Tour Scotland Video Clan MacDougall Castle Loch Laich

Tour Scotland video of Castle Stalker a Scottish tower house or keep picturesquely set on a tidal islet on Loch Laich, an inlet off Loch Linnhe on the West Coast of Scotland. The original castle was a small fort, built around 1320 by Clan MacDougall who were then Lords of Lorn. Around 1388 the Stewarts took over the Lordship of Lorn, and it is believed that they built the castle in its present form around 1440. The Stewart's relative King James IV of Scotland visited the castle, and a drunken bet around 1620 resulted in the castle passing to Clan Campbell. After changing hands between these clans a couple of times the Campbells finally abandoned the castle in about 1840, when it lost its roof. In 1908 the castle was bought by Charles Stewart of Achara, who carried out basic conservation work. In 1965 Lt. Col. D. R. Stewart Allward acquired the castle and over about ten years fully restored it. Castle Stalker remains in private ownership and is open to the public at selected times during the summer.

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

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Tour Scotland Video Winter Drive Through Perthshire Highlands

Tour Scotland video of a Winter drive through the Highlands of Perthshire, Scotland. Perthshire straddles the Highlands and the Lowlands, offering a rich variety of scenery. Highland Perthshire is magnificently forested and the region has become known as Big Tree Country. Clans of Perthshire include;Campbell, Drummond, Graham, Hay, MacGregor, MacLaren, MacNeish, MacNab, Menzies, Moncrieffe, Murray, Rattray, Robertson, Rollo, Ruthven, Stuart and Stewart.

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

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Tour Scotland Video Winter Drive From Pitlochry To Foss Highland Perthshire

Tour Scotland video of a Winter drive from just outside Pitlochry to Foss by Loch Tummel in the Highlands of Perthshire, Scotland. Foss is a hamlet and a parish in Perthshire. The hamlet stands near the right bank of the river Tummel, 1½ miles West South West of the head of Loch Tummel, and 12 miles West of Pitlochry. John Stewart, the gamekeeper at Foss, and his family, are thought to have emigrated to Canada around 1859. They settled on the 2nd Concession, McNab township. McNab township was created in 1825, comprising roughly 80,000 acres of unsettled land, covering the current Town of Arnprior and Township of McNab, Braeside. It was granted by the government to Archibald 13th Laird of McNab, born 1779, died 1860, who had fled from his debts in Scotland. He promised to settle it with Highland clansmen, and the first group of eighty four settlers arrived the same year, 1825. McNab ruled with an iron fist over the Scottish settlers. Only after eighteen years of petitions, court battles, and appeals was his grip loosened when the government finally began issuing Crown grants to the settlers. His feudal powers removed, the Laird eventually sold his lands to the government and returned to Europe in 1852, never to return.

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

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Tour Scotland Photograph Marmalade Cake Dundee Tayside

Tour Scotland travel photograph of marmalade cake on ancestry genealogy visit to Dundee, Scotland. The story goes that marmalade was invented in 1700, when storm damaged Spanish ship, carrying Seville oranges, sought refuge in Dundee. The cargo was sold off cheaply to James Keiller in Dundee, a down on his luck local merchant, whose wife turned it into a preserve. She made marmalade for the first time in Dundee in 1797.

Ingredients (with US conversions in brackets):
8 oz self-raising flour (One cup all-purpose flour with baking powder)
2 beaten eggs
3 oz caster sugar (Three rounded tablespoons granulated sugar)
4 oz margarine (4 rounded tablespoons)
1 drop vanilla essence (vanilla extract)
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 teaspoon orange rind, finely grated
2 tablespoons milk
Pinch of salt

Method:
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the margarine until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, half the orange rind and then add the eggs, marmalade, milk and vanilla. Mix well to achieve the consistency of thick batter. Grease a 6 inch round cake tin and bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven at 350F/175C/Gas Mark 4 for around one hour and twenty minutes until golden brown. If you have one, you can check with a skewer until it comes out clean. Sprinkle the rest of the orange rind on top and allow to cool for a few minutes before you turn out on a wire rack to cool.



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

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Tour Scotland Video Hermitage Castle

Tour Scotland video of Hermitage Castle in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. This Scottish Castle was built by Nicholas de Soulis around 1240, in a typical Norman Motte and Bailey pattern. It stayed in his family until approximately 1320, when his descendant, William de Soulis forfeited it because of suspected witchcraft and the attempted regicide of King Robert I of Scotland. Legend has it that Soulis' tenantry, having suffered unbearable depredations, arrested him, and at the nearby Ninestane Rig, a megalithic circle, had him boiled to death in molten lead. In actuality, he died, a prisoner, in Dumbarton Castle.

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

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