January 30th Photograph Edradour Distillery Scotland

January 30th photograph of Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland. Established in 1825, the distillery was traditionally run by three men but now there are just two. Only twelve casks are produced each week. Distillery tour, which includes a dram, for an admission fee of just £5.


January 30th photograph of Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 30th photograph of Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 30th photograph of Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 30th photograph of Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 30th photograph of Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland.

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

Scotland's Malt Whisky Distilleries. In Scotland, between 1750 and the present day, over 700 distilleries have been legally registered to make single malt Scotch whisky. Of those there are 100 in production today. Blighted by punitive taxation, war, poor harvests, prohibition, the temperance movement, corruption, recession, takeovers and mergers as well as the inevitable interference of the company accountant, those that have survived each has a unique tale to tell. For many the story is quite simple: they produce the right style of malt whisky for use in the big brands of blended Scotch whiskies. From Glenturret to Daft Mill, the history of every surviving distillery is told in this book. Scotland's Malt Whisky Distilleries.

Small group tours of Scotland. Ancestry tours of Scotland. Tour Scotland. Tour Aberdeen, Tour Dundee, Tour Edinburgh, Tour Glasgow, Tour Isle of Skye. Tour Glencoe, Tour Loch Lomond. Tour Loch Ness.

January 29th Photograph Trees Scone Palace Scotland

January 29th photograph of trees in the grounds of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 29th photograph of trees in the grounds of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 29th photograph of trees in the grounds of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 29th photograph of trees in the grounds of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.

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

Small group tours of Scotland. Ancestry tours of Scotland. Tour Scotland. Tour Aberdeen, Tour Dundee, Tour Edinburgh, Tour Glasgow, Tour Isle of Skye. Tour Glencoe, Tour Loch Lomond. Tour Loch Ness.

January 29th Photograph Gate Scone Palace Scotland

January 29th photograph of a gate at Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.

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

January 29th Photograph Scone Palace Scotland

January 29th photograph of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. Scone Palace is a large castellated mansion, which dates from 1802, but incorporates some earlier work. There was an abbey here, and this was where the Kings of Scots were inaugurated on the Moot Hill. The Stone of Destiny, or Scone, was used in the ceremonies, but it was stolen by Edward I in 1296, and was only returned to Scotland in 1996, and is now held at Edinburgh Castle. The abbey was dissolved at the Reformation, and the Ruthvens acquired the property. They were forfeited.


January 29th photograph of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 29th photograph of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.


January 29th photograph of Scone Palace, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.

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

Small group tours of Scotland. Ancestry tours of Scotland. Tour Scotland. Tour Aberdeen, Tour Dundee, Tour Edinburgh, Tour Glasgow, Tour Isle of Skye. Tour Glencoe, Tour Loch Lomond. Tour Loch Ness.

Tour Scotland Photograph Caerlaverock Castle

Tour Scotland photograph of Caerlaverock Castle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Close to the English border, Caerlaverock Castle controlled the important waterways of the Solway and the Nith, the south western gateways to medieval Scotland. Built to a unique triangular shield design and surrounded by a moat, Caerlaverock was also protected by the rough Solway landscape of marshes, thickets and surging tides. Locals knew it as the island of Caerlaverock. Its castellans were the fiercely belligerent Maxwells. No wonder that one chronicler in 1300 described it as so strong a castle that it feared no siege. Edward Longshanks respected Caerlaverock's reputation for impregnability. In 1300 the Plantagenet laid siege to Caerlaverock with a force of 87 knights and 3000 men, aiming to punish the Maxwells for their role in organizing resistance to him throughout the south west. Siege engines were brought from the castles of Carlisle, Lochmaben and Roxburgh. One of these was the Warwolf, a giant trebuchet that hurled 200 pound stone balls high over Caerlaverock's marshy defences. Ninety of these missiles smashed into the castle's towers and curtain walls before the terrified garrison of 60 Scots emerged to surrender.

Caerlaverock was now garrisoned by English troops although the castellan was still a Maxwell. However, when Sir Eustace Maxwell switched allegiance from Edward II to Robert 1 in 1312, an English army surrounded Caerlaverock once more. This time the Scots held out. After Bannockbum, King Robert offered various privileges to the Maxwell family as compensation for the demolition of the castle. Enough remained however for Sir Eustace to repair and pledge to the puppet king Edward Balliol in 1333. Caerlaverock was only recaptured by the Scottish Crown in 1356 when Roger Kirkpatrick took and demolished it.

Caerlaverock also suffered in later wars. The fifth Lord Maxwell was twice captured by the English, after the battle of Solway in 1542 and again in 1544. He was forced to surrender the castle into English hands as a guarantee of his future 'good' behaviour. The Earl of Sussex is said to have 'threwn down' the castle in the siege in 1570, though the damage from this siege was soon repaired. In the religious wars of 1630's and 40's, the royalist Earl of Nithsdale held out in Caelaverock against a besieging Covenanting force for thirteen weeks. Nithsdale's garrison of 200 starving men only marched out of the castle in 1640 when Charles I granted them permission to surrender with honour. The Covenanters proceeded to dismantle parts of the fortress which gradually fell into ruin.



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

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