Old Photograph King George V Laying Foundation Stone Usher Hall Edinburgh Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the ceremony for King George V laying the foundation stone for the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. The construction of the hall was funded by Andrew Usher, a whisky distiller and blender, who donated £100,000 to the city specifically to fund a new concert hall. The choice of site caused early delays but in 1910 an architectural competition was announced with the requirement that the hall be simple but dignified. The winning bid, one of 130 entries, came from Stockdale Harrison & Howard H Thomson of Leicester. england. The design was partly a backlash against Victorian Gothic, with a return to classical features owing much to the Beaux-Arts style. On 19 July 1911, King George V and Queen Mary laid two memorial stones, an event attended by over a thousand people. The dome was designed to reflect the curvature of the walls, but not to give a domed interior, which would have been acoustically disastrous. The interior of the hall is adorned with decorative plaster panels by the Edinburgh sculptor Harry Gamley. The figures depicted in these panels show figures from the world of music, as well as famous Scots. These include: Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Allan Ramsay, Robert Louis Stevenson, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg and Anton Rubinstein. Harry Gamley's work also features on the outside of the building with two large figures representing Inspiration and Achievement, as well as another three figures by Crossland McClure depicting the Soul of Music, Music of the Sea and Music of the Woods. The finished building was officially opened on 16 March 1914 with a concert featuring music by Handel, Bach, Wagner, Beethoven and the Scottish composer Hamish MacCunn. The final cost of building the Usher Hall was £134,000. Andrew Usher died before building work was started.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Road To Muthill Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the tree lined road from Crieff to Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland. Muthill was largely destroyed in the 1715 to 1716 Jacobite rising, by Jacobite troops retiring after their defeat at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, being rebuilt in the 1740s as it lay on the route of General Wade's military road through Strathearn. Field Marshal George Wade, born 1673, died 14 March 1748, was a British Army officer who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance before leading the construction of barracks, bridges and proper roads in Scotland. He went on to be a military commander during the War of the Austrian Succession and Commander in Chief of the Forces during the Jacobite rising of 1745.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Bass Of Inverurie Scotland

Old Travel Blog photograph of the Bass Of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Bass of Inverurie is a natural mound about 50 feet high with a summit area of about 60 feet in diameter, converted to a motte by the scarping of its sides, and the excavation of a ditch around it and the Little Bass, which was the bailey. The ditch is now filled up but grave digging has shown it to have been about 10 feet wide and at least 8 feet deep. During an excavation in 1883 the remains of an oaken gangway up the south face of the motte were discovered. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Baugh Isle Of Tiree Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of houses and cottages in Baugh, Isle of Tiree located South West Of Coll which is West of Isle Of Mull, Scotland. To the west of Scarinish lie the spread out hamlets of Heanish and Baugh. Beyond these the coast opens out onto yet another sweeping beach of brilliant white sandy beaches of Traigh Bhagh. Baugh has traditionally been the home of Tiree's doctor and on a small hill there is a monument to Dr Buchanan. The island Of Tiree is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, and fishing are the main sources of employment for the islanders. Tiree, along with Colonsay, enjoys a relatively high number of total hours of sunshine during the late spring and early summer compared to the average for the United Kingdom. Tiree is a popular windsurfing venue and is a proposed location for an offshore wind farm. Tiree is sometimes referred to as " Hawaii of the North. "



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Main Street Salen Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of houses on Main Street in Salen, Isle of Mull, Scotland. This Scottish village is on the east coast of the island, on the Sound of Mull, almost halfway between Craignure and Tobermory. The full name of the settlement in Gaelic is Sàilean Dubh Chaluim Chille. A minor road branches off here towards Gruline and various places on the west side of Mull.



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

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