Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Tour Scotland photograph of Dunnottar Castle, Scotland. A ruined medieval fortress located upon a precipitous rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles south of Stonehaven. Its surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but an important fortress certainly existed on this site from Dark Age times. Dunnottar played an important role in the history of Scotland from the Middle Ages through to the Enlightenment, due to its strategic location overlooking the shipping lanes to northern Scotland and also being situated on a fairly narrow coastal terrace that controlled land movements, particularly the land access to the ancient Causey Mounth, the only medieval route from the coastal south via Portlethen Moss to Aberdeen.
The ruins of the castle are spread over a three acre area virtually surrounded by sheer cliffs which drop to the North Sea 150 feet below. This L plan castle is accessed via a narrow strip of land joining the mainland and a steep path leading up to the massive gatehouse. The cliffs and headland formations which extend miles to the north and south are home to tens of thousands of pelagic birds, making this stretch of Scottish coast a notable bird sanctuary of northern Europe from the standpoint of total bird populations and diversity of species. Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close were shot there. An episode of The US Television show The Amazing Race featured Dunnottar Castle. Scotland's Castles.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of Arbroath Abbey, Angus, Scotland. The Abbey was founded by King William the Lion in 1178 for monks of the Tironensian order from Kelso Abbey. It received consecration in 1197 with a dedication to Saint Thomas Becket. It was the King's only personal foundation, and he was buried within its precincts in 1214. The Abbey was not finally completed until 1233.
Arbroath was the location of the Battle of Arbroath in 1446. A series of disagreements between the Chief Justiciary of Arbroath, Alexander Lindsay, third Earl of Crawford, and Bishop James Kennedy of St Andrews resulted in Lindsay sacking the bishop's lands and burning his properties. Lindsay was excommunicated for his troubles and it was felt that this was incompatible with his role as Chief Justiciary. The monks of Arbroath Abbey selected Alexander Ogilvy of Inverquharity as his replacement and the insult led to pitched battle in the town, leaving 500 dead, including Lindsay and Ogilvy. Large parts of the town were destroyed in the aftermath by the Lindsay family.
The Abbey relatively quickly fell into disuse and eventual disrepair after its dissolution at the Reformation, the lead from the roof rumoured to have been used in the 16th century civil wars and the stonework plundered for housebuilding throughout the town. The ruins were a popular site for travellers during the 17th and 18th centuries, and is still very popular today.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the harbour in Arbroath, Scotland. Arbroath grew considerably during the Industrial Revolution due to the expansion of the jute industry. A new harbour was built in 1839 and by the 1900s, Arbroath had become one of the larger fishing ports in Scotland. During the industrial revolution, Arbroath’s economy expanded and the population of the town expanded, with new housing having to be constructed to house the influx of workers. Arbroath became moderately well known for jute and sailcloth production, with 34 mills employing 1400 looms and producing over one million yards of osnaburg cloth and 450,000 yards of sailcloth in 1875. Arbroath is believed to be the source of the sails used on the Cutty Sark.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of an Arbroath Smokies Shop in Arbroath, Scotland. Arbroath Smokies are prepared using traditional methods dating back to the late 1800s. The fish are first salted overnight to preserve them, they are then tied in pairs using hemp twine and left overnight to dry. Once the Smokies have been tied and dried, they are hung over a triangular shaped length of wood to smoke. This kiln stick fits in the middle of the pair of Smokies, one fish either side. These kiln sticks are then used to hang the dried fish in a special barrel containing a hardwood fire. When the fish are hung over the fire, the top of the barrel is covered with a lid and sealed around the edges with wet jute sacks (the water prevents the jute sacks catching fire). All of this serves to create a very hot and humid smoky fire which is devoid of flames. The intense heat and presence of thick smoke is essential if the fish are to be cooked, not burned, and to have the strong smoky taste and smell people expect from Arbroath Smokies. It normally takes less than an hour of smoking, before the fish are ready to eat.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre, Arbuthnott, Scotland. The Centre is devoted to the life and times of Lewis Grassic Gibbon who grew up in Arbuthnott, Kincardineshire and was later to become one of Scotland's best known authors. Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell, born 13th February 1901, died 7th February 1935. Born and raised in Arbuthnott, Aberdeenshire, Mitchell started working as a journalist for the Aberdeen Journal and the Scottish Farmer at age 16. In 1919 he joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in Iran, India and Egypt before enlisting in the Royal Air Force in 1920. In the RAF he worked as a clerk and spent some time in the Middle East. He married Rebecca Middleton in 1925, with whom he settled in Welwyn Garden City. He began writing full-time in 1929. Mitchell wrote numerous books and shorter works under both his real name and nom de plume before his early death in 1935 of peritonitis brought on by a perforated ulcer. Mitchell attracted attention from his earliest attempts at fiction, notably from H.G. Wells, but it was his trilogy entitled A Scots Quair, and in particular its first book Sunset Song, with which he made his mark. A Scots Quair with its combination of realist narrative and lyrical use of dialect is considered to be among the defining works of 20th century Scottish Renaissance.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the church in Arbuthnott, Scotland. This is one of the few Parish churches in Scotland that dates from pre-Reformation times and is still in use for public worship. The church is dedicated to the memory of St.Ternan who, it is believed, was born to a Pictish family in the Mearns in the first half of the fifth century A.D. After training in his native country, he went to Ireland, took part in missionary work and became Abbot of a monastic settlement in Leinster. Thereafter he returned to Kincardineshire and probably settled in Banchory where his religious community was an important missionary centre.
It is not possible to trace a connection between Arbuthnott Church and Ternan during his life, but it is known that Arbuthnott Church was dedicated to his memory from very early times and there is every indication that a church existed on the site of the present kirk before the chancel was dedicated on 3rd August A.D. 1242 by the famous David de Bernham, Bishop of St.Andrews.
The Parish of Arbuthnott was probably brought into being as a result of the Norman influence that pervaded all Scottish affairs during the reigns of Margaret and her sons 1005-1154. That there was certainly a kirk at Arbuthnott with a Parish church is established through surviving documents that relate the long dispute that arose between the Thanes of Arbuthnott and successive Bishops of St.Andrews which was only settled by a decree of the Synod of Perth in the year 1206. The fact that this dispute was concerned with the relationship between the Thanes of Arbuthnott and the Bishops as owners of the Kirkton lands and that it was also related to the management of the Kirkton lands as agricultural subjects is evidence of the very long standing close association between the church, the land and its people and their daily lives. Arbuthnott was developing as an agricultural community in the latter part of the 12th century and today still draws its wealth from agricultural production. The close tie between the governorship of the church and agricultural community can still be seen in all kirk affairs today.
The chancel which was dedicated in 1242 is probably the oldest existing structure in the church today but the evidence of the Norman arch at the entrance to the Arbuthnott Aisle on the south side of the chancel and an incomplete wall on the north side indicate other buildings that could have been earlier to the chancel itself. It is built in the early English style and under the eastmost south lancet. As can be seen, the lancet windows and the top part of the east gable have been considerably altered at some later date. From earliest times the chancel has served as a burial place for the Norman family of Allardyce to whom the lands of Allardyce were granted in 1165, or thereabouts.
The first nave was built probably soon after the chancel and then rebuilt on the eve of the Reformation. The existing bell tower at the west end of the nave and the Lady Chapel, which has become the Arbuthontt Ailse, were constructed by Sir Robert Arbuthnott of that Ilk in the year 1500. As has been suggested, the Arbuthnott Aisle was probably built on the site of an older building as it is of the later period to the archway that divides it from the church.
The bell tower was dedicated to the church by Sir Robert and he also gave two bells to ring for the services and offices. The Arbuthnott Aisle is a beautiful example of late Scottish Gothic and has two storeys. The lower one, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, has a stoup (One of these is situated at the entrance to the church, by the south door, and at the entrance to the aisle. Each would have contained holy water to "cleanse" the visitor as he entered the building.) and an aumbry (A form of cupboard or wall recess in which the host [the blessed bread, water and wine] would remain until required by the officiating priest.). It contains a tomb, the top of which is the stone effigy of Hugo le Blond of Arbuthnott, who lived in the 13th century. The tomb beneath the effigy is of a later period probably mid-16th century and probably contains the remains of James Arbuthnott of that Ilk, son of Sir Robert, the builder of the Aisle. The four shields on the coffin are those of the stewart, Arbuthnott, Arbuthnott and Douglas families. The room above the Lady Chapel was destined for the use of the Parish priest and it would have been in a room like this, but an earlier one, in which James Sibbald, Vicar of Arbuthnott, who died in 1507, would have completed the famous Missal of Arbuthnott in the year 1492. The construction of the bell tower and the Aisle in the late 15th century, the commissioning of the Missal and other religious books, the donation of the communion plate, and other church vessels, continued, through the 16th century and 17th centuries, the long association between the church and the family of Arbuthnott. At the Reformation the first Protestant minister of the church was a member of the Arbuthnott family, Alexander, whose memorial stone is seen in the north wall of the church close to the pulpit. He later became the first protestant Principal of King's College, Aberdeen, and was Moderator of the General Assembly. The other large plaque in the north wall above the center of the nave is a memorial to another Sibbald, John, of Kair, who was minister of the Parish in the middle of the 17th century. He it was who gave a library to the church which was for many years housed in the upper part of the Arbuthnott Aisle.
Towards the middle of the 18th century and into the 19th century the structure of the church became decayed. The nave, was, therefore, restored in the middle of the 19th century when galleries were added to three sides of it and the pulpit was set against the south wall. In 1890 fire destroyed the greater part of the nave and another restoration, which included the reroofing of the chancel, was carried out. It may have been at this time that the lancet windows were altered.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Gravestone, Arbuthnott, Scotland. Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell, born 13th February 1901, died 7th February 1935. Born and raised in Arbuthnott, Aberdeenshire, Mitchell started working as a journalist for the Aberdeen Journal and the Scottish Farmer at age 16. In 1919 he joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in Iran, India and Egypt before enlisting in the Royal Air Force in 1920. In the RAF he worked as a clerk and spent some time in the Middle East. He married Rebecca Middleton in 1925, with whom he settled in Welwyn Garden City. He began writing full-time in 1929. Mitchell wrote numerous books and shorter works under both his real name and nom de plume before his early death in 1935 of peritonitis brought on by a perforated ulcer.
Mitchell attracted attention from his earliest attempts at fiction, notably from H.G. Wells, but it was his trilogy entitled A Scots Quair, and in particular its first book Sunset Song, with which he made his mark. A Scots Quair with its combination of realist narrative and lyrical use of dialect is considered to be among the defining works of 20th century Scottish Renaissance.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the Parish Church in Aberlemno, Scotland. Small oblong church re-built 1722 on the site of Pre-Reformation church, was extended to a T-plan in 1820 and remodelled in Gothic style in the late 19th century. The vestry and galleries were added in 1856.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the Pictish Stone in the Kirkyard, Aberlemno, Angus, Scotland. The Kirkyard Stone is a Class 2 stone, the west face is inscribed with a Celtic Cross flanked by patterns, the east with a battle scene, reputedly depicting the battle of Dunnichen. A hole has been bored through the upper part of the stone some time after its sculpting.
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Tour Scotland photograph of a Pictish Stone in Aberlemno, Scotland. This stone is known as Aberlemno III. This stone shows a Celtic Cross on one side, and a battle scene, as above, on the reverse.
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Tour Scotland photograph of the Organ in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. There is mention of an organ being present in the Abbey as early as 1247 but little is known of this instrument apart from its existence. There is no further record until the Scottish Reformation in 1560, when the use of organs was forbidden. The present Organ was built by Forster and Andrews in 1882.
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Tour Scotland photograph of the Joseph Neil Paton, Celtic Cross, gravestone in the Dunfermline Abbey Churchyard, Fife, Scotland.Joseph Neil Paton was a well known Dunfermline designer of damask work. Joseph Noel Paton his son, also produced damask work in Dunfermline.
This surname is thought to have come from Paton the son of the 14th century Scots nobleman Sir Patrick Herring. Various forms of the name Paton deriving from the Gaelic form of Paton, which is Macphaiden meaning son of Patrick. The Mac was dropped over the years and the spelling was changed but Paton remained the closest to the original.
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Tour Scotland photograph of the William Lawson Gravestone in St Serf's Churchyard cemetery in Dunning, Perthshire, Scotland. He was a Scottish Wright and would have carried out a broad range of work, including carpentry.
The majority of Lawson families came from England, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden. In England most Lawson individuals live in the northeast counties of Yorkshire, Durham Northumberland and Lancashire. In the United States the Lawson families primarily live in California, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.
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Tour Scotland photograph of a Witch Memorial, near Dunning, Perthshire, Scotland. A local woman, named Maggie Wall, was burnt as a witch here in 1657 and a monument commemorates this sad event.
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Tour Scotland photograph of Kingship on the Dupplin Cross, Perthshire, Scotland. Images depicting military and religious ideas of kingship on this early medieval cross.
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Tour Scotland travel video of Dupplin Cross, Dunning, Perthshire, Scotland. The Dupplin Cross is a carved, monumental Pictish stone, which dates from around 800A.D. It was first recorded by Thomas Pennant in 1769, on a hillside in Strathearn, near Forteviot and Dunning. The Dupplin Cross is a high cross, that is a free standing, stone cross. While relatively common in Ireland, Northumbria and in Dál Riata, such crosses are not known earlier in the lands of the Picts. Early records report that a second cross stood on a hill above Invermay, also overlooking Forteviot, but this is now lost, and the records do not provide any detail of its exact form. The cross is carved from Old Red Sandstone, the cross stands about 2.5 metres tall, 1 metre broad over the arms of the cross. It is carved with various scenes, religious, martial and traditional Pictish animal carvings. The cross contains a partially legible inscription, of which only the name CUSTANTIN FILIUS FIRCUS can be read. This name is taken as the Latin form of the early 9th century Pictish king CaustantÃn son of Fergus, 793 to 820.
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Tour Scotland photograph of St Serf's Church, Dunning, Perthshire, Scotland. Standing in the centre of the attractive Perthshire village of Dunning is St Serf's Church. Partly dating back to about 1200.
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Old photograph of a shop, people, cars, houses and cottage on Grant Street, Cullen, Scotland. This Scottish fishing village located on the North Sea coast is noted for Cullen Skink, a traditional soup made from smoked haddock, milk, potato and onion, and its former railway bridges, two of which are now part of the national cycle network. These bridges were required, at considerable cost, due to resistance to the railway line being routed any closer to Cullen House. Robert Burns stayed overnight at, what was then, the old town of Cullen in 1787 during his tour of the Highlands.
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Old photograph of fishing boats off the coast of Peterhead, Scotland. Peterhead was founded by fishermen and was developed as a planned settlement. In 1593 the construction of Peterhead's first harbour, Port Henry, encouraged the growth of Peterhead as a fishing port and established a base for trade. Peterhead was a Jacobite supporting town in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. In particular, it was one of the Episcopalian north-eastern ports where reinforcements, plus money and equipment, were periodically landed from France during the Forty-Five.
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Old photograph of buildings on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Royal Mile starts at the Castle esplanade which leads into the Royal Mile as you walk down the hill travelling East there are several streets which connect to make up the Royal Mile. Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Cannongate, and Abbey Strand which leads to Holyrood Palace.
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Old photograph of shops, people and buildings on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, Scotland. Although commonly associated with the city centre, Sauchiehall street is over one and a half miles long, finally meeting Argyle Street in the West End, in front of the Kelvingrove Museum, where they merge to form Dumbarton Road, continuing through Partick.
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Tour Scotland photograph of a Highland Cow in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland. It is the longest enclosed glen in Scotland and runs for 34 miles from Loch Lyon in the west to the village of Fortingall in the east. This glen was also known as " An Crom Ghleann ", the bent glen. The land given over to the MacGregors was Scottish Gaelic: An Tòiseachd. The glen has been home to many clan families, including MacGregors, Lyons, Menzies, Stewarts, Macnaughtans, MacGibbons and the Campbells of Glen Lyon.
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Tour Scotland photograph of the churchyard cemetery by the Abbey in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The mother of William Wallace is said to be buried in the Abbey Churchyard. A thorn tree now bears a plaque to commemorate this.
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Tour Scotland photograph of Abbots House in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Situated in Dunfermline's historic Maygate, Abbot House, with its pink walls, is one of its most distinctive buildings. With two floors of display rooms, volunteer guides are available to conduct you through 1000 years of Scottish history.
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Tour Scotland photograph of Abbey Church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. This large Benedictine abbey was administered by the Abbot of Dunfermline. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but the monastic establishment was based on an earlier foundation dating back to the reign of Malcolm Canmore, 1058 to 1093). Dunfermline became a centre for the well promoted cult of St Margaret, Malcolm's wife and David's mother, from whom the monastery later claimed foundation and for which an earlier foundation charter was fabricated. Robert the Bruce was buried, in 1329, in the choir, now the site of the present parish church. Bruce’s heart rests in Melrose, but his bones lie in Dunfermline Abbey, where, after the discovery of the skeleton in 1818, they were reinterred with fitting pomp below the pulpit of the New church. In 1891 the pulpit was moved back and a monumental brass inserted in the floor to indicate the royal vault.
The foundations of the earliest church, the Church of the Holy Trinity, are under the present superb nave, built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style. The Abbey was sacked in 1560, and fell into disrepair, although part of the church continued in use. Substantial parts of the Abbey building remain, including the vast refectory. Next to the Abbey is the ruin of Dunfermline Palace.
Dunfermline Abbey, one of Scotland's most important cultural sites, has received more of Caledonia’s royal dead than any other place in the kingdom, excepting Iona. The northern renaissance makar, Robert Henryson, is one of the most notable non-royal names to be associated with the abbey. The tomb of Saint Margaret and Malcolm Canmore, within the ruined walls of the Lady chapel, was restored and enclosed by command of Queen Victoria.
During the winter of 1303 the court of Edward I of England was held in the abbey, and on his departure next year most of the buildings were burned. When the Reformers attacked the abbey church in March 1560, they spared the nave. This was repaired in 1570 by Robert Drummond of Carnock. It served as the parish church till the 19th century, and now forms the vestibule of the New church. This edifice, in the Perpendicular style, opened for public worship in 1821, occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts, though differing in style and proportions from the original structure.
The old building was a fine example of simple and massive Norman, as the nave testifies, and has a beautiful doorway in its west front. Another rich Norman doorway was exposed in the south wall in 1903, when masons were cutting a site for the memorial to the soldiers who had fallen in the Second Boer War. A new site was found for this monument in order that the ancient and beautiful entrance might be preserved. The venerable structure is maintained publicly, and private munificence has provided several stained glass windows. Of the monastery there still remains the south wall of the refectory, with a fine window.
The current church building, on the site of the old Abbey's choir, remains in use as a Parish Church in the Church of Scotland, still with the name Dunfermline Abbey.
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Old photograph of Lochinver, Sutherland, Scotland. A Scottish village on the coast in the Assynt district of Sutherland. A few miles northeast is Loch Assynt which is the source of the River Inver which flows into Loch Inver at the village. Lochinver is dominated by the "sugar loaf" shape of Caisteal Liath, the summit peak of nearby Suilven.
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Old photograph of the University in Glasgow, Scotland. This Scottish University was founded in 1451, in Glasgow, Scotland. One of Scotland's ancient universities and the fourth oldest in the English speaking world.
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Old photograph of sailing ships on the River Clyde at Glasgow, Scotland. The River Clyde is the eighth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire. In the early medieval Cumbric language it was known as Clud or Clut, and was central to the Kingdom of Strathclyde.
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Old photograph of Dumbarton by the River Clyde, Scotland. Dumbarton was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde, and later as the county town of the county of Dumbartonshire. The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Dùn Breatainn meaning fort of the Britons.
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Old photograph of Brechin Castle in Angus, Scotland. The castle is the seat of the Earl of Dalhousie, who is the clan chieftain of Clan Maule of Panmure in Angus, and Clan Ramsay of Dalhousie in Midlothian. The original castle was constructed in stone during the 13th century. Most of the current building dates to the early 18th century, when extensive reconstruction was carried out by architect Alexander Edward for James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure, between approximately 1696 and 1709. The grounds have been in the Maule Ramsay family since the 12th century. The castle has been the seat of the Clan Maule since medieval times. The Maule and Ramsay clans were joined under a single chieftain in the 18th century. The seat of the Ramsay clan was moved from Dalhousie Castle to Brechin Castle in the early 20th century.
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Old photograph of Skibo Castle, Sutherland, Scotland. Located to the west of Dornoch in Sutherland, Highland, Scotland, UK overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although the castle dates back to the 12th century, the present structure is largely of the 19th century, and early 20th century, when it was the home of industrialist Andrew Carnegie. It is now operated as the Carnegie Club, a members-only hotel and country club.
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Old photograph of a salmon fisherman and fishing boat on the River Tweed in Scotland with Abbotsford House in the background. The Tweed in the Scottish Borders is probably the most evocative of all Scottish rivers.
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Tour Scotland photograph of the breakwater at Arbroath, Scotland. Arbroath is well known for its connection with the Scottish fishing industry. After the original harbours, dating from the 14th and 18th centuries, were replaced in 1839 with a larger harbour, the local council tried to find fishermen who would be interested in migrating to Arbroath in order to take advantage of the new facilities offered. The town council contacted fishermen in nearby Auchmithie and further afield, including Shetland. The fishing industry grew and at its peak years between 1900 and 1980, around 40 whitefish and pelagic vessels worked from Arbroath, with hundreds of men employed directly as fishermen, hundreds more employed ashore to service the fishing vessels and to process the fish. Quota cuts and decommissioning took its toll on the fishing industry throughout Scotland from the 1980s to the present day.
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Old photograph of cottages in Kilmahog, Trossachs, Scotland. Kilmahog used to be the site of St. Chug's chapel, after which it is named. All that remains of the chapel is a small burial ground with stones dating back to the late 17th century.
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Old photograph of the War Memorial on the High Street in Elgin, Scotland. The sculptor was Percy Portsmouth and the memorial was unveiled on Sunday December 4th 1922 by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
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Old photograph of Sligachan, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Sligachan bridge was built in 1810 by the engineer, Thomas Telford. It is a three span rubble bridge, with a pronounced hump. The segmental arches are of unequal size, and there are triangular cutwaters. Now only used by walkers as it was superseded by a single concrete arch, faced in stone.
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Tour Scotland photograph of a window box outside a cottage in Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland. Dunkeld is a small town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is about 15 miles north of Perth on the eastern side of what is now the A9 road into the Scottish Highlands, and on the opposite side of the River Tay from the village of Birnam.
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Old photograph of a wedding on the East Coast of Scotland. In the old days most Scots married locally, young people learned from an early age how to foretell who their marriage partner would be or what he or she would be like. For example, by paring an apple so that the skin comes off in one length. As the clock strikes twelve, it was swung round the head and thrown over the left shoulder. When it landed it would form the first letter of the name of the future spouse. Also, two nuts were burnt in a fire, if they burnt quietly all would be well, if they exploded and burst, true love would be hard to find.
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Old photograph of the ferry at Port-na-Craig, Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland. The ferry at Port Na Craig was established in the 12th Century by the monks of Coupar Angus, who were gifted the land of Fonab. The ferry allowed the monks to cross over to the north bank to visit the village of Moulin. To ensure a safe crossing, people would drop a coin or brass pin in to St Brides Wishing Well on the north bank. In later times the ferry would convey horses, carts as well as passengers.
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