Tour Scotland Spring travel video of a road trip drive, with Scottish accordion music, West on the A904 road on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Muirhouses and Borrowstounness, commonly known as Bo'ness, a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands, Britain, United Kingdom. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is now within the Falkirk council area, 16.9 miles North West of Edinburgh and 6.7 miles East of Falkirk. Muirhouses is a small village located 1.1 miles South Easst of Bo'ness, 2.1 miles north, northeast of Linlithgow and 8.0 miles east of Falkirk. Muirhouses sits near to the south bank of the Firth of Forth close to the council boundary line between Falkirk and West Lothian councils. Bo'ness was a site for coal mining from medieval times. Clay mining was carried out on a smaller scale. The shore was the site of industrial salt making, evaporating seawater over coal fires. The town was also home to several sizable potteries, one product being the black Wally Dugs which sat in pairs over many fireplaces in Scottish houses and cottages. The town was a recognised port from the 16th century. Coal was shipped from Bo'ness to supply Edinburgh Castle in 1548. A harbour was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1707. The harbour, constructed progressively during the 18th century, was extended and complemented by a dry dock in 1881. Bo'ness has important historical links to the Roman period and marks the eastern extent of the Antonine Wall which stretched from Bo'ness to Old Kilpatrick on the west coast of Scotland. Bo'ness is now primarily a commuter town, with many of its residents travelling to work in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Falkirk. In 1922, the A904 road started on the A706 in Bo'ness and headed west to Falkirk. It was extended east in the mid 1920s on the entire length of the B902 as far as the A90, which it met at the pier beneath the Forth Bridge in Queensferry. When the Forth Road Bridge was built in 1964, allowing the A90 to cross the Forth without the need for a ferry, the A904 was rerouted to its current east end so it still met the A90. Henry Mareus " Harcus " Strachan was born on 7 November 1884 in Bo'ness, and attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh before emigrating to Canada in 1905. He homesteaded a farm in the Chauvin district, near Wainwright, Alberta. Strachan was 33 years of age, and serving in the First World War with the Canadian Cavalry Brigade as a lieutenant in The Fort Garry Horse, when he performed the action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. It has become traditional for the Garrys to hold a Regimental dinner every year on the anniversary of Strachan's unlikely cavalry exploit. After the war, he returned to his farm in the Chauvin district, Alberta. He went into banking. By 1930, he had moved to Calgary. In the 1930s he married Betsy Stirling and they had a daughter Jean. Strachan later commanded the 1st Battalion, Edmonton Fusiliers during the Second World War. After the war he retired and moved to Vancouver. Strachan eventually attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Strachan died on 1 May 1982, at the age of 97 years and 175 days, the record longest lived recipient of the Victoria Cross. Strachan's ashes were scattered near the Rose Garden Columbarium at Boal Chapel Memorial Gardens in North Vancouver, BC on 5 May. In September 2013 a lake in Manitoba was named " Harcus Strachan Lake " to commemorate his award of the Victoria Cross. James Brunton Stephens, Scottish born Australian poet, was born on 17 June 1835 in Bo'ness, the son of John Stephens, the parish schoolmaster, and his wife Jane, née Brunton. Stephens was educated at his father's school, then at a free boarding school and at the University of Edinburgh from 1849 to 1854 without obtaining a degree. For three years he was a travelling tutor on the continent, and from 1859 became a school teacher in Scotland. Stephens migrated to Queensland, Australia, in 1866, possibly for health reasons. On 10 November 1876 Stephens had married Rosalie Mary Donaldson, born 1846, died 1932, and they had five children, Jessie Mary, born 1877, died 1945, Mary, born 1879, died 1961, Hubert born 1881, Rachael Catherine, born 1883, died 1967, and Georgina, born 1886, died 1961. James Brunton Stephens was suffering for some time from angina pectoris before his death on 29 June 1902. The date for astronomical spring is Sunday 20th March, ending on Tuesday 21st June, while by the meteorological calendar, spring will start on Tuesday 1st March. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. When driving on Scottish roads in Scotland slow down and enjoy the trip
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs
No comments:
Post a Comment