Old Photograph Shirgarton Scotland

Old photograph of houses and church in Shirgarton, Kippen, Scotland. James Ure came from Shirgarton, he was an Episcopalian minister, but left that faith to follow Presbyterianism. From 1670 he led the life of a dissenter, and had his children baptised by outed ministers. He had to spend some time incognito in Ireland for a time, but returned to Scotland. At the Battle of Bothwell Bridge Ure brought a troop of 200 volunteers south from Stirlingshire to help the Covenanting cause. When the battle was lost he managed to make an escape from the battlefíeld. He returned to the Campsie Hills where he remained in concealment for nine years. One of his favourite hideaways was the wood of Balquhan, near Kippen, where he often woke in the morning to find his clothes frozen to the ground. It is recorded that Ure spent only three nights in his house over a period of nine years.

On the 9th January 1682 Ure was put on trial for his political crimes, as well as " throwing off the fear of God. " He was forfeited of his estate, which the soldiers robbed. Ure's seventy year old mother was arrested at a conventicle held at Gribloch, on Kippen Muir, and transported south to the Tolbooth in Glasgow. She died of her sufferings there. A reward of £100 was made in the hope that some folk would reveal the hiding place of Ure, but none came forward. Ure's wife, who had a young child, was taken forcibly to Stirling and thence to the Canongate Tolbooth. She was released after four weeks imprisonment, however. At the Revolution Ure came out from hiding. He was able to get a commission in Argyll's regiment. His forfeiture was later rescinded by Parliament. Ure survived for many years thereafter, living until at least 1746. When he died he was buried in the old kirkyard of Kippen, Stirlingshire. His grave is inscribed:

The burial place of
James Ure of Shirgarton
the Covenanter.


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Old Photograph Bowling Scotland

Old photograph of Bowling, Scotland. Bowling is a Scottish village in West Dunbartonshire. It is located on the north bank of the Firth of Clyde, between the towns of Clydebank and Dumbarton. It is at one end of the Antonine Wall and therefore represents the extreme limit of the Roman Empire on the west coast of the island of Great Britain. Bowling is the location of the western terminus of the Forth and Clyde Canal, opened in 1790, and it is the western gateway to the Lowland canals. Bowling has been long associated with shipbuilding and ship repairing. The opening of the Forth and Clyde canal at Bowling in 1790 increased the number of vessels passing through the small village on their way to Glasgow. The railway station opened in 1850 when the line ran via Dumbarton to Balloch. In 1858 the line was extended to progress to Glasgow to the east, and Helensburgh to the west. Today it is known as the North Clyde Line.



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Old Photograph Cutting Peat Tomintoul Scotland

Old photograph of men cutting Peat at Femusach Moss by Tomintoul in Moray, Scotland. Tomintoul village is said to be the highest village in the Scottish Highlands. The village was laid out on a grid pattern by the 4th Duke of Gordon in 1775. It followed the construction, twenty years previously, of a military road by William Caulfeild, now the A939. The 2004 film One Last Chance starring Kevin McKidd and Dougray Scott was filmed in the village and the areas around it. James Stuart, born 1791, died 1874), a local farmer at Lynchork appears in a number of birth, baptism, death and Kirk Session records in this and surrounding parishes as the admitted or reputed father of children of his female servants. Grigor Willox was a reputed white witch who lived in Tomintoul in the 18th century. He was said to derive his powers from two amulets: a brass hook from a kelpie's bridle and a mermaid's crystal. Among his alleged powers were making cows produce milk, curing barren women, and detecting thieves. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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Old Photograph Woodhead Park Kirkintilloch Scotland

Old photograph of Woodhead Park in Kirkintilloch, Scotland. Kirkintilloch is a town and former royal burgh in East Dunbartonshire. It is located on the Forth and Clyde Canal, about 8 miles north east of central Glasgow. Following the Scottish victory in the wars of independence and the subsequent decline of Clan Cumming, the baronies of Kirkintilloch, Lenzie, and Cumbernauld were granted by Robert The Bruce to Sir Malcolm Fleming, Sheriff of Dumbarton and a supporter of the Bruce faction in the war. Hitherto part of Stirlingshire, the area subsequently became a detached part of the county of Dumbarton, in which it remains today. On 3 January 1746, the retreating Jacobite army of Bonnie Prince Charlie made its way through Kirkintilloch, on its way back from Derby, England, and on the march to Falkirk and ultimately Culloden. The town was one of the hotbeds of the Industrial Revolution in Scotland, beginning with the emergence of a booming textile industry in the area. There were 185 weavers in Kirkintilloch by 1790, and in 1867 James Slimon's cotton mill at Kelvinside employed 200 women. With the construction of the Forth and Clyde Canal through the town in 1773, and the establishment of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 1826, Kirkintilloch developed further as an important transportation hub, inland port and production centre for iron, coal, nickel and even small ships. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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Old Photograph Reverend James Wallace Inveresk Church Musselburgh Scotland

Old photograph of Reverend James Wallace, Inveresk Church, Musselburgh, Scotland. James was the Minister at Inveresk during 1906. There have been at least three Churches on the site of St Michael's. The first was built beside the ruins of a Roman fort. This was most likely a wooden structure which, according to legend, was built at the instigation of the intrepid Irish missionary nun Modwenna, who died in AD 519. Again, according to legend, Modwenna built Churches echoing each of King Arthur's forts.



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