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 shot this afternoon of a Busker in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. Alex Cullens busking this afternoon in the city centre of Perth. A nice young man.
Old photograph of Crofters Cottage on South Uist, Scotland. South Uist was held by the MacDonalds of Clan Ranald who made a good living from kelp harvesting owing to the demand for kelp around the turn of the 19th century. At that time population of the island was around 7300. After the Napoleonic Wars however, competition from imported Barilla resulted in a collapse in the price for kelp and the chief of Clan Ranald found himself facing bankruptcy. South Uist was sold to Lt. Colonel John Gordon of Cluny in 1837 and the fortunes of the island's tenants went downhill from that point. He initiated Highland Clearances to make way for sheep farming, supplanting the crofters with farmers from the Borders, who brought flocks of Blackface sheep. As a result, there was large scale emigration from the island.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a crofter Casting Peats on the Shetland Islands, Scotland. Peat casting, or cutting, was usually carried out in the month of May with a spade called a Tushkar. Crofting, the farming of small plots of land on a legally restricted tenancy basis, is still practised and is viewed as a key Shetland tradition as well as an important source of income. Fishing remains central to the islands' economy today. Mackerel makes up more than half of the catch in Shetland by weight and value, and there are significant landings of haddock, cod, herring, whiting, monkfish and shellfish.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, Gallowy, Scotland. Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, with its 26 metre high tower, was built from a design by Robert Stevenson, between 1828 and 1830. Mull means rounded hill or mountain. Robert Stevenson, born in Glasgow on 8 June 1772, died 12 July 1850, was a Scottish civil engineer and famed designer and builder of lighthouses.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the Lighthouse at Southerness, Solway Firth, Scotland. This lighthouse, the second oldest in Scotland, was originally built in 1748 by the Dumfries Town Council, then rebuilt in the 1790s and in 1812 by Robert Stevenson. It has been inactive since 1933. Three of Stevenson’s sons became engineers: David, Alan, and Thomas. Robert's other children included Joseph, who immigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1832, and Jane, who assisted in writing and illustrating an account of the Bell Rock Lighthouse construction. Robert Louis Stevenson was his grandson, via Thomas, and Katharine de Mattos was his granddaughter.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
