Old Photograph Oldhamstocks Scotland

Old photograph of Oldhamstocks, East Lothian, Scotland. Oldhamstocks or Aldhamstocks, meaning old dwelling place, is located adjacent to the Scottish Borders. The parish church was consecrated in 1292. Oldhamstocks is the birthplace of John Broadwood, born 1732, died 1812, piano maker and founder of Broadwood and Sons. John, a Scottish joiner and cabinetmaker, went to London, England, in 1761 and began to work for the Swiss harpsichord manufacturer Burkat Shudi. He married Shudi's daughter eight years later and became a partner in the firm in 1770. As the popularity of the harpsichord declined, the firm concentrated increasingly on the manufacture of pianos, abandoning the harpsichord altogether in 1793. He produced his first square piano in 1771, after the model of Johannes Zumpe, and worked assiduously to develop and refine the instrument, moving the wrest plank of the earlier pianoforte, which had sat to the side of the case as in the clavichord, to the back of the case in 1781, straightening the keys, and replacing the hand stops with pedals. In 1785 Thomas Jefferson, later to be third President of the United States, visited Broadwood in Great Pulteney Street, Soho, to discuss musical instruments.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.