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 Forest Hills Hotel by Aberfoyle, Trossachs, Scotland. Aberfoyle has connections to many historical figures such as Rob Roy and Mary, Queen of Scots. Robert Roy MacGregor was born at the head of nearby Loch Katrine, and his well known cattle stealing exploits took him all around the area surrounding Aberfoyle. It is recorded, for example, that in 1691, the MacGregors raided every barn in the village of Kippen and stole all the villagers livestock.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of houses on Beechcroft Terrace in Insch village in Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Insch is located approximately 28 miles from the city of Aberdeen. The name of the village may have come from the Scottish Gaelic innis, meaning an island, or, as in this context, a piece of terra firma in a marsh. In the Middle Ages, the village was home to a colony of Flemish merchants. The village is served by Insch railway station and has regular bus services to Huntly and Inverurie with connections to Aberdeen and Inverness. Dr Robert Daun was born in 1785 in Insch. He was the eldest son of Reverend George Daun the local minister. On 16 April 1785. He went to Elgin Grammar School and then studied Medicine at King's College, Aberdeen graduating MA in 1803. Having sat the relevant medical exams in London, England, in 1804 he received a commission as Assistant Surgeon, aged only 19, in the army and travelled to India to work there, aiding in the Second Anglo Maratha War. He served first with the 22nd Light Dragoons then the 59th Foot. He returned to Britain around 1812 and received his MD degree from Aberdeen University in 1813. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1814. He then joined the Scots Greys. He was nomadic by nature living in London from 1832 to 1835, St Andrews in Fife, from 1835 to 1839 and Aberdeen from 1839 to 1861. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. From 1861 onwards he lived in retirement at 6 Picardy Place at the head of Leith Walk in Edinburgh. He died peacefully at home in Edinburgh on 14 June 1871, aged 86. He is buried in Dean Cemetery in west Edinburgh. His wife, Helen Jamieson, lies with him. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of houses and a horse and carriage on Kenmore Road in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. Beyond its association with Robert Burns, who mentioned Aberfeldy in his poem The Birks of Aberfeldy, the town is known for Wade's Bridge, built in 1733 and designed by architect William Adam, father of the more famous Robert Adam. General Wade considered this bridge to be his greatest accomplishment. Aberfeldy is also mentioned in the traditional Loch Tay Boat Song.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottages on Low Street in New Pitsligo near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This area originally owned by the Lords Pitsligo, however after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 these lands were forfeited because of the last Lord's support for the losing side. Part of the estate eventually passed to William Forbes of Monymusk who founded the village of New Pitsligo on the site of the existing hamlet of Cyaak. William Forbes was born in Edinburgh on 5 April 1739. His father Willam Forbes, heir to a Nova Scotia baronetcy, was an advocate; the family estate at Monymusk in Aberdeenshire had been sold by his grandfather. Forbes's maternal grandmother was a sister of Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Forbes of Pitsligo, whose activities in 1745 led to the forfeiture of his estate, also in Aberdeenshire. His mother, Christian Forbes, was a member of a collateral branch of the Monymusk family, and was left a widow when William, the elder of two surviving boys from a family of five, was only four years old. She settled in Aberdeen in 1745 for the education of her children, who were brought up as Scottish episcopalians. The younger boy died in 1749, and in October 1753 Lady Forbes, with her surviving son, settled in Edinburgh. A friend of the family, Sir Francis Farquharson of Haughton, arranged with Messrs. Coutts, a prominent firm of bankers in Edinburgh, to admit Forbes as an apprentice, and he entered their service in 1754. Forbes worked to win back some of the alienated possessions of his ancestors. Lord Pitsligo's only son, the Hon. John Forbes, had bought Pitsligo. William Forbes bought some of the upper barony (the lower barony had passed by purchase to a stranger), and on the death of John Forbes he succeeded in 1781 to the whole. He improved the estate and laid out the village of New Pitsligo in 1783.He died in 1806.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the High Street in Pittenweem, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The late 17th to early 18th centuries saw a number of notorious witch hunts in Pittenweem by the local minister. The burgh was bogged down in debt and witchcraft was used as an excuse to improve the financial position by seizing the assets of some local women. The Church of Scotland building at the top of the High Street adjoined the Tolbooth which was used as the jail for some of the Pittenweem witches, and the door to the cells can still be seen. It is the studded door at the bottom of the tower.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
