Old Photograph Culbin Sands Moray Scotland

Old photograph of Culbin Sands in Moray, Scotland. Nowadays the name Culbin Sands means a beach, but formerly the name meant a large area of loose dune sand desert which is now the Culbin Forest. In its heyday, the dune system was the largest in Britain. This long strip of pristine beach is owned by the RSPB, due to its excellent bird habitat, home to Eurasian oystercatchers, Eurasian curlews, common redshanks and other birds. It is made up of a curious mixture of sand and long grass, but gets muddier further westwards. Much natural driftwood ends up on the sands. Three sand spits enclose a large salt marsh known as The Gut. The largest, known as The Bar, is the largest spit in Scotland. Towards Nairn, the beach is home to a wintering population of the Pale Bellied Brent Goose, one of only two in Scotland. The birds belong to the Svalbard population. In 1888 and 1889, the dunes hosted breeding pairs of Pallas's Sandgrouse, the only time this has ever been recorded in Scotland. The sands had a reputation for shifting, engulfing homesteads. This was due to removal of Marram from the dunes for thatching, as the roots helped to hold the soil together. The Forestry Commission sought to stabilise the dune in much a similar method by planting scrub, before giving the land over to forestry.



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Old Photograph Boys Fishing From The Pier Kirn Scotland

Old photograph of boys fishing from the pier in Kirn by Dunoon, Scotland. Kirn is a village in Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands on the west shore of the Firth of Clyde on the Cowal Peninsula. It now forms part of a continuous built up area between Dunoon and Hunters Quay, where the Clyde joins the Holy Loch. It had its own pier and was a regular stop for the Clyde steamer services.



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Old Photograph River Brora Scotland

Old photograph of the walkers bridge over River Brora in Sutherland, Scotland. The River Brora, Scottish Gaelic: Brùra, is an east flowing river in the Highlands which is formed as its headwater streams, the Féith Osdail, Allt Gobhlach and Allt nan Con-uisge meet at Dalnessie before flow southeastwards down Strath Brora to Dalreavoch. The river turns briefly north east then east and then southeastwrads once again to pass through the three distinct basins of Loch Brora to enter the Moray Firth on the North Sea at the town of Brora. Its one principal tributary is the Black Water which enters on its left bank at Balnacoil. The Black Water is itself fed by the River Skinsdale and the Coirefrois Burn.



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Old Photograph Mill Colville Park Motherwell Scotland

Old photograph of the Mill in Colville Park in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The main Roman road through central Scotland ran along Motherwell’s side of the River Clyde, crossing the South Calder Water on the north west side of today’s town. At this crossing a fort and bath house were erected, but the Roman presence in Scotland did not last much later than this. There were definitely people living in the area from an early point. The name comes from an ancient religious well, the Mother's Well, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. By the start of the 19th century Motherwell was a small hamlet, a farming community of some 600 people living adjacently to the 16th century laird’s manor, Jerviston house. The hamlet remained reasonably small, reaching 1,700 people by 1841, and centred on the crossroads between the main road following the Clyde, and the road connecting Edinburgh with Hamilton and the west. Motherwell’s fortunes changed dramatically in the second half of the 19th century. With the coming of the railway in 1848, came industry and money. By 1881 David Colville had opened both an iron and steel works; Motherwell had a new piped water supply; had been granted burgh status and had its population swelled to 13,800 people.



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Old Photograph MOD Winners Aberfeldy Scotland

Old photograph of MOD Winners in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. A mod is a festival of Scottish Gaelic song, arts and culture. Historically, the Gaelic word mòd refers to any kind of assembly. There are both local mods, and an annual national mod, the Royal National Mòd. Mods are run under the auspices of An Comunn Gàidhealach. The term comes from a Gaelic word for a parliament or congress in common use during the Lordship of the Isles. A Mod largely takes the form of formal competitions. Choral events, in Gaelic, both solo and choirs, and traditional music including fiddle, bagpipe and folk groups dominate. Spoken word events include children and adult's poetry reading, storytelling and Bible reading, and categories such as Ancient Folk Tale or Humorous Monologue. Children can also present an original drama, and there are competitions in written literature.



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