Old Travel Blog Photograph Library Carbisdale Castle Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of of the library Carbisdale Castle located three miles North West of Bonar Bridge, Sutherland, Scotland. This Scottish castle was built between 1905 and 1917 for Mary Caroline, Duchess of Sutherland, the second wife of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland, whom she married in 1889. She is better known as " Duchess Blair " because of her first marriage to Captain Arthur Kindersely Blair of the 71st Highland Light Infantry, who died in a hunting accident in 1883 near Pitlochry. The marriage was not well liked in the Sutherland family. When the Duke died in 1892 his will, in favour of the Duchess, was contested by his son and heir Cromartie. In a court process that followed, the Duchess was found guilty of destroying documents and was imprisoned for six weeks in London. Eventually, the Sutherland family came to an agreement giving Duchess Blair a substantial financial settlement. Furthermore, the family agreed to build a castle for the Duchess, as long as it was outside of the Sutherland lands. The Duchess employed a firm of Ayrshire builders and work started in 1906 just outside the Sutherland lands in Ross-shire. It was located on a hillside to be visible to a large part of Sutherland, especially the main road and rail line which the Sutherland family would have to use to travel south. Thus it became known as the " Castle of Spite " as it was widely considered that the Duchess located the castle there to spite her husband's family and the settlement agreement. This is further supported by the fact that the castle's tower only has clocks on three of its four faces, the side facing Sutherland is blank, supposedly because the Duchess did not wish to give the time of day to her former relatives.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Craigwells Cottage Tearoom Aboyne Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Craigwells Cottage Tearoom by Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In 1715 Aboyne was the scene of a tinchal, or great hunt, organised by John Erskine, sixth Earl of Mar, on 3 September, as a cover for the gathering of Jacobite nobles and lairds to discuss a planned Jacobite uprising. The uprising began three days later in Braemar. Aboyne is unusual in having The Green on which events are held, as the village was modelled by one of the first Marquesses of Huntly, inhabitants of Aboyne Castle, on a traditional English village with a green at the centre. Few Scottish towns have such an asset.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Lawn Bowling Green Whiting Bay Isle Of Arran Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Lawn Bowling Green in Whiting Bay village on the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Bowls or lawn bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a " jack " or " kitty ". It is played on a bowling green which may be flat, for flat-green bowls, or convex or uneven, for crown green bowls. It is normally played outdoors, although there are many indoor venues, and the outdoor surface is either natural grass, artificial turf, or cotula, in New Zealand. Whiting Bay village is approximately 3 miles south of the village of Lamlash. Whiting Bay is the third largest village on the island, after Lamlash and Brodick, and was once the site of the longest pier in Scotland. Like all villages on Arran, tourism is important to the village. To the north of the village at Kings Cross Point between Lamlash and Whiting Bay is an Iron Age fort known locally as the Viking Fort. According to local legend, this is the site where Robert the Bruce mistook farmers' fires on the mainland as the signal to launch his campaign. This site was also the location of a Viking ship burial excavated in the earlier 20th century. 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.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Farm Portleek Kildonan Isle Of Arran Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a farm at Portleek by Kildonan, Island of Arran, Scotland. Kildonan is situated on the southern coast of the Isle of Arran. The name Kildonan derives from Saint Donan who is reputedly buried in the village. Early life in the village revolved around Kildonan Castle, sometimes referred to as Kildonan Tower. Once a royal seat, the castle passed hands between various Scottish nobles, before latterly belonging to the Hamilton family in 1544, by which time they were the Earls of Arran. The Tower was later sacked and burnt by the Earl of Sussex around 1558. Ruined remains of the building are still in existence.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Highland Light Infantry Bogside Irvine Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Highland Light Infantry camp at Bogside by Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland. The regiment was formed as part of the Childers Reforms on 1 July 1881 by the amalgamation of the 71st, Highland Light Infantry, as the 1st Battalion, and the 74th Highland Regiment of Foot, as the 2nd Battalion, as the city regiment of Glasgow, absorbing local Militia and Rifle Volunteer units. Its exact status was ambiguous: although the regiment insisted on being classified as a Highland regiment which recruited mainly from Glasgow in Lowland Scotland. The 1st Battalion landed at Marseille as part of the Sirhind Brigade in the 3rd Lahore Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front, and saw action at the Defence of Festubert in November 1914, the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915, the Battle of St Julien in May 1915 and the Second Battle of Ypres later in May 1915. It then moved to Mesopotamia in December 1915 and saw action at the Siege of Kut in Spring 1916 and the Battle of Sharqat in October 1918. The 2nd Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 5th Brigade in the 2nd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. It saw action at the Battle of Aisne in September 1914, the Battle of Ypres in November 1914, the Battle of Loos in October 1915, the Battle of the Somme in Summer 1916, the Battle of Arras in April 1917, the Battle of Cambrai in December 1917 and the advance to the Hindenburg Line in September 1918.



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

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