on behalf of a user without that user's knowledge. | End of session |
_gcl_dc | Unique identifier for the ad click; Timestamp; Conversion data. | This cookie is associated with Google's advertising and measurement products, such as Google Ads and Analytics. This cookie is used to store ad click information, which helps to track and measure conversions. | 90 days |
_gcl_au | Unique identifiers | These cookies provide ad delivery or retargeting, specifically user actions on a website after viewing or clicking on an advert. | 90 days |
DSID | User ID | This cookie is used by Google to identify a logged-in user on non-Google websites. It ensures that the user's ad personalisation settings are respected, and it helps to manage and deliver personalised ads based on the user's preferences. | 14 days |
YouTube Advertising
Additional YouTube advertising cookies may be set when viewing YouTube content:
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA | YouTube privacy settings | This cookie is used by YouTube to store user privacy settings and preferences | After 6 months |
__Secure-ROLLOUT_TOKEN | YouTube feature rollout token | This cookie is used by YouTube to manage feature rollouts and testing for different user groups | After 64 days |
__Secure-YEC | YouTube encrypted preferences | This cookie is used by YouTube to detect automated bot traffic and ensure genuine user interactions | After 12 days |
__Secure-YNID | YouTube network identifier | This cookie is used by YouTube to maintain user identification across secure connections | After 361 days |
PREF | YouTube user preferences | This cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and settings for video playback | After 36 days |
Meta
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
_fbp | Unique identifier; Timestamp; Browser and device details. | This cookie is used by Facebook/Meta to deliver a series of ad products such as real-time bidding from third-parties. The cookie tracks user interactions and visits across websites where the Facebook Pixel is installed. | 90 days |
_fbc | Click ID and Timestamp | This cookie is used by Facebook to track clicks on ads and to link them to a specific website visit. | 90 days |
OpinionStage
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
_os_session_v2 | Session ID | This cookie protects Opinion Stage widget from bot attacks such as faking user answers. It does not contain any user-specific information. | After 14 days |
The following cookies can be found on blog.historicenvironment.scot only.
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
ig_did | Browser ID | This cookie provides Instagram with information on how our website is used. | Up to 365 days |
As we use Google Signals, there are some related third-party cookies that may be set, depending on if you have consented to be tracked by Google.
Name | Data stored | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
IDE | User ID | This cookie links your usage of this website to your advertising profile at Google. | After 390 days |
CONSENT | User ID and consent record | This cookie stores whether or not you have given consent to Google advertising to track you — this should prevent you being tracked by Google if you have not consented. | After 400 days |
NID | User preference | This cookie us used to store your advertising preferences from Google. | After 180 days |
Manage your cookie settings
On the HES domain and subdomains, we only use Performance, Functional, and Third-Party personalised Ad cookies after you have given your consent.
You can do this by selecting your preferences in the cookie banner or below. If you don't give your permission, we will only collect basic, essential cookies.
You can also control your cookies in your web browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to manage and delete them within your browser, please use the following links:
To quickly manage third party cookies generated by advertisers, visit Your Online Choices.
We aren't responsible for the information or the setting of cookies on these external websites.