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.
Old photograph of the Wigton Martyrs Monument in the old cemetery in Stirling, Scotland. The inscriptione reads: " Margaret, Virgin Martyr of the Ocean Wave, with her like minded sister Agnes. " Love, many waters cannot quench " God saves His chaste impearled One! in Covenant true. " O Scotia's daughters! earnest scan the Page " And prize this Flower of Grace blood bought for you. Psalms IX.XIX. Though not directly connected with Stirling, these statues represent the traditional story of Margaret Wilson who, aged 18, was executed by drowning in the Solway Firth for refusing to renounce her Presbyterian principles. A plaque nearby states that statues of heroes of the Scottish Presbyterian Reformation were set up when the cemetery was opened Margaret Wilson was one of the Wigtown Martyrs.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a horse and cart, people and cottage on Rowan Brae in Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland. A Brae means a steep bank or hillside in Scots. George Fraser was born on 25 October 1854 in Lossiemouth. He was was one of the world's leading hybridizers, especially of rhododendrons. He began his gardening career at the age of seventeen at Christies Nursery in Fochabers, Moray. He was then apprenticed at Gordon Castle, Fochabers. On completion of his apprenticeship, he spent the next four years studying horticulture in Edinburgh funding this by working on a local estate. From there he worked in Mollance in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland then at Hartfield House in Renfrewshire. While still in his twenties Fraser took on the post of head gardener at Craigflower, Fife. His last position in Scotland was as head gardener at the large country estate of Auchmore, Killin, Perthshire. In 1883, Fraser along with his sister emigrated to Canada and worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway for a time. He started a commercial greenhouse in Winnipeg but the cold winters made him move to the more temperate regions further west and settled in Victoria, British Columbia in 1885 where he established a successful fruit and vegetable garden. Then, in 1889, the city of Victoria commissioned John Blair, a landscape architect, and also a Scot, to design and produce Beacon Hill Park. Blair, knowing Fraser's reputation as a plantsman immediately hired him to be the foreman for the entire project. In 1894, Fraser left Victoria for the remote fishing village of Ucluelet where he had bought 236 acres for $236 two years before. At that time the village was only accessible by sea. Singlehandedly, he cleared enough of his land to establish his nursery. Hybridizing was his passion and this he did with honeysuckle, gooseberries, cranberries, roses and many more besides. His technique was to use the wild form of the plant and cross it with a domesticated version. His renown among hybridizers, however, was in producing rhododendrons crosses. His work was recognised internationally and recorded in the Gardener's Chronicle of London. Plant explorers and botonists corresponded with him, as did The Royal Botanic Garden, Kew and the Arnold Arboretum, Boston. In 1919 he sent a specimen to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, England. Kew named the plant Rhododendron fraseri. He died in 1944 in Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a horse and cart and people outside the cottage Post Office in Tough, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Kirkton of Tough, usually shortened to Tough, is a small village in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire. It is about 2.5 miles South East of Alford and 89 miles from Edinburgh. Tough is where the world famous, Aberdeen Angus breed of cattle was first bred.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
