To be placed at the entrance of each of the 13 addresses within Stornoway town centre, the slabs offer a celebration of both mainland firms and local shops and characters which have played their part in the town's history.

Completed as part of the Stornoway Town Heritage Initiative – a five year programme aiming to secure tangible economic benefits through improvements to the heritage aspects of the town – the slabs were made possible by current shop owners and local interested parties who provided the funding needed to create these beautiful markers of history.

Diane Macpherson, Principal Policy Officer (Planning) with the Comhairle, expanded: "We were very pleasantly surprised by the level of interest. When the letter was sent out seeking funding for these slabs it had been impressed that funding was needed to cover all the slabs or none would be done and we were successful in attracting sufficient funding to cover the scheme."

She continued: "I think the inscriptions just add a little bit of interest – hopefully a talking point. I would say that the history of Stornoway is of great interest to many people and that initiatives like the inscribed slabs give a taster to locals and tourists alike which will perhaps encourage them to find out a bit more under their own steam."

And finding out more will be made easier as the Stornoway Historical Society are currently busy collating a leaflet to be released in conjunction with Stornoway Town Heritage Initiative which expands and provides further detail on the sites celebrated by the slabs.

Malcolm MacDonald from the Society explained: "The slabs mark one particular point in time, but with the leaflet we'll be able to give a fuller history of the shops which were there before and after the period shown on the slabs.

"We're absolutely delighted with the scheme and wouldn't have participated if we weren't so impressed by the idea. It's going to increase the interest of local people to think about what was there before, as well as being of interest to tourists, and it's quite amazing the amount of history and stories that come from just that very small part of town."

The 13 slabs range from marking the names of previous shops – such as the one outside Macneills pub which reads: 'No.11, Built-1800, Formerly-Lewis Bakery and Provision Store' – to celebrating local characters from the town's past; like 'No.6, Formerly occupied by Alex Macleod 'Cando' and 'Nos.15-19, Built-1828, Former home of John Loban-Stonemason', situated outside Stornoway library.

They were carved in Aberdeen by the Monumental Letter Cutter at Stornoway Memorials and have already become a welcomed addition to the town centre as it slowly emerges into its new look.

Duncan Maclennan, owner of Furniture World, which now boasts a slab marking it as the site of the original Woolworths, opening in 1935, commented: "All of the works will certainly enhance the town centre and the new stone looks quite nice so it will be good when the work is finally finished."

And Janet Robertson, Assistant Manager of present day Woolworths next door, said: "We were more than happy to help out with the slabs. They're bringing back a bit of heritage to the town centre and I think the overall area will look really good once it's ready."