Old Travel Blog Photograph Fishing Boat Pier Scrabster Caithness

Old travel Blog photograph of a fishing boat by the pier in the harbour in Scrabster, Caithness, Scotland. Scrabster Harbour was constructed in 1841 to provide deep water anchorage to seafarers and quickly became a key gateway to locations such as Orkney, Shetland, the Faroe Islands and also Scandinavia. Initially the harbour was used primarily as a fishing and ferry port, and by 1856 a ferry link was firmly established between Scrabster and Stromness. During the Second World War, Scrabster harbour was the base for a ferry operation started to carry military explosives to Scapa Flow.



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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Travel Blog Photograph Carronvale House Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Carronvale House in Larbert located two and half miles from Falkirk, Scotland. The name was originally Broomage or Brumeinche, meaning broom meadow or links. In 1452, King James II gave the lands to James Rutherford for faithful service. In 1476 they belonged to James, Lord Livingston, who had probably bought them. A century later they were sold to John, Lord Thirlestane. In 1644, they passed to John Burne, The land was sold in 1715 by Lodovick Callander, alias Willison of Dorrator, to Alex Brown. Mr Duncan Robertson of Roehill, Perthshire, bought the estate in 1819. During the First World War, officers of the 8th Scottish Rifles were billeted in the stables of the estate. During the Second World War the house was used for record storage by the Prudential Insurance Company. It was sold to the Boys' Brigade in 1945 and it was officially opened for training on 14 June 1947 by Lord Home, the then Brigade President. It has been in constant use ever since as the National Training Centre for Scotland, with many Officers, Leaders and Boys attending courses and conferences annually.



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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Travel Blog Photograph Spectators Enclosure Airshow Prestwick Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a Spectators enclosure at the Airshow in Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland. Prestwick Airport used to host a bi-annual airshow, the first of which was held on 30 September 1967. While very small in scale compared to such shows as RAF Fairford or Farnborough, the Scottish air show attracted up to 100,000 spectators to Prestwick in its heyday in the 1980s. The last air show was in 1992.



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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Travel Blog Photograph Pedestrian Walk River Ness Inverness Scotland

Old photograph of the pedestrian walk by the River Ness in Inverness, Highlands, Scotland. The River Ness, is a river about 12 miles, which flows from the northern end of Loch Ness in the Highlands, through Loch Dochfour, north east to Inverness, with a total fall in height of about 16 metres before discharging into the Beauly Firth. The river is the origin of the name of Inverness which is from the Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis, meaning " Mouth of the Ness ". There are several bridges in Inverness which cross the River Ness: the Ness Islands bridges; the Infirmary Bridge, built at Rose Street Foundry, Inverness 1879; Ness Bridge, constructed in 1961 replacing an earlier bridge which itself replaced a bridge of 1685 which collapsed during flooding in 1849. Greig Street Bridge; Friar's Bridge; Waterloo Bridge; and the Railway Bridge, which is a steel bridge fabricated in 1989 to replace the earlier stone bridge which was swept away in floods in 1989. The Greig Street Bridge is a picturesque suspension bridge built in Inverness in 1881.



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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Old Travel Blog Photograph East Window St Magnus Cathedral Kirkwall Orkney Islands Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the East Window of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland. The most northerly cathedral in the British Isles, a fine example of Romanesque architecture built for the bishops of Orkney when the islands were ruled by the Norse Earls of Orkney. It is owned not by the church, but by the burgh of Kirkwall as a result of an act of King James III of Scotland following Orkney's annexation by the Scottish Crown in 1468. It has its own dungeon. Its construction commenced in 1137 and it was added to over the next three hundred years. The first Bishop was William the Old, and the diocese was under the authority of the Archbishop of Nidaros in Norway. It was for Bishop William that the nearby Bishop's Palace was built. Before the Reformation, the Cathedral was presided over by the Bishop of Orkney, whose seat was in Kirkwall. Today it is a parish church of the Church of Scotland.



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

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.