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 school in Oxton, Scottish Borders, Scotland. This Scottish village is located 25 miles south east of the centre of Edinburgh. The village of Oxton was called Ugston for several hundred years and appears under that name as late as the 1841 census. As with all Scottish parishes its inhabitants were ruled by a combination of the Kirk Session and the Heritors, the latter being local landowners who were jointly responsible for funding all projects in the parish such as repairs or extensions to the church, the manse, the school, the churchyard, the schoolmaster’s house, and even the river bridges, all out of their own pockets. Saint Cuthbert, who became Bishop of Lindisfarne, was born here in AD635 and probably baptised his early converts at the nearby Holy Water Cleuch.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the church Manse in Swinton village located five miles South East of Duns in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. A manse is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, United church, Baptist and other traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin mansus, " dwelling ", from manere, " to remain ", by the 16th century the term meant both a dwelling and, in ecclesiastical contexts, the amount of land needed to support a single family. Many notable Scots have been called " sons, or daughters, of the manse", and the term is a recurring point of reference within Scottish media and culture. When selling a former manse, the Church of Scotland always requires that the property should not be called " The Manse " by the new owners, but " The Old Manse " or some other acceptable variation. The intended result is that " The Manse " refers to a working building rather than simply applying as a name. Swinton dates to the 11th century or earlier, and is associated with the Swinton family, who took their name from the settlement. In 1769, the village was re-designed and a market was created, now marked by the market cross. A parish church was built and still stands today. In the churchyard, the Swintons have their own burial enclosure. In 1843, the Free Church of Swinton was built, but in the 1900s the spire was removed and it became the local village hall.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the town hall in Greenlaw, located in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders of Scotland. Greenlaw's impressive town hall, completed in 1831, is a listed building from its county town era and was one of the buildings shortlisted in the 2006 BBC television series Restoration Village. Though it did not win in its particular category, the interest created led to the gift of private money and the building was restored in 2010. Thomas Gibson was born in Greenlaw on on 8 January 1825, the son of Thomas Gibson, born 1751, died 1820, and his wife Helen Lunham. He was educated at the free church school in Greenlaw. He went to Canada West in 1854. He served as reeve for Howick Township for 7 years. He ran unsuccessfully in Huron North in 1867. The township of Gibson, now part of the Township of Georgian Bay in the Muskoka District, was named after him. He died in January 1901 and is buried in Wroxeter, Ontario with his wife Elizabeth, born 1830, died 1878. His nephew was the noted mathematician Professor George Alexander Gibson, born 1858, died 1930.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottages and church in Ladykirk, Berwickshire, Scotland. The village was formerly known as Upsettlington, but King James IV of Scotland renamed the town Ladykirk; the church is also known as St Mary's Church or Kirk of Steill. Ladykirk stands directly opposite Norham Castle, Northumberland, England. The land opposite Norham Castle known as Upsettlington Green and Holywell Haugh was used for meetings during the wars of Scottish Independence. Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, the father of Robert the Bruce, and the Competitors for the Crown of Scotland convened at Holywell Haugh on 2 June, 1291, and met Robert Burnell the English Bishop of Bath and Wells. On the following day John Balliol acknowledged Edward I of England as his feudal superior. The Earl of Angus and his allies Lord Home, Lord Livingstone and John, Red Bag, Somerville of Cambusnethan met at the Kirk of Steill in 1521. They were leaving Scotland to avoid Regent Albany their political rival who had returned from France. Angus sent his uncle, the poet Gavin Douglas to Cardinal Wolsey from Ladykirk on 13 December 1521. The gentlemen of Selkirk, Jedburgh and Duns were summoned to meet Mary of Guise at Ladykirk on 24 November 1551, as she returned from France. The 15th century church and village are known as the place where a treaty supplemental to the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed by the English and Scottish commissioners. The Treaty of Upsettlington, May 1559, as it is known, was concluded within the Lady Kirk and exchanged at the church of Norham in England. The commissioners of Mary, Queen of Scots and King Francis II of France were the Earl of Morton, Alexander, Lord Hume, Henry Sinclair, Dean of Glasgow and James MacGill of Nether Rankeillour. The English commission included the Earl of Northumberland and the Bishop of Durham.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Boston Memorial church and cemetery in Duns in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. The church was built in 1838 as a memorial church. It was a United Presbyterian church, before becoming a Church of Scotland church. The church was demolished in 1985. Duns is a past county town of the historic county of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. The town was created a Burgh of Barony in 1490 by King James IV heritably 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. Oliver Cromwell put a garrison into the town after the Battle of Dunbar on 3 September 1650. In the peace following the end of the Jacobite rebellion in 1746, Duns began to expand and many of the administrative functions of Berwickshire were carried out in the town. The Hay family were responsible for the present Gothic Revival Duns Castle. 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.
