Old Travel Blog Photograph South Railway Station Fairlie Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of South Railway Station in Fairlie on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde, in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The station was originally opened on 1 June 1880 by the Glasgow and South Western Railway during the extension of the former Ardrossan Railway to Largs. It was renamed Fairlie Town on 30 June 1952, however this name was short lived and the station became Fairlie High on 2 March 1953. The station was renamed back to its original title some time before 1986. Originally a two platform station, it now has only one platform, the former northbound platform. The southbound platform was demolished and its track removed as part of the electrification of the Largs branch of the Ayrshire Coast Line in 1986.





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Old Travel Blog Photograph Judging Highland Cows Island Of Islay Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Judges judging highland cows at an Agricultural Show on the Island of Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Highland cattle, Scots: Heilan coo, are a Scottish cattle breed. They have long horns and long wavy coats that are coloured black, brindle, red, yellow, white, silver, looks white but with a black nose, or dun, and they are raised primarily for their meat.They originated in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland and were first mentioned in the 6th century AD.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph All Saints' Church In Glencarse Perthshire Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of All Saints' Church In Glencarse, Perthshire, Scotland. The style of architecture of the church, designed by Mr Blackadder of Perth, is English Domestic Gothic, and the walls are of pitch pine and cement. The church was consecrated by the Bishop of Brechin, the Right Reverend Dr Hugh Willoughby Jermyn, on the 25th April 1878. It was established as a mission church, free of debt, most of the money having been provided by Lord Kinnaird, Mr Greig of Glencarse House and Colonel Drummond-Hay of Seggieden. Mr Greig gave a most appropriate site with a southerly aspect and a sunny location. Up to that date Episcopalians were forbidden to assemble at meetings exceeding nine persons for religious worship. Such meeting were usually private houses, or even fields. The Episcopal congregations of Glencarse in the eighteenth century had meeting houses in Inchyra and Pitroddie. Inchyra was a busy mediaeval trading village with its pier and ferry. Pitroddie, formerly known as Battrodie, once a burial place of Druids, had a thriving population based on the quarrying industry. These meeting houses can be regarded as as the forerunners of All Saints' Glencarse. No part of the grounds can be used for burials or the interrment of ashes, the traditional burial ground being that of the old parish church at Kinfauns, about two miles west of Glencarse.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Dinnet Bridge River Dee Aberdeenshire Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Dinnet Bridge over the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. At Dinnet Bridge there was formerly a ford, which at one time was guarded by a fort, which can still be traced. The River Dee rises in the Cairngorms and flows through South Aberdeenshire to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen. The general area is called Deeside, or Royal Deeside in the region between Braemar and Banchory because Queen Victoria came to love the place and built Balmoral Castle there.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Oakwood Rustic Tea Gardens Elgin Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Oakwood Rustic Tea Gardens in Elgin, a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the floodplain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190 AD. It was created a Royal Burgh in the 12th century by King David I of Scotland. On 19 July 1224, the foundation stone of the new Elgin Cathedral was ceremoniously laid. The cathedral was completed sometime after 1242 but was completely destroyed by fire in 1270. In the 19th century the old medieval town of Elgin was swept away. The first major addition to the town centre was the Assembly Rooms, built in 1821 by the Trinity Lodge of Freemasons, at the corner of High Street and North Street. The Morayshire Railway was officially opened in ceremonies at Elgin and Lossiemouth on 10 August 1852. William Dunbar was born in 1749 in Thunderton House, Elgin. He was the youngest son of Sir Archibald Dunbar and Anne Bayne Dunbar. In 1763 he attended King's College, Aberdeen, and graduated from there in 1767. He emigrated to America arriving in Philadelphia in April 1771. In 1773 he and a Scottish merchant opened a cotton plantation in Florida and in 1792 opened another plantation in Mississippi. Dunbar became surveyor general in the Natchez area in 1798 and making his first meteorological observations in the Mississippi Valley in 1799. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him and fellow Scot Dr George Hunter to explore the Ouachita River region and travel all the way to the source of the Red River. They set out on 16 October 1804, traveling up the Ouachita River and on to the area of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dunbar became the first man to give a scientific report of the hot springs, and his journal of the exploration was later published in Documents Relating to the Purchase and Exploration of Louisiana. He died in 1887. 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.

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