Tour Scotland Travel Video Winter Trees Cathedral Dunkeld Perthshire

Tour Scotland Winter travel video of trees by the Cathedral on ancestry visit to Dunkeld, Highland Perthshire, Scotland. Dunkeld is an important crossing point on the River Tay. We believe a monastery may have stood on the site as early as the 6th or 7th century. A stone cathedral was first built in the mid 800s to shelter relics of St Columba being brought inland from Iona to escape Viking raids. Construction of the current cathedral began in mid-13th century and it wasn’t finished until the 16th, shortly before the reformation in 1560.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Loch Assynt Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a boat on Loch Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland. Loch Assynt, Loch Asaint in Scottish Gaelic, is a freshwater loch located 4 miles East North East of Lochinver. It receives the outflow from Lochs Awe, Maol a' Choire, and Leitir Easaich. It discharges into the sea at Loch Inver, via the river Inver. There is excellent fishing for trout, sea-trout, and salmon. Ardvreck Castle, once held by the MacLeods and Mackenzies, occupies a promontory on the north shore, west of Inchnadamph.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Parish Church Balmaclellan Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the parish church in Balmaclellan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. A harled, T-plan kirk, the body was built in 1753, with the north aisle added in 1833 by William McCandlish. The west gable has a pyramid topped bellcote. The windows were given their present round headed appreaance in 1886. The interior is remarkable for the timber roof, with the diagonal trusses meeting in a central pendant. The stained glass west window depicting Christ the Lord of All is dated 1928 and is by Gordon Webster. The graveyard has an early 18th century table stone commemorating the Covenanting martyr Robert Grierson. Statue and plaque in churchyard commemorate Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Old Mortality’, who came from Balmaclellan. Crimean war memorial in churchyard.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Thatched Cottage Broadwall Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a thatched cottage at Broadwall, near Mull of Galloway, Wigtownshire, Scotland. In the past, the usual wide range of materials were used, in these south west counties but straw remained the most common thatch. It covered most dwellings in Renfrewshire, according to the Agricultural Report of John Wilson, in 1812 and was being stitched on with twine, in Dunbarton in the 1790’s. Back in Renfrew, Mr Wilson noted the local thatcher’s wages. " Thatching per square yard, with straw supplied. " paid three pence in 1795 and was fifty per cent more 1809.


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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Lochinvar Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Lochinvar, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Lochinvar is a loch in the civil parish of Dalry. It is located in the Galloway Hills, around 3.5 miles north east of St. John's Town of Dalry. The loch formerly had an island on which stood Lochinvar Castle, seat of the Gordon family. In the 20th century the loch was dammed to form a reservoir, raising the water level and submerging the island with the ruins of the castle. The loch is used for trout fishing. The Gordon family arrived at Lochinvar from Berwickshire in 1297. They established a castle, but the date of the ruins on the former island is not known. Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar, born 1565, died 1628, was one of the first to embark in the scheme for the establishment of colonies in North America, having on 8 November 1621 obtained a charter of what was called the barony of Galloway in Nova Scotia. In 1625 he published a tract on the subject entitled Encouragements for such as shall have intention to bee Vndertakers in the new plantation. Lochinvar was created a baronet in 1626. On 12 July 1626 he was appointed a member of the council of war for Scotland and a Commissioner for the Middle Shires, residing at Greenlaw, Crossmichael Parish, Kirkcudbrightshire. His second son, Robert Gordon of Gelston, joined with his father in the plantation of America in the grant of the barony of Galloway in Nova Scotia in 1621. His eldest son, Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar, 2nd baronet, was a supporter of King Charles I and a notable Protestant. He was created Viscount of Kenmure by Charles at his Scottish coronation in 1633.



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

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