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.
Tour Scotland Video Summer Drive To Huntingtower Castle Perth Perthshire
Tour Scotland video of a Summer drive over the old bridge and through the city of Perth on ancestry visit to Huntingtower Castle, by Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. This Scottish castle was built in stages from the 15th century by the Clan Ruthven family and was known for several hundred years as the House of Ruthven. In the summer of 1582, the castle was occupied by the 4th Lord Ruthven, who was also the 1st Earl of Gowrie, and his family. Gowrie was involved in a plot to kidnap the young King James VI, son of Mary, Queen of Scots. During 1582 Gowrie and his associates seized the young king and held him prisoner for 10 months. This kidnapping is known as the 'Raid of Ruthven' and the Protestant conspirators behind it hoped to gain power through controlling the king. James eventually escaped and actually forgave Gowrie, but after a second abortive attempt by Gowrie and others to overthrow him, Gowrie was finally executed and his property was forfeited to the crown. The Castle and lands were restored to the Ruthven family in 1586. However in 1600, the brothers John and Alexander Ruthven were implicated in another plot to kill King James VI and were executed. This time, the king was less merciful: as well as seizing the estates, he abolished the name of Ruthven and decreed that any successors would be ineligible to hold titles or lands. Thus the House of Ruthven ceased to exist and by royal proclamation the castle was renamed Huntingtower. The Castle remained in the possession of the crown until 1643 when it was given to the family of Murray of Tullibardine, from whom the Dukes of Atholl and Mansfield are descended. John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl resided in the Castle, where his wife Lady Mary Ross bore a son 7 February 1717. The Castle began to be neglected and after Lady Mary died in 1767.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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Tour Scotland Video Sunset River Tay Perth Perthshire
Tour Scotland video of sunset from Smeaton's Bridge which spans the River Tay on ancestry visit to Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. John Smeaton, architect of the Eddystone Lighthouse, was commissioned to build a new bridge at Perth. Smeaton's bridge was completed in 1771 and is generally known as Perth Bridge or by locals simply the Old Bridge.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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Tour Scotland Video Drive To The Harbour In Cellardyke East Neuk Of Fife
Tour Scotland video of a drive along John Street, George Street and Shore Street to the harbour on ancestry visit to Cellardyke on ancestry visit to the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. This is where I was raised in Scotland. Cellardyke was formerly known as Nether Kilrenny, Scots for Lower Kilrenny, or Sillerdyke, and the harbour as Skinfast Haven, a name which can still be found on maps today. The harbour was built in the 16th century and was rebuilt in 1829. The modern name of the town is thought to have evolved from Sillerdykes, a reference to the sun glinting off fish scales encrusted on fishing nets left to dry in the sun on the dykes, or walls, around the harbour. Fishing was a hazardous occupation, and over the years a number of boats from Cellardyke were lost. On 6 April 1826 a boat was lost. Seven of the crew perished and one survived. On 28 May 1844 a boat with eight crew members was lost. Two years later, on 23 April 1846 a boat with seven crew was lost. On 3 November 1848 a boat with eight crew was lost. The next loss occurred on 10 May 1865, when a boat with eight crew disappeared. In 1910 a boat from Pittenweem sank off Cellardyke with the loss of three lives. There was one survivor. In addition, on 1 July 1837 a boat from Cellardyke carrying people on an excursion to the Isle of May as part of a celebration for the start of the herring fishing foundered. Seventeen women and children lost their lives. I was raised in this old fishing village on the East coast and attended Cellardyke Primary School and Waid Academy in Anstruther. I was raised a Dyker. The village is located on the Fife Coastal Path.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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Old Photograph Paddle Steamer Gondolier Caledonian Canal Fort Augustus Highlands Scotland
Old photograph of the paddle steamer Gondolier in the Caledonian Canal in Fort Augustus, Highlands, Scotland. In the aftermath of the Jacobite rising in 1715, General Wade built a fort, taking from 1729 until 1742, which was named after the Duke of Cumberland. Wade had planned to build a town around the new barracks and call it Wadesburgh. The settlement grew, and eventually took the name of this fort. The fort was captured by the Jacobites led by Bonnie Prince Charlie in April 1745, just prior to the Battle of Culloden. In 1867, the fort was sold to the Lovat family, and in 1876 they passed the site and land to the Benedictine order. The monks established Fort Augustus Abbey and later a school. The school operated until 1993. The Caledonian Canal connecting Fort William to Inverness passes through Fort Augustus in a dramatic series of locks stepping down to Loch Ness.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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Old Photograph Regimental Police 3rd Royal Scots Barracks Glencorse Scotland
Old photograph of Regimental Police of 3rd Royal Scots in the Barracks in Glencorse, Midlothian, Scotland. The Barracks, which had previously been leased from a private landlord, was acquired outright by the War Office in 1812. Additional buildings were erected in 1813, at a cost of £100,000, to house 6,000 prisoners and their guards. However, the Napoleonic Wars came to an end a year later and the prisoners were sent home. Most of the prisoners were crews of privateers, nearly 300 men were confined in the mansion house. Ensign Hugh Maxwell was convicted of culpable homicide for the death, in January 1807, of Charles Cottier, a prisoner in Greenlaw House. Maxwell was the commander of a guard of 36 men of the Lanarkshire Militia, who were, at the time, based in Penicuik. He was imprisoned in the Tolbooth at Canongate for 9 months. Although for a while it was a Military Prison, the facilities were little used between 1815 and 1875, when they were converted into a major infantry barracks at a cost of £30,000. Their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localisation of British military forces. The barracks became the depot for the two battalions of the 1st Regiment of Foot, Royal Scots. Following the Childers Reforms, the regiment evolved to become the Royal Scots with its depot in the barracks in 1881. The barracks went on to become the regional centre for infantry training as the Lowland Brigade DepĂ´t in 1960. Royal Scots corporal Andrew Walker killed three Army colleagues in a payroll robbery in the Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh, in January 1985. He was jailed for life. All three were stationed in Glencorse barracks.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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