Conservation work is to take place in seven kirkyards so they can be opened up for a new walking tour.
The Ochils Landscape Partnership (OLP) plans to take people on a Kirkyards Trail in the Hillfoots to give them the opportunity to enjoy the history of burial grounds in the area.
The group also wants to ensure the kirkyards are properly preserved for the 21st Century.
A variety of conservation, clearance and data recording tasks are being carried out by OLP officers, aided by volunteers, before construction work commences to repoint buildings, repair and reinstall headstones and put up interpretative signs.
Volunteers will work in kirkyards at Upper and Lower Tillicoultry, Dollar, Muckhart, Logie and Alva, as well as at the private burial ground of Harviestoun Castle, Tait’s Tomb.
Several sessions took place last year, during which the flora and fauna of the kirkyards was recorded and some basic stone conservation was carried out by Susan Mills, Clackmannanshire Council’s museums and heritage officer and her team.
A new session combining both data recording and vegetation clearance is planned for Thursday February 6 between 10am and 3pm at Tillicoultry Lower Kirkyard.
Ian Gillies, the OLP’s project officer, said: “We are now working with a conservation architect, a quantity surveyor and a structural engineer who will help us deliver the historic Kirkyards Trail later in the year.
“Together they are drawing up a schedule for conservation repair work, which will be carried out by specialist firms who will be invited to tender shortly.
“This work will also cover the ice house in the Ochil Hills Woodland Park it will be made safe and accessible so that visitors can make an appointment to view this unusual, heptagonal-shaped structure.”
Dr Kirsty McAlister, the OLP’s research and interpretation officer, said: “The work of our volunteers in this entire project is crucial as we have to complete the research and clean-up work before the structural work can commence.
We are, therefore, holding this new volunteer session and hope that some of the local people who helped out last year will get involved again.”
When completed, the Kirkyards Trail will include on-site interpretation, leaflets and online information.
There are also plans to create a fully searchable, freely available database which people can use for their own research purposes.
Further details on the OLP and on all the volunteering sessions for the kirkyards project are on the website at www.ochils.gov.uk.
“In order to organise the necessary equipment for these tasks, it would be helpful if those planning to attend could let Susan Mills and Amanda Joaquin, who is leading the vegetation clearance exercise, know that they are coming, even if it’s only for a few hours,” Dr McAlister added.