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 South Morningside, Edinburgh, Scotland. Morningside Road was an ancient route from the city to the south west of Scotland and Carlisle. By one definition, Morningside was formerly home to the author J. K. Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter series of books. However, her house in Abbotsford Crescent was, strictly speaking, in the Merchiston area bordering Morningside to the north. The house, which stands close to the homes of fellow authors Alexander McCall Smith and Ian Rankin, was sold in November 2012.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old travel Blog photograph of the harbour in Portgordon near Buckie on the Moray Firth, Scotland. By 1793 Buckie was the principal fishing community in the area. At that time fishing was confined to line fishing for cod, ling and haddock, in boats no larger than 14 tons. Development of the industry was limited by the lack of a proper harbour, and disputes amongst the three owners of the various boats. One of these, Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon, decided to establish a new village, just to the west of the tiny community of Gollachy which comprised but a few houses in the area that is now Gordon Street. Work was underway on the harbour in 1795 and stone was shipped from Lossiemouth in 1796. In 1797 houses were built for ten fishermen and their families from Nether Buckie, the western side of Buckie. This was the third new village the Duke had established, but unlike Fochabers and Tomintoul before, this was a smaller venture and little planning was done with regards to street layout.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland travel video of a helicopter crash on visit to the Airport at Scone near the Fair City of Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. Paramedics from Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance and Scottish Ambulance Service in attendance. As far as I am aware the pilot testing and flying the helicopter has escaped serious injuries and was removed and taken to Ninewells hospital in Dundee for treatment. Crash happened at 10.25am on the morning of 13/03,2018, The airfield’s fire engine was quickly on the scene dealing with the spilt fuel. Airport fire officers were joined by three units of Scottish Fire and Rescue along with their command unit. The helicopter is normally used for training purposes.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Allan Pinkerton who was born, on 25 August 1819, in the Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland. He was the son of William Pinkerton and his wife, Isobel McQueen. He left school at the age of 10 after his father's death. Pinkerton read voraciously and was largely self educated. A cooper by trade, Pinkerton was active in the Scottish Chartist movement as a young man. He secretly married Joan Carfrae, born 1822, died 1887, from Duddingston, then a singer, in Glasgow on 13 March 1842. Pinkerton emigrated to the United States in 1842. In 1843 Pinkerton heard of Dundee Township, Illinois, fifty miles north west of Chicago on the Fox River. He built a cabin and started a cooperage, sending for his wife in Chicago when their cabin was complete. As early as 1844, Pinkerton worked for the Chicago abolitionist leaders, and his Dundee home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Pinkerton first got interested in criminal detective work while wandering through the wooded groves around Dundee, looking for trees to make barrel staves, when he came across a band of counterfeiters who may have been affiliated with the notorious Banditti of the Prairie. After observing their movements for some time he informed the local sheriff, who arrested them. This later led to Pinkerton being appointed, in 1849, as the first police detective in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. In 1850, he partnered with Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in forming the North Western Police Agency, which later became Pinkerton & Co, and finally Pinkerton National Detective Agency. When the Civil War began, Pinkerton served as head of the Union Intelligence Service during the first two years, heading off an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland while guarding Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington, D.C. Allan Pinkerton died in Chicago on July 1, 1884. He is buried in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago. He is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old travel Blog photograph of the clock tower in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Dating from 1790 the costs of the original build were met from the Common Good Fund and the sole purpose of the building was to contain the Town Clock. In 1894 tower was heightened and the clock was raised to its present position at the top of the square sandstone tower. Above the doorway is a large barometer, dated 1852, which was of immense benefit to the local fishing industry. The Clock Tower was also the site of one of the many public water supplies in the 19th century.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
