Old Travel Blog Photograph Maggie Fair Garmouth Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Maggie Fair in Garmouth on the coast of Moray, Scotland. The fair officially entered the calendar on the 30th of June 1587, when Garmouth, or Garmoch, as it was known, was raised in status by Crown Charter to a Burgh of Barony. This Charter gave the village the right to create free burghers, erect a Cross, and construct a harbour. Also, the right to hold two annual fairs, one in June, the other on the 20th of SeptemberThis Scottish village has a claim to fame as the landing point of King Charles II on his return from exile in 1650 AD. He signed the 1638 National Covenant and the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant shortly after coming ashore. The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War. On 17 August 1643 the Church of Scotland accepted it and on 25 September 1643 so did the English Parliament and the Westminster Assembly. General assent was obtained for the Solemn League and Covenant throughout Scotland and England by allowing the populace to sign it. After the Restoration the English Parliament passed the Sedition Act 1661, which declared that the Solemn League and Covenant was unlawful, was to be abjured by all persons holding public offices, and was to be burnt by the common hangman.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Destoyers Port Edgar Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Destoyers in Port Edgar, near Edinburgh, Scotland. The Admiralty acquired Port Edgar in 1916 and commissioned it as HMS Columbine, establishing it as a base for destroyers. This closed in 1928 and the site buildings were temporarily used as a holiday camp during the 1930s for families of the unemployed from Edinburgh and Glasgow. The pier at Port Edgar near South Queensferry had been regularly used by Royal Navy ships since the 1850s. Shortly after its purchase the wounded of the Battle of Jutland were landed at Port Edgar for the Royal Naval Hospital at Butlaw, South Queensferry. The dead of the battle were buried in the local cemetery at South Queensferry. In recent years, it has become a busy marina with a sailing school with 300 berths.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Stationmaster Queen Street Railway Station Glasgow Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a steam engine and the Stationmaster wearing a Top Hat in Queen Street railway station in Glasgow, Scotland. This Scottish railway station was built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and opened on 18 February 1842. The adjacent Buchanan Street station of the rival Caledonian Railway closed on 7 November 1966 as a result of the Beeching axe and its services to Stirling, Perth, Perthshire, Inverness, Dundee and Aberdeen transferred to Queen Street. From the late Victorian era onwards, station masters became prominent figures in local communities. Invariably they would be provided with a substantial house and, in rural communities particularly, would have significant social standing. The uniforms worn by station masters, whilst varying widely between different railway companies, often incorporated gold braid embroidery, and peaked caps with gold banding, giving the office holder a high profile in the community.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Sailors Rest Greenock Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Sailors Rest in Greenock near Glasgow, Scotland. The Sailors Rest Society was formed on 18 March 1818, as the Port of London Society. Following mergers with two other societies, the name was changed to The British and Foreign Sailors’ Society. In 1925 it was changed to The British Sailors’ Society. In 1995 the name was changed to The British and International Sailors’ Society. The Society is an interdenominational charity and has close links with many of the mainstream Protestant Churches in the United Kingdom, such as the Baptist Union, Church of Scotland, United Reformed Church, and the Methodist Church. The charity's head office is in Southampton, England. The Society is international and in addition to its presence in the UK it operates in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Curaçao, Ghana, Réunion, Russia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Ukraine.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Cottage Wanlockhead Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of girls outside a cottage in Wanlockhead, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. This village is located in the Lowther Hills and one mile south of Leadhills at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands. It is Scotland's highest village. Wanlockhead owes its existence to the lead and other mineral deposits in the surrounding hills. These deposits were first exploited by the Romans. The village was founded permanently in 1680 when the Duke of Buccleuch built a lead smelting plant and workers cottages. A branch railway also the highest in Scotland, served the village from 1901 to 1939.



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

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