Old Photograph King George V Passenger Ship Fort William Scotland

Old photograph of the King George V passenger ship arriving at Fort William, Highlands, Scotland. She was a pioneering Clyde passenger turbine steamer, built in 1926. She was a popular boat, seeing service to Inverary and later based in Oban, and withdrawn in 1974. She was novel in design, providing spacious accommodation with an enclosed promenade deck, the saloon extending the full width of the hull and half the length of the vessel. Above this was an observation deck. The restaurant was aft on the main deck, with large observation windows. King George V was initially mainly used on the Inveraray service but also visited Campbeltown. She became a much loved ship. After 1935, she was based in Oban cruising round Mull, to Iona, Staffa and Fort William. In World War II, she was requisitioned as a troop carrier, initially based at Southampton, England. In 1940, she evacuated troops from Rotterdam, Ostend, Calais, Boulogne and famously, Dunkirk, landing 4300 men at Dover. Returning to the Clyde in 1941 for tendering duties, she carried Prime Minister, Winston Churchill to his battleship en route to the Atlantic Conference. After the war, she resumed MacBrayne cruises on the Clyde in 1946, including the summer Ardrishaig mail service.



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Old Photograph Post Office Crawford Scotland

Old photograph of the Post Office in Crawford, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. This village of Crawfod is close to an old Roman road and has links with Sir William Wallace. This was also the site of a Roman fort between 80 AD and 140 AD housing perhaps 300 soldiers. Crawford is a surname, and occasional given name, of English, Scottish and Northern Irish origin. In some cases it is a habitational name derived from several different places called Crawford, for example Crawford, South Lanarkshire, Scotland; Dorset, England; and Somerset, England). The placename is derived from the Old English elements crāwe, crow, and ford. In some cases the surname is a variant spelling of the English surname Crowfoot As a surname, Crawford is the 289th most common name in Great Britain.



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Old Photograph Ballechin House Scotland

Old photograph of Ballechin House in Strathtay near Grandtully and Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. Ballechin House was a Georgian estate home built in 1806, on the site of an old manor house which had been owned by the Steuart family since the 15th century. In 1834 Major Robert Steuart, born 1806, died 1876, inherited the house and rented it to tenants whilst he served in the Indian Army. During his time in India, Steuart came to believe in reincarnation and transmigration. He returned to the house in 1850 and lived there with numerous dogs: he is reported to have stated that he would return in the form of a dog. Major Steuart was unmarried, but local gossip linked his name with that of his much younger housekeeper who died there in 1873. After the Major's death, the house was inherited by his nephew John Skinner who assumed the name Steuart. Fearing that his uncle would reincarnate in the form of one of his dogs, the new owner reportedly shot them all. From this story came the legend that Robert Steuart was forced to haunt the house as a disembodied spirit. The first reported haunting at the house took place in 1876; the witness was a maid in the house. Ballechin House was uninhabited by 1932, and most of the house was demolished in 1963, after a fire, leaving only the former servants quarters and outbuildings.



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Old Photograph Orwell House Scotland

Old photograph of Orwell House by the Allan Water near Kinbuck village located four miles North of Dunblane, Scotland. Kinbuck was the location of the retreat of the Jacobite troops under the Earl of Mar following the Battle of Sheriffmuir on 13 November 1715. Cromlix House is a Victorian mansion by Kinbuck, Perthshire. A house was built on the site in 1874 as a family residence in the time of Captain Arthur Drummond Hay, but was destroyed by fire in 1878. It was replaced in 1880. In February 2013, it was confirmed that tennis player Andy Murray had bought the property for £1.8 million, and opened the house as a 15 room five star hotel in April 2014. Kinbuck Railway station on the Stirling to Perth portion of the Glasgow to Kinnaber Junction Strathmore line of the former Caledonian Railway was opened by the Scottish Central Railway on 22 May 1848. It closed to regular passenger traffic on 11 June 1956, the line itself remaining in use. 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 Novar House Scotland

Old photograph of Novar House located North of the village of Evanton, Easter Ross, Scotland. The lands of the Novar Estate were acquired in 1589 from Keith of Delny by Neil Munro of Swordale, whose brother Andrew Munro was the ancestor of the Novar branch of the Clan Munro. At the time the Novar lands covered one quarter of the lands known as Fyrish. The current house and estate of Novar are largely the creation of Sir Hector Munro, 8th of Novar, born 1726, died 1805, who made his name and fortune as an officer in the British Army who fought in India. The building was altered and rebuilt as a classical square by Sir Hector Munro on his return from India in 1765. Sir Hector Munro's sons were both killed in India, one by a tiger and one by a shark in the Bay of Bengal. Therefore, the estate passed, after the death of his nephew Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro, to his daughter Jean Munro who married Ronald Ferguson of Raith.



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