Old Photograph Gypsy Queen Kirkintilloch Scotland

Old photograph of the famous canal boat, Gypsy Queen, on the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland. It was a very popular boat at the time along with the other two in the fleet, the May Queen and the Fairy Queen. Kirkintilloch is a town and former royal burgh in East Dunbartonshire. It is located on the Forth and Clyde Canal, about 8 miles north east of central Glasgow. Following the Scottish victory in the wars of independence and the subsequent decline of Clan Cumming, the baronies of Kirkintilloch, Lenzie, and Cumbernauld were granted by Robert The Bruce to Sir Malcolm Fleming, Sheriff of Dumbarton and a supporter of the Bruce faction in the war. Hitherto part of Stirlingshire, the area subsequently became a detached part of the county of Dumbarton, in which it remains today. On 3 January 1746, the retreating Jacobite army of Bonnie Prince Charlie made its way through Kirkintilloch, on its way back from Derby, England, and on the march to Falkirk and ultimately Culloden. The town was one of the hotbeds of the Industrial Revolution in Scotland, beginning with the emergence of a booming textile industry in the area. There were 185 weavers in Kirkintilloch by 1790, and in 1867 James Slimon's cotton mill at Kelvinside employed 200 women. With the construction of the Forth and Clyde Canal through the town in 1773, and the establishment of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 1826, Kirkintilloch developed further as an important transportation hub, inland port and production centre for iron, coal, nickel and even small ships. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.





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Old Photograph Royal Navy Ship Bay Oban Scotland

Old photographs of a Royal Navy ship in the bay at Oban, Argyllshire, Scotland. The site where Oban now stands has been used by humans since at least mesolithic times, as evidenced by archaeological remains of cave dwellers found in the town Just outside the town stands Dunollie Castle, on a site that overlooks the main entrance to the bay and has been fortified since the 7th century. The modern town of Oban grew up around the distillery which was founded there in 1794, and the town was raised to a burgh of barony in 1811 by royal charter Sir Walter Scott visited the area in 1814, the year in which he published his poem The Lord of the Isles, and interest in the poem brought many new visitors to the town. The arrival of the railways in the 1880s brought further prosperity to local industry and giving new energy to tourism.



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Old Photograph Newark Parish Church Port Glasgow Scotland

Old photograph of Newark Parish Church and cemetery in Port Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland. Built in 1774, it is the oldest remaining church in Port Glasgow sited on the axis of Balfour Street. It is an austere, symmetrical 2 storey building with 5 windows in the long walls. The church was built in rubble and to a largely Classical design and has pavilion roofs and galleries. In 1920-22 the square apse was built to be an organ chamber. It was altered and refurbished to become a chancel by Mervyn Noad of Glasgow. There was excellent woodwork and stained glass by Archibald Dawson and Charles Bailey but this was removed some time ago. A steeple for the centre of the north front was always intended but was never built. The south side features a relatively new brick extension. The church congregation was forced to unite with another in recent years, resulting in this church closing down.





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

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Old Photograph Bannockburn House Scotland

Old photograph of Bannockburn House by Bannockburn town located just South of Stirling, Scotland. In 1636 the lands of Bannockburn were gifted to Sir John Rollo. He was the second son of Sir Andrew Rollo of Duncrub, who was granted the Baronetcy by King Charles II at Perth, Perthshire, in 1651 for his strong royalist support for Charles I during the English Civil War. When Sir John Rollo died in 1666 he had no direct decendant as his only son had predeceased him. In this case his nephew Andrew 3rd Lord Rollo succeeded him to the Barony. Andrew sold the lands to Hugh Paterson in 1672 after only five years. Hugh Paterson, who was a writer and Clerk of Council in Edinburgh, was to commission the building of the house in 1675. The house and the estates were to stay in the Paterson family who were known to be strong Jacobite supporters until 1715, when the third Sir Hugh Paterson, grandson of Hugh Paterson and a relative of the Earl of Mar, was to fight in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. For their Jacobite support their lands were forfeited. The Paterson family continued to live in the house, and in January 1746 at the invitation of Sir Hugh, Bonny Prince Charlie, The Young Pretender, was to make Bannockburn house his headquarters after his army’s long march back from Derby in England, where he had tried to drum up English support for the Jacobites. It was during his stay at Bannockburn, after his victory on the 17th January against the Hanovarian army at Falkirk Muir, that he developed a fever. He was looked after by Clementina Walkinshaw, who was an ardent Jacobite supporter. A bullet hole still remains in the wall where the head of the bed was in the room which Prince Charles had occupied. Tradition has it that it was caused by the bullet of an assassin fired through the bedroom window. It is thought that Charles and Clementina were first introduced at her father’s mansion house at Shawfield Glasgow in December 1745, and that they had become romantically involved. Later she followed him and in 1752 the couple were living together in France. Their daughter Charlotte was born in 1753 and was the only acknowledged child of Bonnie Prince Charlie.



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Old Photograph Bannachra House Scotland

Old photograph of Bannachra House located 3 miles East and North of Helensburgh, Scotland. Bannachra estate was a property of the Galbraiths of Inchgalbraith until gained by the Colquhouns. They built the castle in about 1512. Sir Humphrey Colquhoun was murdered here by the MacFarlanes in 1592. A servant illuminated him at a window by holding up a lamp as he retired to bed, allowing a MacFarlane bowman to shoot him through the window. The MacGregors and Colquhouns battled in Glen Fruin, Glen of weeping, in 1602. Less of a battle and more of a massacre, the MacGregors killed 200 of the people of Luss in an infamous meeting which subsequently led to 35 of their number being hanged with their chief, and partly contributed to the proscription of the Clan.



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

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