Old Photograph Loch na Cairidh Scotland

Old photograph of Loch na Cairidh, Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The loch is located between the small community of Dunan on the eastern side of Skye, and the island of Scalpay. Cairidh is the Gaelic word for a fish trap or weir, a semi circular stone barrier built above the low tide mark, often at the head of an inlet. The movement of the tide caught the fish behind the barrier and they could be removed with small nets. This was very much a subsistence fishing technique and no longer in use, but the name continues and indeed the broken cairidhs can still be seen in places along the coast.



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Old Photograph Trumland Rousay Orkney Scotland

Old photograph of Trumland, Rousay, Orkney Islands, Scotland. Most Rousay people have always earned their living from farming and fishing. In the 19th century, records show there were also tradespeople supplying the needs of a rural community: blacksmiths and joiners, shoemakers and shopkeepers, with women doing dressmaking and straw plaiting. Throughout the century, Rousay's landlords demanded high rents from crofters, many of whom were made homeless in a series of clearances along the western coast, ordered by landowner George William Traill in the 1820s and 1830s. Rousay's population in the mid 19th century was over 900, but emigration following land clearances reduced that to 627 by 1900, and half a century later it had fallen to 342. Depopulation accelerated, and in the next twenty years the number fell to 181, its lowest ever. From the 1970s onward new families started to settle on Rousay: most came from the south, especially from England.



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Old Photograph Fishing Boat River Inver Scotland

Old photograph of a fisherman and fishing boat on the River Inver, Sutherland, Highlands, Scotland. A few miles north east is Loch Assynt which is the source of the River Inver which flows into Loch Inver at the village of Lochinver . There are 200 or so lochans in the area which makes the place very popular with anglers. Lochinver is dominated by the " sugar loaf " shape of Caisteal Liath, the summit peak of nearby Suilven mountain.



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Old Photograph Book Shop 107 South Street St Andrews Fife Scotland

Old photograph of the John Innes Book Shop at 107 South Street in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. John Innes’ success in starting up the St Andrews Citizen newspaper encouraged him, in 1879, to buy the Tullis Family printing and publishing business. Its founder Robert Tullis, indentured in 1786 to a St Andrews bookseller and bookbinder, had learnt printing at the University workshop. In 1795 he set up, in Cupar, a printing and, later, a publishing business. When, in 1890, Provost Murray’s post office, which also sold Newspapers, was transferred to the adjacent Christian Institute, Innes’ firm retained the newspaper distribution in the corner shop which, in 1927, they bought.



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Old Photograph Small Fishing Boat Harbour St Monans East Neuk Of Fife Scotland

Old photograph of a small fishing boat entering the harbour in St Monans in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The old fishing village takes its name from St Monance who was killed by invading Danes in about 875. St Adrian was killed on the Isle of May in the same raid and 6,000 Fife Christians are said to have died. The village is now a tourist destination situated on the Fife Coastal Walking Path.



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

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