Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Old travel Blog photograph of the school in Torphins, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Torphins, Scottish Gaelic: Tòrr Fionn, is a village in Royal Deeside, which lies about 23 miles west of Aberdeen. It is situated on the A980, about 7 miles north west of Banchory, and was once served by the Great North of Scotland Railway.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old travel Blog photograph of a vintage bus, cars and people outside the Hotel in Abington, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. This village is close to the M74 motorway, marking the point where it changes name to the A74 Motorway, following the upgrade of the former A74 road. The West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and London, England, also emerges from the Clyde Valley at this point and begins its ascent up Beattock Summit, alongside the motorway. Abington was at one time served by a station on the railway, but this was closed as a result of the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old travel Blog photograph of the Durine, Durness, Northern Sutherland, Scotland. Emigration from this parish began in 1772 when 200 people left for South Carolina. This was before the notorious clearances when people were forcibly evicted to make way for sheep farming. Despite having been on the government side during the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, the Clan Mackay were hit by the economic downturn which crippled the Highlands in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden. Poor management of the Mackay estates did not help and in keeping with elsewhere in the Highlands, sheep farming was seen as the salvation. The first enforced clearance was in 1820 in the West Moine district of the parish, followed by the Keoldale Estate clearances and in 1841, the Rispond Estate Clearance. The latter was, however, a clearance too many and it sparked off a series of events known as the Durness Riots, the first real resistance to clearances in the Highlands. The population, however, peaked in 1881 with 1109 people and then gradually declined. The biggest drop came in the aftermath of the First World War when emigration to the Scottish Lowlands, England and Canada was particularly popular.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old travel Blog photograph of the Station Hotel and houses on Caledonian Road in Wishaw, Scotland. It is located on the edge of the Clyde Valley, 15 miles south east of Glasgow City Centre. The main areas of Wishaw are: Cambusnethan, Coltness, Craigneuk, Gowkthrapple, Dimsdale, Greenhead, Wishawhill, Netherton, Pather and Waterloo. Thomas Canfield Pomphrey was born on 29 November 1881, in Wishaw. He was a pupil at Hamilton Academy, and later a student of architecture at The Glasgow School of Art in 1903 and 1904, after which he trained under Alexander Cullen, the Glaswegian architect. He left Scotland in 1906, emigrating to Toronto, Canada. He moved to New York in 1909, returning to Toronto in 1912. Pomphrey fought in the First World War as a member of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces, retiring in July 1947, after which he returned to Scotland. In June 1916, he suffered an extensive injury to his right shoulder from a shell fragment, which also broke his right hand. As a result, he spent a year in various hospitals in France, England and Scotland. In 1931, Pomphrey became a member of the Ontario Association of Architects. He died on 8 March 1966. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland travel Blog photograph of Glen Sannox on Island of Arran, Scotland. Within Glen Sannox it is possible to find an Iron Age fort and the remains of a village, abandoned in 1829 as part of the process of the Highland clearances. Most of the inhabitants of this areae emigrated to Canada where they built a replica of the local church that was constructed in Sannox in 1822. Mining was a source of employment in the area, when in 1840 a mine was opened in the area. However operations only lasted around two decades. Operations ended when in 1862 the 11th Duke of Hamilton closed the mine, claiming that it spoiled the local area. However, the mine was reopened after the close of the First World War.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
