Old Photograph Barr and Stroud Works Anniesland Glasgow Scotland

Old photograph of the Barr and Stroud Works in Anniesland, Glasgow, Scotland. Archibald Barr and William Stroud had been associated from as early as 1888 when the two men were professors of, respectively, engineering and physics at the Yorkshire College, now the University of Leeds, in England. In 1891 they were approached by the Admiralty to submit a design for a short-base rangefinder for trial. By this time, Barr had returned to Scotland and taken the post of Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Glasgow. Although apart, Barr and Stroud kept in close touch and in 1892 they were awarded with a contract for six of their rangefinders. In 1895, Barr & Stroud's Patents Ltd was renting workshop space near the university, at 250 Byres Road, Glasgow, but demand for the product soon necessitated a move to larger premises in Ashton Lane, Glasgow. By 1904, 100 men were working for the company in a new purpose built factory in Anniesland, Glasgow designed by Campbell Douglas. Shortly thereafter, in 1909, Stroud resigned his chair at University of Leeds and moved to Glasgow to work for the company full time. Barr, in spite of a distinguished teaching career at Glasgow University, followed his example in 1913. Together they formed Barr & Stroud Ltd. that year. In 1914 they began extensions to the Anniesland works in order to meet the sharp increase in demand for their rangefinders that followed on the outbreak of the First World War. It was in 1919 when the company started producing their first binoculars which were supplied to the British Navy and from then on the company continued to operate independently until 1977 when they were taken over by the Pilkington Group. In 1992 operations moved from the original factory in Anniesland to a new plant in Linthouse on the site of the former Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard. In 2000 the company became a subsidiary of the French company, Thales Group, and in 2001 Barr & Stroud Ltd became Thales Optronics Ltd.





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Old Photograph Polwarth Gardens Hyndland Glasgow

Old photograph of houses and people on Polwarth Gardens Street in Hyndland, Glasgow, Scotland. Hyndland is a residential area in the West End of the city. Bordering the Broomhill, Dowanhill, Kelvinside, Maryhill and the Partickhill areas, it is a middle class area populated mainly by professionals, many employed at the nearby University of Glasgow, and young bourgeois bohemians including a number of noted authors, poets, actors and footballers.



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Old Photograph 1st Hole Golf Course Carnoustie Scotland

Old photograph of boy golfers on the 1st Hole of the Golf Course in Carnoustie, Scotland.



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

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Old Photograph East Main Street Armadale West Lothian Scotland

Old photograph of the Star Pub, cottages, houses, and people on East Main Street in Armadale West Lothian, Scotland. Before the building of a new turnpike road between Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1786 the village of Armadale was little more than a rural farm community but its location at a main highway junction brought additional traffic and a toll house was built where the new road intersected with an existing road in the east of the estate. The estate comprising the lands of Barbauchlaw was sold to Sir William Honeyman in 1790 and upon his elevation to the bench in 1797 he took the title of Lord Armadale, from his mother's estate in Sutherland in the Highlands, and this name was then applied to the township.



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

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Old Photograph Cross Roads Bonnyrigg Scotland

Old photograph of shops, buildings and people at the Cross Roads in Bonnyrigg located eight miles South East of Edinburgh, Scotland.



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