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 Granny Kempock Stone in Gourock, Renfrewshire near Glasgow, Scotland. The megalithic Kempock Stone, popularly known as Granny Kempock, stands on a cliff behind Kempock Street, the main shopping street in Gourock, Scotland. The stone, or menhir, is grey mica schist and of indeterminate origin, but it has been suggested that it is an old altar to the pagan god Baal, or a memorial to an ancient battle. Supposedly there is a superstition that for sailors going on a long voyage or a couple about to be married, walking seven times around the stone would ensure good fortune. A flight of steps winds up to the stone from Kempock Street below. There is also an association with witchcraft. In 1662 Mary Lamont and a group of other local women were burned to death in the local area after it was alleged that she and her coven had danced around the stone on the sabbath, with the intention of cursing and sinking shipping that passed through the Clyde by casting the long-stone into the sea.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of salvaging SMS Brems, a Brummer class minelaying German light cruiser at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland. Historically, the main British naval bases were located near the English Channel to better face England's old enemies, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. In 1904, in response to the build up of the German Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, it was decided that a northern base was needed to control the entrances to the North Sea. First Rosyth in Fife was considered for the base, then Invergordon at Cromarty Firth, but construction in both places was delayed, leaving them largely unfortified by the outbreak of WWI. Scapa Flow had been used many times for exercises in the years before the War, and when the time came for the fleet to move to a northern station, Scapa Flow was chosen for the main base of the British Grand Fleet. Following the German defeat in World War I, 74 ships of the Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet were interned in Gutter Sound at Scapa Flow pending a decision on their future in the peace Treaty of Versailles.
On 21 June 1919, after nine months of waiting, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the German officer in command at Scapa Flow, made the decision to scuttle the fleet because the negotiation period for the treaty had lapsed with no word of a settlement, he was not kept informed that there had been a last minute extension to finalise the details.
After waiting for the bulk of the British fleet to leave on exercises, he gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent their falling into British hands. The Royal Navy made desperate efforts to board the ships to prevent the sinking, but the German crews had spent the idle months preparing for the order, welding bulkhead doors open, laying charges in vulnerable parts of the ships, and quietly dropping important keys and tools overboard so valves could not be shut.
The British did eventually manage to beach the battleship Baden, the light cruisers Nürnberg, and Frankfurt together with 18 destroyers, but the remaining 52 ships, the vast bulk of the High Seas Fleet, were sunk without loss of life. Nine German sailors died when British forces opened fire as they attempted to scuttle their ship, reputedly the last casualties of WWI.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of people and buildings on Lanark Road in Juniper Green located South West of Edinburgh, Scotland. Juniper Green's earliest mention is in the Kirk records of Colinton in 1707. However it is largely called Curriemuirend up until the end of the 18th century. Traditionally, its major industries were paper and snuff set in the river valley of the Water of Leith. Only with the building of a railway station in 1874 did the village begin to prosper.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of buildings and people on Langton Gate Street in Duns in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. This Scottish town was created a Burgh of Barony in 1490 by King James IV for John and George Hume of Ayton, and the townsfolk were given the right to hold a market every Wednesday, and to hold a week long annual fair between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. Duns suffered badly in cross border raiding and feuding, and was burned to the ground three times within 14 years, in 1544, 1545 and 1558 during the war of the Rough Wooing.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a blacksmith shoeing a horse in Midlem, a small village located four miles South of Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Scotland. A blacksmith was also a farrier, a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combined some blacksmith's skills, fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes, with some veterinarian's skills, knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb, to care for horses feet.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
