Old Photograph Clock Tower Fife Street Dufftown Scotland

Old photograph of the Clock Tower on Fife Street in Dufftown in Moray, Scotland. The Tower was originally the town jail, later the Burgh Chambers and now houses the VisitScotland Tourist Information Centre. The clock is known locally as " The clock that hanged MacPherson ". MacPherson of Kingussie was an infamous freebooter condemned to death at Banff in 1700 for robbing the rich and giving it to the poor. The local inhabitants raised a petition for his reprieve but when the pardon was on it's way, MacPherson's arch enemy, Lord Braco, the Sheriff of Banff, put the clock forward a quarter of an hour to make sure MacPherson would hang. Sometime later the clock was removed from Banff and installed in Dufftown's tower.




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Old Photograph Docks Bo'ness Scotland

Old photograph of ships in the Docks in Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scotland. The docks grew alongside local industries such as coal mining, salt making, and pottery production.





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Old Photograph Road To Blackness Castle Scotland

Old photograph of the road to Blackness Castle on the south shore of the Firth of Forth in West Lothian, Scotland. This castle was built, probably on the site of an earlier fortress, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440s. At this time, Blackness was the main port serving the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow, one of the main residences of the Scottish monarch. The castle, together with the Crichton lands, passed to King James II of Scotland in 1453, and the castle has been crown property ever since. It served as a state prison, holding such prisoners as Cardinal Beaton and the 6th Earl of Angus. Strengthened by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart in the mid 16th century, the castle became one of the most advanced artillery fortifications of its time in Scotland. A century later, though, these defences were not enough to prevent Blackness falling to Oliver Cromwell's army in 1650


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

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Old Photograph Caravan Site Banff Scotland

Old photograph of the Holiday Caravan Site on the coast at Banff, Scotland. The site is situated near the former Banff Whisky Distillery at Inverboyndie, where the Boyndie Burn separates the beach. The area is surrounded by remnants of industrial and local history, including the former Swordanes hotel.


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

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Old Photograph Caravan Site Portsoy Scotland

Old photograph of the Caravan Site on the coast at Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Portsoy is located on the Moray Firth Coast of North East Scotland, 50 miles North West of Aberdeen and 65 miles East of Inverness. From the 16th century until 1975, Portsoy was in the civil and religious parish of Fordyce. The old Harbour dates to the 17th century and is the oldest on the Moray Firth. The new harbour was built in 1825 for the growing herring fishing. Jimmy MacBeath, born 1894, died 1972, the wandering singer, was born in Portsoy and is buried there. He was a bachelor all his life and learned many songs in the bothies, or farm huts where the male farm workers lived. He was to be a traveller for much of his life; in 1908 he took his first long walk, from Inverness to Perth, Perthshire. In the First World War he joined the Gordon Highlanders and fought in Flanders. Later he served in the Medical Corps during the Anglo-Irish War. In the 1920s he was demobbed. Working as a kitchen porter, begging and at seasonal fruit picking, he set about tramping the roads of Scotland, England, the Channel Islands, and even Nova Scotia, Canada. In the streets, pubs, hiring fairs and markets he earned money by singing. Jimmy Paterson, trombonist with Dexy's Midnight Runners, was born and raised in Portsoy

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

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