Tour Scotland Travel Video Christmas Lights Drive Around St Andrews Fife

Tour Scotland travel video of a Christmas Lights drive around the streets on ancestry visit St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. A short drive along Bell Street, Market Street, South Street and back along Bell Street. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. There has been an important church in St Andrews since at least the 8th century, and a bishopric since at least the 11th century. The settlement grew to the west of St Andrews cathedral with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation. The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins.

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

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Tour Scotland Travel Video Walled Garden Airlie Castle

Tour Scotland travel video of the walled garden at Airlie Castle, Strathmore, Angus, Scotland. King James I of Scotland granted lands to Walter Ogilvy of Lintrathen, Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, in 1432. In 1639 at York, King Charles I created James Ogilvy the 1st Earl of Airlie. James refused to sign the National Covenant. Furthermore, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms the Ogilvies supported King Charles I and the Royalist cause. Parliamentarian troops under the command of Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl of Argyll destroyed the original castle here in 1640. The Ogilvies did not rebuild Airlie Castle. James Ogilvy (d. 1731), grandson of the first Earl, took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715 and was attainted; consequently on his father's death in 1717 he was not allowed to succeed to the earldom, although he was pardoned in 1725. King George II confiscated the castle. In 1778 David Ogilvy too received a pardon and he returned to Scotland from exile in Versailles. He had a new mansion built between 1792 and 1793 that incorporated the parts of the Castle that were still standing.

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

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Tour Scotland Travel Video Churchyard Kirkton of Airlie

Tour Scotland travel video of the churchyard by Airlie Parish Church, Kirkton of Airlie, Strathmore, Angus, Scotland. The oldest gravestone in this Scottish cemetery is dated 1609. There is a standing stone in a field just east of the cemetery; various Pictish and Roman relics, stone coffins etc; have been uncovered and the primary school is reputed to have been built on the site of an old graveyard. Airlie also contains one of the finest examples of a Pictish souterrain in Scotland, with the carving of a snake clearly visible in the ceiling.

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

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Tour Scotland Travel Photograph Victoria Street Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel photograph of Victoria Street in the Old Town in Edinburgh, Scotland. Victoria Street was built between 1829 and 1834 as part of a series of improvements to the Old Town, with the aim of improving access around the city. Victoria Street, formerly called Bow Street, was once the main entrance to get into the city and up Castle Hill from the West. Originally just referred to as the West Bow, the steep Z-shaped street was quite difficult to handle for carriages getting up into the city. Then in the early 19th century the street was transformed to its current shape and in 1837 renamed when Queen Victoria was crowned. A shop celebrating the wizarding world of Harry Potter has opened on the street that inspired the series famous Diagon Alley.



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

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Tour Scotland Winter Travel Photograph Red Deer Stag Scottish Highlands

Tour Scotland Winter travel photograph of a Red Deer Stag in Glencoe, on ancestry visit to the Highlands of Scotland. Red deer, Cervus elaphus, are the largest native land animal in the UK and are found mainly in northern Scotland. Stags, males, are larger in size than females, and have magnificent branched antlers that can reach up to one metre in width. In summer, its coat is a deep reddish brown colour, giving the deer its name. In winter, the coat becomes longer, thicker and darker. Males and females stay in separate groups for most of the year; stags group into unrelated 'bachelor herds', while females, hinds, live in groups consisting of a dominant female and her daughters. They are active throughout the day but tend to be most active in the evening and at night. Their diet consists of shrubs, tree browse, grasses and heather. The Monarch of the Glen painting of a red deer stag completed in 1851 by the English painter Sir Edwin Landseer, which was commissioned as part of a series of three panels to hang in the Palace of Westminster in London, was one of the most popular paintings throughout the 19th century, and reproductions in steel engraving sold very widely, and the painting itself was finally bought by companies to use in advertising.



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

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