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.
Old photograph of the Merchants House in Glasgow, Scotland. The Merchants House of Glasgow was constituted in 1605 by the Letter of Guildry, which laid down the rights, duties and privileges of the Merchants and Craftsmen of Glasgow. From the beginning, the Merchants House supported members and their families who had become "decayed and distressed", both within their hospital and outside it. Over the years donations and bequests have enabled the House to continue and extend this benevolence.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of fishing boats in the harbour and children on the beach in Gourdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. A coastal Scottish fishing village located South of Inverbervie and north of Johnshaven, with a harbour built in 1820. A Lifeboat station operated here from 1878 until 1969 and between 1865 and 1966 the village was linked to Montrose and Inverbervie by railway. The last working flax spinning mill in mainland Britain operated in the village's Selbie Works until 1997. Gourdon flax yarns were used to make high quality linen goods and tarpaulins and jute yarns were used in a wide range of products from car seats to carpets.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland travel video of a road trip drive on the C1225 single track road to the Quiraing on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides. The C1225 is the famous Quiraing Road on Skye. It runs across the Trotternish Peninsula from the ferry port of Uig to Staffin on the east coast, passing the famous rock formations at The Quiraing above Staffin. The road below the Quiraing is a popular route in itself, with a couple of switchback bends to negotiate, climbing up from Staffin to the car park at the top. To the west, the road is much gentler, climbing slowly from the junction on the A855 above Uig, and running over open moorland.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Cave Rock at Laide on the South side of Gruinard Bay twelve miles North of Poolewe in Wester Ross, Scotland. This rock was blown over during a severe gale in 1950. Laide is a small hamlet on an inlet of the sea, in Wester Ross in the Highlands. It is situated at the junction of the road which climbs up steep Cabeg Hill and the single track road to the remote crofting townships of Mellon Udrigle and Opinan, where the road ends. At Laide there are the ruins of a chapel. This building dates from 1713 when George Mackenzie of Gruinard either restored or rebuilt an earlier chapel which was believed to have been built by St. Columba. In the nineteenth century the chapel fell in to disuse and services were held in a nearby cave. In the distance is Beinn Ghobhlach, meaning horned or forked, a mountain on the Scoraig Peninsula between Little Loch Broom and Loch Broom. At 2083 feet it may not be one of Scotland's highest peaks but its isolation makes it very impressive.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Chesthill House by Fortingall near Aberfeldy, Highland Perthshire, Scotland. In 1689, on their return from the Battle of Dunkeld, the MacIains of Glencoe, a sept of Clan MacDonald, together with their Glengarry cousins, looted Glenlyon, stole his livestock, and razed his last remaining holdings, increasing his financial problems from gambling debts. In his subsequent appeal for compensation, Campbell showed he clearly believed the Glengarry men to be the more culpable, making no mention of Glen coe. In a final effort to support his wife and family, Robert Campbell, at the age of fifty nine, joined the Earl of Argyll’s Regiment of Foot and led the detachment of government troops responsible for the infamous Glencoe Massacre, of the MacDonalds of Glencoe in 1691. Some element of planning may have been undertaken from Chesthill House. The fact of the stolen cattle and Glenlyon’s involvement in the massacre were used by the English in an attempt to thinly veil the massacre as simply the outcome of thievery and clan rivalry. The available evidence, including the aforementioned appeal for compensation, shows that this was not the case. The Argyll Regiment was sent to fight in Flanders, in the War of the Grand Alliance, but was defeated by the French armies at Diksmuide in 1696, and Campbell died in Bruges on 2 August 1696.
In around 1700, in an attempt to clear debts, Chesthill was sold to the local Colonel James Menzies’ of Culdares, who did not take possession until 1726 at the death of Robert Campbell’s wife. The Menzies of Culdares were staunch Jacobites: Colonel Menzies was a Royalist officer during the Civil War in the seventeenth century and was wounded nine times in various fights. He fought for the Jacobites in the 1715 Rising, but was captured after the rebellion and was exiled to North America. He was too old to take part in the 1745 Rising, but sent Bonnie Prince Charlie a fine horse, delivered by his servant, MacNaughton. He also introduced the larch tree to Scotland, having brought the first larches from the Austrian Tyrol in 1737.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
