Old Travel Blog Photograph Of Allan MacGregor From Cumnock Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Allan MacGregor from Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. It is believed that a place of worship has existed in Cumnock's Square for over 1,100 years, though the earliest records begin in about 1275. The patron saint of Cumnock is Saint Conval. King James IV created the Burgh of Cumnock. This Scottish town housed many miners, and also served as the market town for the other, smaller towns in the district, like Auchinleck, Lugar, Muirkirk, New Cumnock and Ochiltree. The father of the Labour Party, James Keir Hardie, lived in the town for a large part of his life, and a statue to him sits outside the town hall. William Wallace allegedly spent three months in this area in 1296, according to the poem, The Wallace, by Blind Harry. Cumnock is also in the heart of Robert Burns country.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Of John MacDonald From Inveraray Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of John MacDonald from Inveraray a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. This a town on the western shore of Loch Fyne, near its head, and on the A83 road. It is a former royal burgh, the traditional county town of Argyll, and ancestral home to the Duke of Argyll at Inveraray Castle. In 1744 the third Duke of Argyll decided to demolish the existing castle and start from scratch with a new building. The castle was 40 years in construction, and the work was largely supervised by the Adam family, still renowned to this day as gifted architects and designers. Over the years the castle has played host to numerous luminaries; Queen Victoria visited it in 1874, and the Royal connection was further cemented when her daughter, Princess Louise, married the heir to the Campbell chieftainship, the Marquess of Lorne, in 1871.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Of Hardie Sisters From Kirkcaldy Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Hardie sisters from Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. From the early 16th century, the establishment of a harbour at the East Burn confirmed the town's early role as an important trading port. The town also began to develop around the salt, coal mining and nail making industries. The production of linen which followed in 1672 was later instrumental in the introduction of floorcloth in 1847 by linen manufacturer, Michael Nairn. In 1877 this in turn contributed to linoleum, which became the town's most successful industry: Kirkcaldy was a world producer until well into the mid 1960s. The town expanded considerably in the 1950s and 1960s, though the decline of the linoleum industry and other manufacturing restricted its growth thereafter.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Wayside Tea Room Kilmahog Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Wayside Tea Room at Kilmahog in the Trossachs of Scotland. Remains of first century Roman ramparts attributed to the campaigns of Agricola can be seen in the fields to the east of the village. Kilmahog used to be the site of St. Chug's chapel, after which it is named. All that remains of the chapel is a small burial ground with stones dating back to the late 17th century. Kilmahog was the site of an early 19th century toll house and later a tweed mill.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Large Drawing Room Blair Castle Highland Perthshire Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a large Drawing Room in Blair Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the 16th century terms withdrawing room and withdrawing chamber, which remained in use through the 17th century, and made their first written appearance in 1642. In a large 16th to early 18th century English house, a withdrawing room was a room to which the owner of the house, his wife, or a distinguished guest who was occupying one of the main apartments in the house could " withdraw " for more privacy.



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

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