Old Photograph Church Service Grounds Of Kirroughtree House Scotland

Old photograph of a Sunday outdoor church service on the grounds of Kirroughtree House located one mile north east of the town of Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The name Kirroughtree, with a variety of spellings, was in use as the estate name in the Late Middle Ages, although its origin is a matter of conjecture. A popular explanation is that it derives from Caer Uchtred meaning fortress of Uchtred, one of the sons of Fergus of Galloway, but there is no evidence that Uchtred built a fortress in the area. It could, however, derive from a geographical description such as corrach traigh, meaning " marsh at the river side " describing the lower part of the estate. A Battle of Kirroughtree took place in 1308 during the First War of Scottish Independence in which Edward Bruce put to flight a significantly larger English led army.



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Old Photograph Fishwives Port Seton Scotland

Old photograph of fishwives in Port Seton, Scotland. A fishwife or fisher lass, was a woman who gutted or sold fish, The word wife often meant woman rather than a married woman though they were often the wives and daughters of Scottish fishermen from coastal fishing villages. Fishwives were sometimes loud and foul mouthed, as noted in the expression, To swear like a fishwife. One reason for their outspokenness is that their wares were highly perishable and so lost value if not sold quickly. Their fish, such as haddock and herring, was carried on their backs in creels. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Tomnavoulin Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the William Stuart shop in Tomnavoulin located North East of Tomintoul, Scotland. A DNA study has found that half of all the men who carry the surnames Stewart, or Stuart, are descended from Scotland’s royal dynasty. The same investigation has also traced, for the first time, the rise of a male DNA lineage to a single individual in the 13th century who founded a branch of the Royal Stewart line. There are about 70,000 people with the surname in Britain, and the findings mean that around 17,500 men, regardless of their family trees, can now claim to be of royal descent. Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll died in 1298 fighting alongside William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk, but his well documented pedigree allowed ScotlandsDNA to carry out tests on his descendants, and those of his brother James, the 5th High Steward of Scotland and the grandfather of Robert II, the first Stewart king.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph YMCA Galashiels Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of people outside the YMCA in Galashiels, Scottish Borders of Scotland. Scots who committed crimes risked being sent to convict colonies. Until 1776 they were sent to the USA, but in 1787 the first prison ship left Britain for Australia. Australia was used as a convict colony until 1867. Convicts were forced onto transportation ships for a variety of serious crimes such as stealing and repeated minor crimes. They were often sentenced to 7 years, 14 years or life in the colonies and had little chance of returning to Britain. From the 1870s, orphaned children were sent to new families in the New World by William Quarrier. The Young Men's Christian Association was active in helping boys emigrate in the first half of the 20th century. The British Women’s Emigration Association was founded in 1901 to help middle class educated women emigrate.



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

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Old Travel Blog Photograph North Platform Railway Station Stirling Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the North platform of the railway station in Stirling, Scotland. Stirling was first connected to the Scottish Central Railway in 1848. Lines were subsequently opened by the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway in 1853, and by the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway to Balloch Central three years later. Through services to/from the Callander and Oban Railway also served the station from 1870. The current station buildings were opened in 1916 following a major rebuild by the Caledonian Railway. Trains operate north to Dunblane, three trains per hour, to Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen hourly, Inverness, four trains per day, south west to Glasgow Queen Street, three trains per hour, and east to Edinburgh Waverley, half hourly. The service to Alloa and Dunfermine was withdrawn in October 1968, but the reopening of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link partially restored that service with an hourly service from Glasgow to Alloa as an extension of the Croy Line services.





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