Old Photograph Fast Castle Scotland

Old photograph of the ruins of Fast Castle located four miles North West of Coldingham which is near Eyemouth, Scotland. Fast Castle is first recorded in 1333. In 1346 the site was occupied by an English garrison and was used as a base to pillage the surrounding countryside. In 1410, a force led by Patrick Dunbar, second son of the 10th Earl of Dunbar and March seized the castle and imprisoned the governor. The castle fell into the hands of the Home family, pronounced " Hume ", and in 1503 they hosted Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, at Fast Castle en route to her marriage to James IV. Following the Scots defeat and the death of James IV at the battle of Flodden in 1513, in which numerous Homes were killed, a power struggle ensued between the Regent Albany and various other nobles including Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home, Chamberlain of Scotland. Fast Castle was destroyed in the chaos in 1515, and Alexander Home was executed in 1516 and his land forfeit. The castle was rebuilt by 1522, when the Home estates were restored to Alexander's brother George Home, 4th Lord Home. During the " Rough Wooing " of Scotland by Henry VIII, the castle was captured again by the English in 1547, but was back in Scottish hands by the time of Mary, Queen of Scots stay here in 1566. The castle passed to Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig through his mother, a widow of Lord Home. It was briefly recaptured by the English in 1570.] Fast castle was well armed: some of the guns were taken to Berwick on Tweed during the English intervention against the supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots in the 1570s. The castle was by now ruinous. It passed briefly to the Douglas family, then back to the Earls of Dunbar, then the family of Arnot, back to the Homes and finally to the Hall family.



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Old Photograph Cockburnspath Tower Scotland

Old photograph of Cockburnspath Tower near Cove, Scotland. Cockburnspath was held by several Scots Clan families, the Dunbars, the Homes, the Sinclairs and the Douglases who stole lands and castles from each other on a regular basis. Originally the Dunbars and Douglases fought unitedly against the English. At the first battle of Nisbet in 1355, for example Sir Patrick Dunbar supported William 1st Earl of Douglas's ambush of the garrison from Norham castle England and the abortive raid on Berwick castle. Patrick travelled abroad to France with William and his cousin Archibald the Grim, later 3rd Earl of Douglas, to fight on behalf of the French King John II at the battle of Poitiers in 1356, against the invading English. Although the Scots French army was defeated and King John captured, these three Scots knights returned home relatively rich men with French monies paid as mercenaries. William building the great red curtain wall of Tantallon castle, near North Berwick. Archibald, once he had cleared the English out of Dumfries as Lord of Galloway, built his grey island Keep of Threave to protect Dumfries and Galloway. While Patrick chose to use his money to go on pilgrimage to the Holy lands where he died in 1357, leaving his son George to become Earl of March and inherit Cockburnspath tower and several other family castles, including the great coastal fortress of Dunbar castle.



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Old Photograph Paddle Steamer Gondolier Loch Ness Scotland

Old photograph of the paddle steamer Gondolier by Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland. The Gondolier was a well fitted iron paddler who was much loved by tourists. She had alleyways round her aft saloon, but had full width saloons forward and a well deck for her bow passengers. When Gondolier was withdrawn at the end of the 1939 season she was taken over by the Admiralty and after her engines, boiler, sponsons, paddle boxes and saloons were removed, she was taken to Scapa Flow on the Orkney Islands, and sunk as a blockage to enemy shipping.



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Old Photograph Virgin and Child Statue Island Of Barra Scotland

Old photograph of the Virgin and Child statue on the Island of Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The white statue is located on Heaval hill, the highest hill on the island of Barra, located one mile North East of Castlebay.



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Old Photograph Church Street Inverness Scotland

Old photograph of shops, people and buildings on Church Street in Inverness, Highlands, Scotland. The street is central to Inverness's history, with the Old High Church on the street serving as a prison before and after the Battle of Culloden in 1745.


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

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