THE long-running acrimonious saga around the future and access to volumes of Scotland's historic documents has reached a resolution, with most of the artefacts remaining in the capital.

The Catholic Church has announced that around two million of the documents in its priceless archives will for the foreseeable future remain in the Edinburgh townhouse they have been kept in for the past 50 years.

The move comes just six months after Glasgow's Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti announced that Columba House was "not fit for purpose" after the discovery of mould on items in the collection.

The resource was forced to shut as a result of the damp problem.

It also comes on the back of years of wrangles between eminent historians and the Catholic Church over the future of the archives, which date back to Mary, Queen of Scots.

More than a million items, from before 1878, have already moved to Aberdeen, with others kept in Glasgow, Salamanca in Spain, Rome and Bavaria.

The collection includes large amounts of material amassed by Scottish Catholics in exile in Paris, Rome, Regensburg and elsewhere around the time of the Reformation.

Much of it survived damage in upheavals such as the French Revolution before being brought back to Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

It includes letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots to allies in France as well as a set of 19th Century personal papers including correspondence with Oscar Wilde.

A key complaint of the ­relocation has been the journey to the north-east, with Columba House just a walk away from the National Archives and National Museum in Edinburgh.

Many of the post-1878 archives had been expected to be moved to a new episcopal headquarters, expected to have constructed at Pollokshields, in Glasgow. However, the retention of Columba House also raises question over these plans.

But while historians have welcomed the move to retain Columba House, questions have been asked about the quick change of stance and calls have been made for the recruitment of professional archivists to look after the documents and prevent the return of mould issues.

Leading historian Professor Tom Devine, of Edinburgh University, said: "This is a step in the right direction and will be warmly received and supported by the community of historians and will help heal the breach with the Bishops but there is still a fair amount to do.

"Do they have sufficient commitment to the preservation of Scotland's Catholic past to put in place professional archivists? And why is Columba House now fit for purpose when it wasn't not so long ago?"

Fellow historian Professor Dauvit Broun added: "It's wonderful news that the archives will be available in Edinburgh but what's been going on has been very confusing. Columba House also needs an archivist."

A spokesman for the Church said: "Columba House was forced to close earlier this year to allow access to specialists who were brought in to deal with the dampness issues in the sub-basement. While they were working to conserve and rescue the precious damaged archival materials we were unable to accommodate visitors and had to close the archive.

"Over the summer the historic archive has been moved as planned to Aberdeen where it is now conserved in state-of-the-art facilities. This has freed up space in Columba House and the worst affected area - the sub-basement - has been emptied of materials and will no longer be used.

"We are now able to resume access to scholars who wish to consult the archive by appointment, and Columba House remains open for the time being until a new, more appropriate facility is ready."