Old Travel Blog Photograph Boating Pond Rouken Glen Glasgow Scotland

Old photograph of the boating pond in Rouken Glen in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, to the South West of Glasgow, Scotland. The glen has many of the typical features of an Edwardian urban park, such as a boating pond started in 1923 by Sir Robert McAlpine to replace a former curling pond. Rouken Glen includes a large waterfall surrounded by steep woodland; the waterfall is based on a natural waterfall, doubled in height to form a reservoir to supply the printworks downstream at Thornliebank during the early 19th century. There is a walled garden in the grounds of the former manor, Birkenshaw house.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Duck Pond Springburn Park Glasgow Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the duck pond in Springburn Park in Glasgow, Scotland. A Glasgow man named James Reid owned a large house and grounds in Springburn. When he died near the end of the 19th century he left his house and grounds to the city of Glasgow to be used as a public park. The park has two ponds which are very popular with visitors to the park. One is a boating pond and the other is a home for wildlife.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Grand Stair Holyrood Palace Edinburgh Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Grand Stair in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland. The Great Stair in the south-west corner of the quadrangle has a 17th century Baroque ceiling featuring plaster angels holding the Honours of Scotland. The Italian paintings on the walls are fragments of frescoes painted circa 1550 by Lattanzio Gambara, illustrating scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses. They were bought by Prince Albert in 1856, and placed here in 1881.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Mary Of Guise Door Darnick Tower Melrose Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Mary Of Guise door in Darnick Tower near Melrose, Scottish Borders, Scotland. Darnick Tower has been a property of the Heiton family from 1425 and they built the tower. King James V was sheltered here during the Battle of Melrose in 1526. Following the Battle of Ancrum Moor in 1545, the tower was attacked and partly destroyed by the retreating English army led by the Earl of Hertford. A new charter of the lands of Darnick was granted to Andrew Heiton, by Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley in 1566, and the tower was rebuilt in 1569. Sir Walter Scott greatly admired Darnick Tower and wished to purchase it, but he was refused.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Sacristy Door Abbey Iona Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Sacristy Door in the Abbey on the Isle of Iona in the Inner Hebrides off the West coast of Scotland. Iona Abbey, now an ecumenical church, is of particular historical and religious interest to pilgrims and visitors alike. It is the most elaborate and best-preserved ecclesiastical building surviving from the Middle Ages in the Western Isles. In front of the Abbey stands the 9th century St Martin's Cross, one of the best preserved Celtic crosses in the British Isles.



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

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