Old Photograph Sprouston Scotland

Old photograph of people outside the thatched cottage Post Office in Sprouston in the in the former county of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. The village is close to the south bank of the river Tweed, which forms the northern boundary of the parish. The eastern border of the parish is also the border with England and with the parish of Carham, Northumberland in that country, Sprouston being the last Scottish parish on the south side of the Tweed. The parish of Linton borders Sprouston to the south and the parishes of Eckford and Kelso to the west.



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Old Photograph Harryburn House Scotland

Old photograph of Harryburn House by Lauder in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. Harryburn is a fine country house built in 1827 for John Romanes, banker and town clerk of Lauder, to designs by John Smith, born 1782, died 1864. Smith had continued the business of his father, also John, a mason and builder in Darnick, near Melrose, after the latter's death, along with his younger brother Thomas. The Smiths were enterprising, and whilst their practice consisted mainly of designing and enlarging small houses, rural churches, schools and manses, they were also employed by a number of Borders landowners, including, most notably, Sir Walter Scott, who commissioned them to build his home, Abbotsford, to the designs of William Atkinson.



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Old Photograph Ayton Castle Scotland

Old photograph of Ayton Castle in the in the former county of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. The original castle, a peel tower, had once been a stronghold of the Home family. This castle was captured by the English in 1497, and the nearby church was the scene of the subsequent negotiation of the treaty of Ayton, signed on 30 September 1497. The tower was replaced by a classical mansion, which burnt down in 1834. In 1851 William Mitchell-Innes commissioned James Gillespie Graham to build a this castle at Ayton in the Scottish Baronial style in red sandstone. Mark Twain visited the castle in 1873 and insisted upon buying the Dining Room fireplace mantel; it is now in the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, America, having been repaired and moved there after a fire that destroyed Twain's Stormfield villa where it had been installed.



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Old Photograph Coronation Celebrations Coldstream Scotland

Old photograph of the Coronation celebrations for the crowning of King George VI in Coldstream, Scottish Borders, Scotland. The coronation of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 12 May 1937. George VI ascended the throne upon the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, on 11 December 1936, three days before his 41st birthday. Edward's coronation had been planned for 12 May 1937 and it was decided to continue with his brother and sister-in-law's coronation on the same date.



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Old Photograph Horse And Cart Duns Scotland

Old photograph of a horse and cart and people 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.

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