Old Travel Blog Photograph Chancel Parish Church Renfrew Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Chancel of the Parish Church in Renfrew, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Renfrew is a town 6 miles west of Glasgow. The first record of an existing church at Renfrew occurs in 1136, when it was given to Glasgow Cathedral. The original church was erected by Walter Fitz Alan, who was created High Steward of Scotland by King David I, on the Inch of Renfrew; it was dedicated to St. James, the patron saint of the Fitz Alan family. The monks were lodged not on the Inch, but on the mainland where they built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The present church stands on the site of this chapel. After the monks left, the Renfrew church would assume the title of the Church of St. Mary and St. James, which it has at present. Several churches may have occupied the site; the size and layout of the church prior to the Reformation may be deduced from old charters. At a certain period the church seems to have changed in name from that of St. Mary and St. James. The present church was built in 1861.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Bridge Grandtully Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Steel Truss bridge over the River Tay in Grandtully near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. Until it was replaced, the old Steel Truss bridge at Grandtully used to carry the A827 across the River Tay. Fortunately, today it just carries a minor village road, and the new route of the A827 allows larger vehicles to bypass it. The old bridge suffers from a number of constraints. Firstly, it is at right angles to the river, while the road at either end runs parallel to the river. This means that traffic has to make two right-angled turns to use the bridge, one at either end. The second, and possibly more difficult problem is that the bridge is only really wide enough for single file traffic, but this issue pales into insignificance compared to the final problem - the bridge is subject to a 3 Tonne weight limit, with signs requesting that no more than one vehicle is on the bridge at any one time! It has now also been subjected to an advisory 10mph speed limit.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Vintage Coach On The Road To Sligachan Isle Of Skye Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a vintage coach on the road to Sligachan, Isle Of Skye, Scotland. Sligachan is close to the Cuillin mountains with a good viewpoint for seeing the Black Cuillin mountains. Tradition has it that the Lord of the Isles attacked Skye in 1395, but William MacLeod met the MacDonalds at Sligachan and drove them back to Loch Ainort. There they found that their galleys had been moved offshore by the MacAskills, and every invader was killed. The spoils were divided at Creag an Fheannaidh, Rock of the Flaying or Creggan ni feavigh, Rock of the Spoil, sometimes identified with the Bloody Stone in Harta Corrie below the heights of Sgurr nan Gillean.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Braidburn Dairy Morningside Edinburgh Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Braidburn Dairy on Braid road in Morningside, Edinburgh, Scotland. The Braid estate was one of the large estates that surrounded the old village of Morningside, which was a rural area of open fields and countryside that stretched south from the Jordan Burn, the southern boundary of the city of Edinburgh. The Braidburn dairy, now demolished, was a series of long low whitewashed buildings. The village was an important stop for farmers on their way to Edinburgh and boasted at least two Blacksmiths.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Castle Park Barracks Dunbar Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Castle Park Barracks in Dunbar, East Lothian. The barracks have their origins in a hotel known as the New Inn which provided accommodation for officers from 1797. Private soldiers, who were not allowed to use the New Inn, had to use tented accommodation at Belhaven Sands and West Barns Links during the Napoleonic Wars. The War Office acquired both the hotel and Lauderdale House, a large property designed by Robert Adam, and developed the whole site into barracks in 1855. During the First World War the barracks served as the 6th cavalry depot providing accommodation for the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, the 5th Dragoon Guards, the 1st Royal Dragoons and the 2nd Dragoons Royal Scots Greys. During the Second World War the barracks served as headquarters for the 165th Officer Cadet Training Unit. The barracks were decommissioned in 1955 and the property sold to Dunbar Council. Dunbar is a town in East Lothian on the south east coast of Scotland, approximately 28 miles east of Edinburgh and 28 miles from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is home to the Dunbar Lifeboat Station, the second oldest RNLI station in Scotland. Dunbar gained a reputation as a seaside holiday and golfing resort in the 19th century. I hope these might be of interest to folks with Scottish Ancestry or Roots in Scotland.



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

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