Tour Scotland Video Old Photographs Keith Moray

Tour Scotland wee video of old photographs of Keith, a small town in Moray, Scotland. The oldest part of Keith dates to around 1180. The main part of the town was laid out around 1750 by the Earl of Findlater. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, the Jacobite army won a skirmish at Keith on 21 March 1746. A Jacobite party under Major Nicholas Glasgow and Captain Robert Stewart surprised and defeated a Government force, killing over 20 of them. This victory at Keith is an interesting reminder that the Jacobites were continuing to take the initiative in many parts of northern Scotland right up until the disaster at Culloden. The language spoken indigenously round Keith is Doric, which superseded Scottish Gaelic. James Gordon Bennett Senior was born on September 1, 1795 by Keith. He was the founder, editor and publisher of the New York Herald and a major figure in the history of American newspapers. He died on June 1, 1872. The town is at the start of Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail, and has three distilleries: Strathmill, Glenkeith and Strathisla distillery. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.

Keith is a famous Scottish surname, whose blood it is claimed, " runs in every noble Scottish family. " Early examples of the surname include Bernard de Keth, who witnessed a charter in Kelso in the year 1201, and Sir George Keith, described as being " the Great Marischal of Scotland in 1315, and leader of the Scots's cavalry at the Battle of Bannockburn". He was killed at the battle of Durham in 1346. Andrew Keth, the 4th Earl Marischal, was a hostage for the release by the English of King James 1st in 1425, whilst George Keith, born 1693, died 1778, was the 10th Earl Marischal, but was exiled from Scotland for being a Jacobite.

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

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