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 Helen Irvine grave in Kirkconnel, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Helen Irvine of Kirkconnel. Kirkconnel Lee was a small hamlet close to the village of Eaglesfield in Dumfriesshire. The bower in which Helen lived was within the grounds of Springkell Estate. She had two suitors, one of whom shot at his rival, but Helen, thrusting herself in front of her lover, Adam Fleming, received the fatal wound instead. Fleming killed the assailant on the spot, but fled the country to avoid the legal process, and enlisted in the Spanish Army. Years later, he returned to Kirkconnel and died by Helen's grave. He was interred alongside her. This tragic event took place in the 16th century. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of houses and children on Wide Close Street in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland. Margaret Gilchrist, born February 6, 1851; married Duncan Mclellan September 17, 1869. They lived at Wide Close, Campbeltown. He was a fisherman and drowned in Tarbert Loch October, 21, 1898. Agnes Mclellan, born June 23, 1873, Wide Close; married Neil Scally a riveter. Margaret Mclellan, born December, 27, 1877, Wide Close. She remained single and worked as a farm servant. Close is a Scots word for an alleyway.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the railway line by the River Dochart near the Falls Of Dochart in Killin, Scotland. Killin railway station was opened on 1 April 1886, the station comprised a single platform on the west side of the line. There were also three sidings on the same side. This station was officially closed on 1 November 1965, although following the Glen Ogle landslide on 27 September 1965, the service was suspended and replaced by buses until the official closure. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of shops, houses and people on Stirling Street in Denny located seven miles West Falkirk, Scotland. Formerly in the county of Stirlingshire. Denny is situated 7 miles west of Falkirk, and 6 miles north east of Cumbernauld, adjacent to both the M80 and M876 motorways. Denny is separated from neighbouring village Dunipace by the River Carron. Until the early 1980s, Denny was a centre for heavy industry, including several iron foundries, brickworks, a coal mine and paper mills. Thomas Bain was born in Denny on December 14, 1834. He was a Canadian parliamentarian. He was the son of Walter Bain, and migrated to Canada with his family when he was three years old. They settled on a bush farm in Wentworth County near Hamilton, Ontario. He was elected to the County Council in the 1860s and became Warden. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1872 federal election as a Liberal. He was re-elected on six subsequent occasions, serving as a Member of Parliament for 28 years before retiring in 1900. In the House, he usually spoke on agricultural issues, and became Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Colonization in 1896. In 1874, he married Helen Weir. When the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, James David Edgar, died unexpectedly in July 1899, Wilfrid Laurier asked Bain to become the new Speaker for the remainder of Egar's term. Bain served as Speaker until the House was dissolved for the 1900 election in which he did not run. After retiring from politics, Bain became President of the Landed Banking and Loan Company and the Malcolm and Souter Furniture Company. He died in Dundas, on January 18, 1915, Ontario at age 80. Carl William Dunn Kirkwood was born on 30 April 1929 in Denny. He was the son of iron jobbing moulder William Kirkwood and his wife Ellen. He completed his schooling in Scotland and then served in the British Army in Malaya and Singapore from 1946 to 1948. He worked as a jobbing moulder, in Australia in 1955. He was soon active both in the Moulders' Union and the Labor Party's Preston branch. In 1970 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for Preston. He became spokesman on local government immediately, adding lands from 1976 to 1977 and dropping his front bench role entirely in 1981. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the John Morrison haulage contractor truck in Elgin, Moray, Scotland. The town of Elgin originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the floodplain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190 AD. It was created a Royal Burgh in the 12th century by King David I of Scotland. On 19 July 1224, the foundation stone of the new Elgin Cathedral was ceremoniously laid. The cathedral was completed sometime after 1242 but was completely destroyed by fire in 1270. In the 19th century the old medieval town of Elgin was swept away. The first major addition to the town centre was the Assembly Rooms, built in 1821 by the Trinity Lodge of Freemasons, at the corner of High Street and North Street. The Morayshire Railway was officially opened in ceremonies at Elgin and Lossiemouth on 10 August 1852. William Dunbar was born in 1749 in Thunderton House, Elgin. He was the youngest son of Sir Archibald Dunbar and Anne Bayne Dunbar. In 1763 he attended King's College, Aberdeen, and graduated from there in 1767. He emigrated to America arriving in Philadelphia in April 1771. In 1773 he and a Scottish merchant opened a cotton plantation in Florida and in 1792 opened another plantation in Mississippi. Dunbar became surveyor general in the Natchez area in 1798 and making his first meteorological observations in the Mississippi Valley in 1799. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him and fellow Scot Dr George Hunter to explore the Ouachita River region and travel all the way to the source of the Red River. They set out on 16 October 1804, traveling up the Ouachita River and on to the area of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dunbar became the first man to give a scientific report of the hot springs, and his journal of the exploration was later published in Documents Relating to the Purchase and Exploration of Louisiana. He died in 1887. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
