Old Photograph Balallan Isle Of Lewis Scotland

Old photograph of crofter cottages in Balallan, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. This township has the distinction of being the longest village, 4 miles measured from end to end, in Lewis, and also in northern Scotland. Straggled along the head of a long sea loch between Arivruach and Laxay, it developed due to a mixture of crofting along the loch shore and fishing. It sits at the head of Loch Erisort.



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Old Photographs Leverburgh Island of Harris Scotland

Old photograph of Weavers cottages in Leverburgh on Island Of Harris, Scotland. In his 30's, English businessman William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme had taken a boat trip and fallen in love with the Western Isles of Scotland. In May 1918 at the age of 66, he bought the Isle of Lewis for £167,000, convinced that he could resurrect the fishing industry. But his investment floundered in 1919 when servicemen demobilised from World War I and promised land, started occupying plots on the Isle of Lewis. Leverhulme protested and took legal action against the people he considered squatters, but the Scottish Office took the side of the ex-servicemen, leaving Leverhulme's plan in tatters. Still looking to develop his fishing plan, in late 1919 he purchased the South Harris estate from the Earl of Dunmore for the sum of £36,000. Taking in the fishing village of Obbe, derived from a Norse word for a bay, he planned to turn it into a consolidated major fishing centre, with product distributed through the 400+ Mac Fisheries fish monger shops. He chose the site because it gave equal access to the waters of The Minch and the Atlantic and his boats could always find sheltered fishing waters. In 1920, Obbe with local consent was rebranded Leverburgh, and 300 men started work on a new pier and seashore infrastructure for processing the product from 50 berthed fishing trawlers.



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Old Photograph Rathven Church Scotland

Old photograph of the Parish Church in Rathven, Moray, Scotland. This Scottish church was built at the end of the 18th century to replace an earlier, medieval church nearby. The Addison family in Rathven can be traced back to the 17th century and this branch includes the Canadian-Czech philanthropist, Vincent Peter Addison who died in 2007.



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Old Photograph Bonnie Prince Charlie's Bay Eriskay Scotland

Old photograph of Bonnie Prince Charlie's Bay on Isle of Eriskay, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. On August 2, 1745 the small frigate le Du Teillay landed Bonnie Prince Charlie with his " seven men of Moidart " at Bonnie Prince Charlie's Bay or Traigh Leis on Eriskay to start the Forty Five Jacobite Rising.



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Old Photograph Highland Park Whisky Distillery Scotland

Old photograph of Highland Park Whisky Distillery in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The distillery was founded in 1798. The name of this whisky does not refer to the area of Scotland known as The Highlands, from which Orkney is excluded, but rather to the fact that the distillery was founded on an area called High Park distinguished from a lower area nearby.



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

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