Old Travel Blog Photograph Brae Street Street Methil Fife Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a horse and cart, people and houses on Brae Street in Methil, Fife, Scotland. During the first half of the 20th century Methil prospered as never before. But, as had happened over a century earlier, boom time was shortly followed by bust. The 1950s and 1960s saw a dramatic drop in the output of the Fife coal fields, and one by one the pits began to close. The whole town suffered. Many other industries, like the docks, engineering and transport relied heavily on coal, and collapsed. Unemployment levels shot up, the once busy shops began to close and many of the buildings fell into disrepair. Brae is a Scots word for a hill.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Peebles Brothers Shop High Street Monifieth Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Peebles Brothers Shop on the High Street in Monifieth, by Dundee, Scotland. Monifieth remained a small village, comprising a number of turf huts until the early 19th century. In the eighteenth century, the economy of the parish was mainly dependent on agriculture. Other industries included quarrying and weaving within the home. During the 19th century, the village gradually expanded following the introduction of larger scale industries to the area, including manufacture of machinery for flax mills in 1811. James Low and Robert Fairweather had set up their foundry in the village at the start of the nineteenth century and in 1815 developed the first carding machine for flax tow in the area. With the growth of the textile industry in Dundee and Angus the business grew rapidly, and, by the late nineteenth century, James F Low & Co Ltd was producing a wide range of machines used for the processing and spinning of jute, flax and similar fibres. As well as building machinery for local use, the firm attracted orders from across the world and by the 1880s the Monifieth Foundry employed about 300 workers.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Highfield House Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Highfield House by Muir of Ord located eight miles South of Dingwall, Highlands, Scotland. Built around the middle of the nineteenth century, it was home to the Mackenzies of Highfield. The house met with disaster in 1947, when it was burned to the ground. Now all that remains are the gate lodges and the Dower House, a building which was converted from a traditional thatched farmhouse, into the residence of the lady dowager. This later became the Mackenzies' new family home.





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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Soldiers Marching Through Dundee Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of soldiers marching through Dundee, Scotland. The Dundee Fortress Royal Engineers was a Scottish volunteer unit of the British Army formed in 1908. Its main role was defence of the harbours and shipyards on the River Tay, but it also provided a detachment that saw active service in North Russia at the end of World War I. In the 1930s it was turned into an air defence unit, in which role it served in World War II. A brief postwar revival ended in disbandment in 1950.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph East Pier Tarbert Isle Of Harris Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the East Pier in Tarbert on Island Of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Tarbert is the main port and main settlement of Harris, with a population of about 550. The name Tarbert comes from the Norse tairbeart meaning " portage " or " isthmus ". It is located on an isthmus between Loch Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert. The village has a ferry terminal, local tourist information and some small shops, including a Harris Tweed shop overlooking the main access road to the CalMac ferry terminal and a general grocery store.





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

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