Tour Scotland

Old Photograph Station Road Turriff Scotland

Old photograph of a vintage car, cottage, houses and people on Station Road in Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Knights Templar appear to have had a base in this area, and a nearby site is still known as Temple Brae. Sergeant George Frederick Findlater, was born in Turriff on 16 February 1872. He was a Scottish soldier in the British Army, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry, for his role in the Tirah Campaign. On 20 October 1897, Findlater, then a junior piper in the Gordon Highlanders, was shot in the feet during an advance against opposing defences at the Battle of the Dargai Heights; unable to walk, and exposed to enemy fire, he continued playing, to encourage the battalion's advance. The event was widely covered in the press, making Findlater a public hero. He died in early 1942. Gordon Duncan, born 14 May 1964, died December 2005, was a bagpiper and composer, born in Turriff. I hope these photographs are of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.

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

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Old Photograph St. Modan's Gate Fraserburgh Scotland

Old photograph of St. Modan's Gate in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. St Medan or Modan is the patron saint of Fraserburgh. He came to the area in the early 7th century and had a chapel at Philorth. The site was almost certainly in the current Kirkton cemetary on the small knoll there. The site would have been re-used by the parish church was was in existence by 1274.

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

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Old Photographs Haughton House Scotland

Old photograph of Haughton House by Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Haughton House was originally built in 1791 and was the home of the Farquharsons, who owned two thirds of the parish of Alford. They bought the house in the late 17th century. The original smaller Haughton House was by the River Don. The family added the main house, which wasn’t completed until 1854. The Farquharsons had six daughters, three of whom died in childhood. The other three never married and because this left no male heir, in 1925 Miss Elizabeth and Miss Ann Farquharson sold the house to a Mr C Spence, of the Forbes Arms Hotel in Bridge of Alford. From that time, the house was used for a number of different purposes. First the Spence family ran it as a shooting, fishing hotel, and it remained so until about 1959. At that point they sold it to a group of nuns, the Carmelite nuns of Oxford, England, who used it as a convent.

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

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Old Photograph South Foreshore Road Peterhead Scotland

Old photograph of people walking on South Foreshore Road in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Peterhead was founded by fishermen and was developed as a planned settlement. In 1593 the construction of Peterhead's first harbour, Port Henry, encouraged the growth of Peterhead as a fishing port and established a base for trade. It was was also a Jacobite supporting town in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. In particular, it was one of the Episcopalian north eastern ports where reinforcements, plus money and equipment, were periodically landed from France during the Forty-Five.

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

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Old Photographs Low Town Collieston Scotland

Old photograph of cottages, houses and harbour in low town Collieston, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The earliest recorded history of Collieston is of the arrival of St Ternan, a Columban monk on a mission to convert the local picts to Christianity.