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 cottages and houses in Rosewell near Bonnyrigg, South East of Edinburgh, Scotland. This colliery village was established by Archibald Hood, mining engineer and entrepreneur, who developed the Whitehill Colliery from 1856, which was located on the south western edge of the village. He began a new shaft at the colliery in 1878, built railways for the mines, branching from the Peebles Railway, and erected well-designed houses for the miners, and also encouraged the establishment of a Co-operative Retail Society.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the Golf Clubhouse in Newbattle, seven miles from Edinburgh, Scotland. The course is within the grounds of Newbattle Abbey and it is a matter of historical record that over the centuries many Kings and Queens of Scotland and of the United Kingdom, during their visits to the Abbey, have traversed the land on which the course stands.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottages in Spott village located two miles South of Dunbar, Scotland. Spott holds the dubious distinction of playing host to the last executions of the Scottish witch hunts of the 17th and 18th centuries, when several alleged witches were executed at Spott Loan in October 1705. The first Battle of Dunbar in 1296, took place less than a mile from Spott. Before the second Battle of Dunbar in 1650, the Scots army, which vastly outnumbered Oliver Cromwell's army, camped at Doon Hill, just to the east of Spott, before leaving the high ground to meet Cromwell and defeat.
Old photograph of Spott village located two miles South of Dunbar, Scotland.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of old photographs of Fochabers, Moray, Scotland. This village is in the Parish of Bellie, 10 miles east of the cathedral city of Elgin and located on the east bank of the River Spey. The village owes its existence to Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, born 1743, died 1827. During the late 18th century, during the Scottish Enlightenment, it was fashionable for landowners to found new towns and villages, and these can be found all over Scotland because unlike their predecessors they all have straight, wide streets in mainly rectangular layouts, a central square, and the houses built with their main elevations parallel to the street. Alexander Milne, born 1742, died 1838, was a Scottish American entrepreneur and philanthropist who was born in Fochabers. He was employed as a footman by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and when ordered by the duke to powder his red hair, Milne declined, left his employment and emigrated to the American colonies. By 1776, Milne had moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, America, where, after doing well in the hardware business, he set up a brick making company using mainly slave labour, by the late 18th century most of the brick used in New Orleans was made at his works. 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.
Tour Scotland video of old photographs of Milton of Campsie, a large village in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Scottish doctor and traveller, John Bell was born in 1691 at Antermony, near Milton of Campsie. He studied medicine in Glasgow and in 1714 set out for St Petersburg, where, through the introduction of a fellow Scot, he was nominated medical attendant to Artemy Petrovich Volynsky, recently appointed to the Persian embassy, with whom he travelled from 1715 to 1718. The next four years he spent in an embassy to China, passing through Siberia and the great Tatar deserts. He had scarcely rested from this last journey when he was summoned to attend Peter the Great in his expedition to Derbend and the Caspian Gates. In 1738 he was sent by the Russian government on a mission to Constantinople. After a long life spent in active beneficence and philanthropic exertions he died at Antermony on 1 July 1780, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. He is buried in Campsie Glen. His travels, published at Glasgow in 1763, were speedily translated into French, and widely circulated in Europe. 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.
