Tour Scotland Video Robertson Stained Glass Window Greyfriars Tolbooth Highland Kirk Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel video of the Robertson Memorial, stained glass window in Greyfriars Tolbooth Kirk on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit and trip to Edinburgh.
The Robertson surname is especially common in Scotland, where Robert was a popular personal name and the name of three kings of Scotland, including King Robert the Bruce, born 1274, died 1329. Donnachaidh Reamhair, otherwise Duncan, a descendant of the Royal House of Duncan through the Celtic earls of Atholl, was the ancestor of the Clan Robertson which came to prominence in 1306 when Robert the Bruce was defeated at the Battle of Methven, near Perth, and fled into Atholl for protection. The Clan fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and Duncan's son was called Robert after the King. It is from him that the Robertson surname originates.

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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video Erskine Stained Glass Window Greyfriars Tolbooth Highland Kirk Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel video of the Erskine Memorial, stained glass window in Greyfriars Tolbooth Kirk on ancestry history visit and trip Edinburgh. Erskine is a Scottish surname. The name is derived from a habitational name from a location; Erskine on the southern bank of the River Clyde, near Glasgow. This place was first recorded in 1225 as Erskin. Early spellings of the place include: Yrskin, Ireskin, Harskin and Irschen.

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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video Finlayson Stained Glass Window Greyfriars Tolbooth Highland Kirk Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel video of the Finlayson Memorial, stained glass window in Greyfriars Tolbooth Kirk on ancestry, genealogy family history visit and trip to Edinburgh.

Finlayson is an ancient surname of Scottish origin and is the patronymic, son of, form of Finlay, and is the Anglicization of the Gaelic MacFhionnlaigh, and generally translated as fair hero, from the elements, fionn, meaning fair and laoch, meaning a warrior or hero.

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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video Of Old Photographs Of Scapa Flow Orkney Islands

Tour Scotland video of old photographs of Scapa Flow, meaning bay of the long isthmus, a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Scapa Flow had been used many times for exercises in the years before World War I , and when the time came for the British fleet to move to a northern station, Scapa Flow was chosen for the main base of the British Grand Fleet, even though it was also unfortified. Following the German defeat in World War I, 74 ships of the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet were interned in Gutter Sound at Scapa Flow pending a decision on their future in the peace Treaty of Versailles. On 21 June 1919, after nine months of waiting, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the German officer in command at Scapa Flow, made the decision to scuttle the fleet because the negotiation period for the treaty had lapsed with no word of a settlement. After waiting for the bulk of the British fleet to leave on exercises, he gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent their falling into British hands. The Royal Navy made desperate efforts to board the ships to prevent the sinkings, but the German crews had spent the idle months preparing for the order. The British did eventually manage to beach the battleship Baden, the light cruisers Nürnberg, and Frankfurt together with 18 destroyers, but the remaining 52 ships, the vast bulk of the High Seas Fleet, were sunk without loss of life. Nine German sailors died when British forces opened fire as they attempted to scuttle their ship, reputedly the last casualties of World War I. At least seven of the scuttled German ships, and a number of sunken British ships, can be visited by scuba divers. 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.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video Old Photographs Of Machrihanish

Tour Scotland video of old photographs of Machrihanish village, on the west coast of Argyll, Scotland. It is a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre, which faces out towards Ireland and the Atlantic. Machrihanish has a classic links golf course designed by Old Tom Morris from St Andrews, Fife, with views towards the islands of Gigha, Islay and Jura. The Kintyre Way long distance walking footpath passes through the village from Campbeltown and carries on South towards the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Largiebaan Reserve. Coal was mined near the village; the Machrihanish Coalfield was one of Britain's smallest coalfields. Reginald Aubrey Fessenden built a radio transmitting station with a 400 foot high mast here in 1905 to transmit Wireless Telegraphy to a similar station at Brant Rock in Massachusetts, United States. An exchange of messages took place on 1 January 1906 but the mast blew down in a gale on 5 December 1906 and was never rebuilt. Machrihanish railway station opened in 1906 and finally closed in 1932. Weather data is collected from Machrihanish and broadcast in the Shipping Forecast. 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.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.