Tour Scotland Photograph Horse Racing Balcormo Mains


Tour Scotland photograph of Horse Racing at Balcormo Mains, North of Lundin Links, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Bishops Bridge Ceres Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of Bishop's Bridge in Ceres, Fife, Scotland. Running alongside the Bow Butts and the village green is the Ceres Burn, and spanning it is the attractive 17th century bridge, also known as the " Bishop's Bridge ". Archbishop Sharp was one of the most hated men in the country. From being Presbyterian minister of Crail he had become Episcopalian Archbishop of St. Andrews and renowned for his severity towards the Covenanters. In may 1679, the Archbishop, accompanied by his daughter, in his grand coach with coachman, postillions and 4 serving men, came from Kennoway where he had slept the night on his journey from Edinburgh to St. Andrews. By the old waterless way he would come down the hill to Ceres and over the bridge to a building at the corner of the High Street where he smoked a pipe with the curate and then onwards towards Magus Moor, where, within sight of St. Andrews, he was brutally done to death by a group of Covenanters who had spent the previous night in a barn at Baldinnie. These men had received word that the Sheriff Deputy, by name Carmichael, and also hated for his treatment of Covenanters, would be hunting in the neighbourhood next day, but Carmichael had received a warning and was safely in his headquarters at Cupar. Just as the party were preparing to break up and go home, a message reached them that the Archbishop was nearby. Hardly able to believe their good fortune, the 12 men galloped after the coach, caught up with it and committed the murder. After searching the coach they cantered away but stopped after 3 miles to give thanks to God " for the awful deed they had been permitted to perpetrate. "



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Tour Scotland Photograph Scottish Lambs Abernethy Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of Scottish Lambs just outside Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Anne Grieve Gravestone Upper Largo Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of the Anne Grieve Gravestone in the Cemetery in Upper Largo, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. Upper Largo or Kirkton of Largo is a village near the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. It rests on the southern slopes of Largo Law and half a mile north of Largo Bay and the rather larger than the old fishing village of Lower Largo.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Pitkerie Doocot East Neuk Of Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of Pitkerie Doocot, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. Pitkerie doocot, located just north of Anstruther, was restored in 1975, including the central revolving ladder for collecting eggs, known as a potin.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Sea And Coast Elgol Isle Of Skye


Tour Scotland photograph the sea and coast at Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. According to tradition, the name of the village here comes from a battle fought with five ships by Aella, a follower of Vortigern, against the Picts and Scots. Elgol, Scottish Gaelic: Ealaghol, is a village on the shores of Loch Scavaig towards the end of the Strathaird peninsula.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Drystone Harbour Crail East Neuk Of Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of a drystone harbour in the old fishing village of Crail, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The internal face of the inner harbour wall, below the walkway, is mainly of drystone masonry vertically set. There has been a harbour in this community since around 1540. It is a small tidal harbour, the most picturesque in the East Neuk, reached by the steep descent down Shoregate.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Red Telephone Box Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of a red telephone box below tall trees in Perthshire, Scotland. The red telephone box, a public telephone kiosk designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight around Scotland, and despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, red boxes can still be seen in many places throughout Scotland. The colour red was chosen to make them easy to spot.



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Old Photograph of Shetlanders Scotland


Old photograph of a group of women crofters on the Shetland Islands . Scotland. In Shetland townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Cairngorms Rights of Way Signs


Tour Scotland photograph of Cairngorms Rights of Way signs, Scotland. The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society has compiled a catalogue of all the known rights of way in Scotland. In Scotland, a right of way is a route over which the public has been able to pass unhindered for at least 20 years. The route must link two " public places ", such as villages, churches or roads. Unlike in England and Wales there is no obligation on Scottish local authorities to signpost or mark a right of way.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Thatched Cottages Kilmuir Isle Of Skye


Tour Scotland photograph of thatched cottages at Kilmuir, Isle of Skye, Scotland. The Skye Museum of Island Life, a collection of thatched cottages, displays the way of life in days gone by. Within the parish lies Blàr a' Bhuailte. the " field of the stricken ", where the Vikings made their last stand in Skye near Loch Leum na Luirginn.



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Photograph Neist Point Lighthouse Scotland


Photograph of Neist Point Lighthouse, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Tour Scotland Photograph Flora MacDonald Memorial Isle Of Skye


Tour Scotland photograph of the Flora MacDonald Memorial, Kilmuir, Trotternish Peninsula, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Flora MacDonald, 1722 to 1790, Jacobite heroine, was the daughter of Ranald MacDonald of Milton on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and his wife Marion, the daughter of Angus MacDonald. In 1779 Flora returned home to Scotland in a merchant ship. During the passage, the ship was attacked by a privateer. She refused to leave the deck during the attack and was wounded in the arm. Flora resided at the homes of various family members, including Dunvegan, her daughter Anne having married Major General Alexander Macleod. After the war of 1784, Allan her husband also returned, and the family regained possession of the estate in Kingsburgh. Flora MacDonald had a large family of sons, who mostly entered the army or navy, and two daughters. She died at Kingsburgh on the Isle of Skye in 1790, at the age of 68. She is buried in the Kilmuir Cemetery.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Sailing Ship Ullapool


Tour Scotland photograph of a sailing ship at Ullapool, Scotland. On the east shore of Loch Broom in the Scottish Highlands, Ullapool was founded in 1788 as a herring fishing port by the British Fisheries Society. It was designed by Thomas Telford. The harbour is still the edge of the town, used as a fishing port, yachting haven, and ferry port. Ferries sail to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides.



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Old Family Photograph Perthshire Scotland


Old Scottish family photograph taken in Perthshire, Scotland. Perthshire extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the South.



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Old Photograph of Saltcoats Scotland


Old photograph of men and women in Saltcoats a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages along the shore. In the late 18th Century, several shipyards operated at Saltcoats, producing some 60 to 70 ships. The leading shipbuilder was William Ritchie, but in 1790 he moved his business to Belfast. By the early 19th Century the town no longer produced ships. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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Old Photograph of Inverkip Beach Scotland


Old photograph of boats and people on the beach at Inverkip, Scotland. Inverkip is a village and parish in Inverclyde. Inverkip was made a burgh of barony before the Act of Union in 1707, with the parish containing all of Gourock, Wemyss Bay, Skelmorlie and part of Greenock.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Creich Castle Fife


Tour Scotland photograph Creich Castle, Fife, Scotland. This now ruined castle was built on the almost solid rock in an old marsh which offered a good place to build a defensive tower. Rock gave a solid foundation and marsh slowed the advance of the enemy. In the 8th and 9th centuries Viking raiders rowed their longships up the River Tay looking for rich farms to attack. The ridge between the rock mound and the Tay afforded a lookout point little noticed from the river. If the Vikings did stop to attack, there was time to gather goods and people to the rock mound in the middle of the marsh.



The Earl MacDuff chose this site for one of his defensive towers. A trustworthy family of his clan was installed as Constable of this new defensive tower south of the River Tay. Called Creich Castle, a castle on a rock in Gaelic language, very similar to old Celtic French language. Queen Gruoch (Lady MacBeth of the old Scoto-Pictish royal line) was contemporary to and cousin to King Malcom Canamore. Malcom killed most of the rivals of the Clan MacDuff (Queen Gruoch line). Malcolm and Margaret Althing of England produced several children. Aethelred, oldest son, married the heiress of Clan MacDuff (Queen Gruoch line). He was installed as Earl of Fife and Abbott of Abernethy to reduce tensions between rivals.

Aethelred and his wife (Scoto-Pictish royal line) produced several children. The oldest son was to inherit Earldom of Fife. One of the younger sons was installed as Constable of Creich, probably, as was the custom, by marriage into the Creich family. This son and his wife lived in Creich Castle as part of the extended royal family. Also, as was the custom, the oldest son inherited property; later sons were installed as knighted clergy. This way the family was able to hold administrative, military, and religious control of their assigned territory for the Crown.

The first Creich by name is recorded as Donald de Creich, a knighted cleric, after the fashion of the new Norman society. Simon de Creich was the religious Canon of Moray. The male line of Creich Castle family failed in 1353. The oldest daughter married Andrew Murdock, contemporary of King James I. Reared in the Norman English court with King James, both went back to Scotland as young men. Andrew Murdock was the grandson of King Robert Bruce, son of Robert, Earl of Fife who died in 1420. Andrew Murdock now became the Duke of Albany, strongest figure in Scotland, second to the king. Married to a wife reared at Creich Castle, related by blood and marriage to most of the landed gentry of Fife, the Duke spent much time in the rich farmland area. Edinburgh was full of strife and intrigue. Creich was peaceful and family.

King James V had a first son by a distant relative, but the child was born out of wedlock (very common occurence in the best of families). This son, Lord James Stuart, was not elligible to be king, so was created the Earl of Moray. I believe Moray moved the studious members of family Creich to Edinburgh to be his trusted clerical staff.

Kinsmen of the Leddel and Beaton families were installed as Constable of Creich Castle. Farmers of Creich family stayed on the farm to continue to produce the food required by the favorite royal castle of Falklands. The Laird of Creich, Beaton by name, had an older brother who was the Archbishop of St. Andrews nearby. The third son of Laird Creich, Davie Beaton, went to work for his uncle, the Archbishop of St. Andrews. Hard-working, he married a distant cousin named Margaret, daughter of Lord Ogilvie of Airlie. Lord Ogilvie was and is now the Chief of the ancient Pict clan of Ogilvie and Angus, living at Castle Airles Angus.

Scotland needed a superb ambassador to France and Davie Beaton was appointed. While in France, Beaton was persuaded to take Holy Orders of the French Roman Catholic Church. Now Beaton was eligible to become the Archbishop of St. Andrews and ancient Kingdom of Fife. Davie Beaton did, in fact, follow his uncle to this postion. He was married to Lady Margaret Ogilvie for his entire Iifetime. When asked about being a priest and also married, he replied," I was married in Scotland. Later became a priest in France. Two countries and two different set of rules. I shall remain both!" Davie Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews was now the senior priest of both Roman Catholic and Old Celtic religious orders...Primate of Scotland.

Margaret and Davie were devoted to each other, and produced many healthy children. It seems that Lady Margaret lived most of her life at Creich Castle within the household of her father-in-law, the Laird of Creich. Those were violent times and disputes were settled by violence to all parties involved. Being reared in Creich Castle, most of the children of Davie and Margaret used the name Creich. Their grandfather was the Laird of Creich, a royal property !

The children of Davie Beaton and Lady Margaret Ogilvie were reared in Creich Castle with full knowledge of their ancestry. On their father's side were the Earl MacDuff, Robert the Bruce, Earl MacBeth, Queen Gruoch, the Malcolm Kings, Queen Margaret Althing of Hungarian royalty, English royalty and Thor Finn the Mighty's sister, Queen lngaborg, first wife of Malcolm Canamore III. On their mother's side their grandfather was Lord Ogilvie Earl of Angus, descendant of the Pictish kings of Angus. These children knew they were not ordinary landless peasants! They were children of Creich Castle, a royal property for 600 years!

Mary, Queen of Scots, had four ladies-in-waiting. One was Mary Beaton of Creich. Queen Mary often wrote of the kindness of the Laird of Creich in keeping Castle Falklands with plenty of good food while she lived at Falkland. The town of Creich, Scotland, grew up with Creich parish as a market place for Church.

By the time John Knox returned to Scotland preaching Calvinism, the Scottish throne and supporting nobility were corrupt. The nobility was using the Church in a way never seen before in Europe. Church was part and parcel of the scheme to keep control of the people and the nation. Christianity was preached, but not practiced. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, Davie Beaton of Creich Castle, religious primate of Scotland, made an enemy of Henry VIII of England, who wanted his daughter on the throne of Scotland. Beaton supported Mary as queen. No agreement could be reached. King Henry sent a professional assassin to murder Beaton. Learning of the plot, Beaton had the assassin tried and convicted of heresy. He watched from his episcopal window as George Wisehart burned at the stake. The next year a group of Scots nobles crept into Beaton's bedroom and stabbed him to death. They hanged his naked body by the ankle from the same episcopal window for all to see. Any friends or family of Davie Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, were under death threats. The Laird of Creich and his family fled. John Knox preached for their death, and the castle was occupied by his followers and the property convered to his use. Mary, Oueen of Scots, was driven from the nation, Creich Castle was no longer a royal property and the official religion became Presbyterian.

To survive they must change their name and renounce their ancestors or keep their family name and leave home. Surely some chose security and renounced their heritage. The defiant ones kept their name and moved to areas where the name Creich was not associated with Archbishop Davie Beaton. Thus did the family name of Creich disappear from Castle Creich after 600 years of living there.

Richard Creich (Creech is the English spelling) emigrated to Jamestown, Virginia, as a mercenary guard to the English tobacco farmers. This Richard was killed on the outer perimeter of Jamestown during an attack by indians. His wife and daughter also died, but his two sons away at school at the time survived to become ancestors of the Family Creich in the colonies.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Drinking Fountain Fingask Castle Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of a drinking fountain at Fingask Castle, Perthshire, Scotland.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Photograph Fingask Castle Topiary


Tour Scotland photograph of topiary at Fingask Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. This Scottish garden is renowned for its topiary.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Fingask Castle Sundial


Tour Scotland photograph of a sundial at Fingask Castle, Perthshire, Scotland.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Fingask Castle Lions


Tour Scotland photograph of two statues of lions at Fingask Castle , Perthshire, Scotland. Fingask grounds contain many statues by David Anderson, sculptor, of Perth, of characters from Scots literature.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Fingask Castle Statues


Tour Scotland photograph of statues at Fingask Castle , Perthshire, Scotland. Fingask grounds contain many statues by David Anderson, sculptor, of Perth, of characters from Scots literature. Fingask was once an explicitly holy place, a convenient and numinous stop-off between the abbeys at Falkirk and Scone. In the eighteenth century it was a nest of Jacobites.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Fingask Castle Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of Fingask Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. A country house in Perthshire, Scotland. It is perched 200 feet above the village of Rait, three miles north east of Errol, in the Braes of the Carse, on the fringes of the Sidlaw Hills. Thus it overlooks both the Carse of Gowrie and the Firth of Tay and beyond into the Kingdom of Fife. There are mentions of the lands of Fingask in the Foundation Charter of the Abbey of Scone by King Alexander I. The date of the charter is said to be 1114 or 1115. The Bruce family owned the lands of Rait, including Fingask, from the 15th century. The Bruces were descended from the senior line of the Bruces of Clackmannan, which included Sir David Bruce who married Janet, daughter of Sir William Stirling of Keir. Their son, Robert Bruce held the charter of Rait in 1484, confirmed 1488, and his son David resigned his right to Clackmannan to his uncle in February 1506.



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Photograph Sheep Rait Scotland


Photograph of the rural landscape and sheep near Rait, Perthshire, Scotland.

Tour Scotland Photograph Bird Box And Tree Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of a bird box and tree in Perthshire, Scotland.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Cottage Rait Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of a cottage and house in Rait, Perthshire, Scotland. The remains of a prehistoric promontory fort lie to the east of the village. The former parish church, now ruined, was built in the Middle Ages, and abandoned in the 17th century when the parish of Rait was merged with Kilspindie.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Thatched Cottage Rait Perthshire


Tour Scotland photograph of reed thatched cottage in Rait, Perthshire, Scotland. The old village of Rait lies tucked away in the Braes of the Carse at the mouth of the Glen of Rait where it opens out into the Carse of Gowrie. The area offers high-quality agricultural land and is well known as a major area for strawberry, raspberry and general fruit growing. Fruit is easy to cultivate in the area because of its southerly aspect and low rainfall.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Ayton Chapel Denmuir Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of the ruined Ayton Chapel at Denmuir, Ayton, North Fife, Scotland. In 1507, James the Fourth gave the west half of the lands of Denmuir, or Nether Denmuir, in the parish of Abdie, Fife, to Andrew Ayton, captain of the castle of Stirling, a son of the family of Ayton of Ayton, in Berwickshire, "pro bono et fideli servitio." He was the uncle of the heiress of Ayton above mentioned, and in consequence of the original lands of Ayton having passed, by her marriage, to the house of Home, he obtained a new charter of the lands of Nether Denmuir, in which they were named Ayton, and the Fifesh branch of the family were afterwards styled Ayton of Ayton. Sir John Ayton of that ilk left two sons, Robert and Andrew. Robert, the eldest, succeeded to the estates of his uncle Robert, Lord Colville of Ochiltree, and in consequence, assumed the name of Colville, being styled Robert Colville of Craigflower. The second son, Andrew, was a merchant in Glasgow, of which city he became lord provost. He built a large house, surrounded by a garden, near the High Street of Glasgow, the site of which, now occupied by public works, is still called Ayton court. About the commencement of the eighteenth century the lands of Ayton in Fife were acquired by Patrick Murray, Esq., second son of Sir Patrick Murray, the second baronet of Ochtertyre.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Brunton Church Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of Brunton Church, North Fife, Scotland. The road to Brunton village and the remains of the former Free Church of Creich and Flisk formed under Dr J W Taylor. Records suggest a manse and church were built between 1843 and 1844 and that the congregation was united with Creich Parish Church in 1929.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Rural Road North Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of a rural road near Ayton, North Fife, Scotland. Much of North Fife is covered in rich productive arable land. Movement from farm to farm requires frequent use of the narrow rural roads.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Denmuir Doocot Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of Denmuir Doocot by Ayton, North Fife, Scotland. A dovecote, or doocot, was a building intended to house pigeons or doves, which were an important food source in history. In Scotland the usual term is doocot. Doocots may be square or circular, or even built into the end of a house or barn and generally contained pigeonholes where the birds nested. The birds were kept both for their eggs, flesh, and even their dung.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Soay Sheep Dunbog Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of Soay Sheep near Dunbog, North Fife, Scotland.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Rain Clouds Dunbog Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of rain clouds over Dunbog, North Fife, Scotland. An old parish in North Fife which is entirely rural in character. Dunbog parish is bounded on the north by the River Tay, on the south by Monimail, on the east by Flisk and Creich, and on the west by Abdie. The nearest town of any size is Newburgh.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Gravestone Abdie Kirkyard Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of a gravestone in the Kirkyard cemetery in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. You can see some of the old Scottish agricultural implements on this old gravestone. By the middle of the 17th century in Scotland, we begin to see more identification marks on the stones. Heraldic devices, craft tools, symbols of mortality and the name, date of birth and often the address of the deceased began to be crammed onto the limited surfaces of the stone.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Watch House Abdie Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of a Watch House in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. From this building a watchful eye would be kept for grave robbers in the cemetery, body snatchers or resurrection men, who dug up newly buried bodies and sold them to anatomy schools to be dissected. In 1752 the bodies of all hung felons were granted to anatomists but this proved insufficient with growing numbers of medical schools spring up around the country. To meet this demand, a black market quickly emerged, trading in the stolen dead. ‘Resurrection Men’ could get an increasingly high price for their wares: human bodies that had been stolen from graveyards, and even deathbeds. A common trick of the trade was to burrow into the head end of the grave and drag the corpse out with a rope tied around its neck. A more subtle method was to dig a hole at a certain distance from the grave and tunnel the body out without anyone knowing the grave had been disturbed. The shroud and grave goods would often be left in the grave on removal of the body, as court sentences were lighter for body snatching alone. Such was the prevalence of body snatching that graves increasingly started to become fortified. Mausoleums, vaults and table tombstones became popular amongst the rich. Meanwhile the poor would place stones or flowers on the grave to detect any movement in the soil that might betray a theft, or dig branches and brambles into the grave to make tunnelling more difficult. Body snatching was so rife in Scotland that in 1816 Mortsafes were invented. These complex iron cages were bought or rented out until the body was sufficiently decomposed to deter the robbers. For further precaution, in some cemeteries friends would stay watch over graveyards at night, with watch towers sometimes being erected for the purpose.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Mortuary House Abdie Fife


Tour Scotland photograph taken inside the Mortuary House in the Parish churchyard cemetery in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. The Mortuary House in Abdie Kirkyard dates from the 18th century and stands to the south of the entrance gate. It was used to store coffins prior to funerals. In archaeology and anthropology a mortuary house is any purpose built structure, often resembling a normal dwelling in many ways, in which a dead body is buried.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Symbol Stone Abdie Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of a Symbol Stone in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. This is a Pictish Symbol Stone, sometimes called the Lindores Stone. Photograph shows the North face of the symbol stone showing triple-disc and bar above a crescent and V-rod. Over the centuries It has been made into a sundial, the Roman numerals within a square and a deep central vertical slot in the centre where the Gnonom was fixed. At a later date in the nineteenth century a surveyors bench mark was added without regard to its origins.



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Tour Scotland Photograph And Video Abdie Church Fife


Tour Scotland photograph of Abdie Church, North Fife, Scotland. On the west side of Lindores Loch sits the very old now ruined picturesque church of Abdie with interesting stones and setting. Abdie, Fife, Scotland, in 1846. Abdie a parish, in the district of Cupar, county of Fife, only two miles from Newburgh; including the villages of Lindores and Grange of Lindores, and the suburb of Mount-Pleasant; and containing 1508 inhabitants. This place formed part of the lands of Macduff, Thane of Fife; it continued in the possession of his descendants for many ages, and after wards, together with the earldom, passed to the family of Mordac, Duke of Albany, on whose attainder and decapitation at Stirling, in the reign of James I., his estates in Fife, and other property, reverted to the crown. The lands of Denmill, which included the greater portion of this parish, were granted by James II. to James Balfour, son of Sir John Balfour, of Balgarvie, one of whose descendants was killed in the battle of Flodden Field, to which he attended his sovereign James IV.; and another, Sir James Balfour, of Denmill, was appointed lyon king-at-arms to Charles I. and II., kings of England. There are still remaining vestiges of the ancient castle of Lindores, in the village of that name, said to have been the residence of Duncan Macduff, first thane of Fife; near which, according to the annals drawn up by Sir James Balfour, a sanguinary battle took place in the year 1300, between the Scots, headed by Sir William Wallace, and the English, when the latter were defeated, with the loss of 3000 slain on the field, and 500 taken prisoners.



The parish, anciently called Lindores, was formerly of much greater extent than at present, including the lands of the parish of Newburgh, which was separated from it in 1633. Its surface is very uneven, rising in some parts into hills of considerable elevation, of which the highest are the Norman's Law and the Clatchard Crag; the former, which is 936 feet above the sea, commands an extensive prospect, combining much interesting scenery, especially towards the north, embracing the Carse of Gowrie, with its richly cultivated surface, and the Frith of Tay, and lands in its vicinity, which are richly planted. The Clatchard Crag, situated to the south-east of Newburgh, is a tall and stately cliff, abruptly rising to an elevation of 250 feet above the level of the plain, and towering with rugged majesty above the road, which passes near its base. The principal river is the Tay, which bounds the parish on the north and east; and a powerful stream issues from the loch of Lindores, in the parish, and, in its course, gives motion to several large mills. The loch of Lindores is a beautiful sheet of water, covering nearly 70 acres of ground, and is in many places almost 20 feet in depth; it is supplied by a copious stream that rises in a tract of moss about half a mile distant, called the Priest's burn, which in the winter is never frozen, and in the driest summers is always abundant. The lake abounds with perch, pike, and eels, and is much frequented by ducks, teals, and snipes. The number of acres in the parish is nearly 7000, of which 4580 are arable, about 1530 in pasture, 300 under wood, and the remainder waste land, of which, probably, nearly 200 acres might be brought into cultivation. The soil is extremely various; along the banks of the Tay, in the lower part of the parish, it is remarkably fertile; on the slopes, it is a black loam of great depth, and in other parts light and gravelly. The acclivities of the hills are partly covered with heath, but in many places afford good pasturage for sheep, of which considerable numbers, chiefly of a mixed breed, are reared in the parish, and sold in the neighbouring markets; great numbers of sheep of different kinds are also fed here upon turnips, and shipped to London, by steamers from Leith and Dundee. The chief crops are, barley, oats, wheat, potatoes, and turnips, which, from the improved system of agriculture, and the draining and reclaiming of waste lands, have been greatly increased in value; and large quantities of grain and potatoes are annually exported. There are likewise several dairy farms, producing butter and cheese of good quality. The substratum is generally whinstone, of which there are quarries in full operation; it is much valued for building and other purposes, and was formerly exported to a great extent. A kind of red sandstone is also prevalent, and was once quarried; and limestone is found, but, from the distance of coal, every attempt to work it for manure has been given up.

The principal seat is Inchrye House, a castellated building in the early English style, crowned with battlements, and embellished with turrets, erected at an expense of £12,000, and seen with peculiar effect from the road leading to Newburgh; it is surrounded with thriving woods and ornamental plantations, and the grounds are laid out with great taste. The House of Lindores, the residence of Admiral Maitland, who commanded the Bellerophon when Napoleon Buonaparte surrendered himself prisoner, is pleasantly situated upon an eminence, embracing much varied and interesting scenery overlooking the loch of Lindores; and there are various other handsome residences, finely seated, and adding to the beauty of the landscape. The weaving of linen is carried on in the parish, affording employment to a considerable number of persons who work with hand-looms in their own dwellings; there are corn and barley mills in full and increasing operation, a saw-mill for timber, on a very extensive scale, and a mill for grinding bones for manure. The ecclesiastical affairs are under the superintendence of the presbytery of Cupar and synod of Fife; the Earl of Mansfield is patron, and the stipend of the incumbent is £233, with a manse, and glebe comprising 4 acres of arable, and 6 of pasture, land, valued at £23 per annum. The church, a plain substantial edifice, was erected in 1827, and is adapted for nearly 600 persons. The parochial school affords a liberal course of instruction; the master has a salary and a good house and garden. There are some remains of the ancient church, in the porch of which is still the basin for the consecrated water; and, till lately, the steps that formed the ascent to the altar were also entire. Urns containing human bones and ashes have been found in several parts of the parish; and one containing a skull and several bones, was recently dug up near the foot of Clatchard Crag, which was inclosed in loose flat stones placed together in the form of a kistvaen. A similar urn was found near the site of the ancient abbey of Lindores, containing a great number of small bones. On the summit of Clatchard Crag, are the vestiges of an ancient fort; and near the top of Norman's Law, are three concentric circles, of rough stones rudely formed, which is supposed to have been a Danish encampment.

Tour Scotland Photograph Road Building Isle Of Rum


Tour Scotland photograph of an abandoned piece of road building machinery on Isle of Rum, Scotland. Rum is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber. Donald Maclean, Minister of the Parish of Small Isles, wrote in The New Statistical Account, that " in 1826 all the inhabitants of the Island of Rum, amounting at least to 400 Scots, found it necessary to leave their native land, and to seek for new abodes in the distant winds of our colonies in America. Of all the old residents, only one family remained upon the Island. The old and the young, the feeble and the strong, were all united in this general emigration, the former to find tombs in a foreign land, and the latter to encounter toils, privations, and dangers, to become familiar with customs, and to acquire that to which they had been entire strangers. "



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Tour Scotland Photograph Totem Pole Kinloch Isle Of Rum


Tour Scotland photograph of a Totem Pole in Kinloch village on the Isle of Rum, Scotland. This totem pole took pride of place on the lawn outside Kinloch Castle during a music festival. Rum, is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the name became Rhum, a spelling invented by the former owner, Sir George Bullough, because he did not relish the idea of having the title the " Laird of Rum ".



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Tour Scotland Photograph Sligachan Sign Isle Of Skye


Tour Scotland photograph of sign on a derelict cottage pointing towards Sligachan, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Sligachan is a small hamlet on Skye, Scotland. It is close to the Cuillin mountains and provides a good viewpoint for seeing Sgurr nan Gillean. Tradition has it that the Lord of the Isles attacked Skye in 1395, but William MacLeod met the MacDonalds at Sligachan and and drove them back to Loch Eynort. There they found that their galleys had been moved offshore by the MacAskills,and every invader was killed.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Orval Isle of Rum


Tour Scotland photograph of the rounded hills at Orval, Isle of Rum, Scotland.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Farmhouse Camasunary Isle Of Skye


Tour Scotland photograph of a Farmhouse at Camasunary, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Camasunary is popular with hill walkers as it has a mountain bothy and has access to the Isle of Skye Munros. Camasunary is the anglicized form of the Gaelic name Camas Fhionnairigh, which is pronounced similarly to the Scottish English and means Bay of the White Shieling. An off road vehicle track connects to Kirkibost. The bay is privately owned, although it sits in the middle of land owned by the John Muir Trust.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Blaven Isle Of Skye


Tour Scotland photograph of Blaven, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Blaven is also known by its original Scottish Gaelic form Blà Bheinn which means Blue mountain, from a combination of Norse and Gaelic. Blå in Modern Norwegian means, blue, the Old Norse word blá could, however, also refer to the colours blue-black and black.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Hallival and Askival Isle Of Rum


Tour Scotland photograph of Hallival and Askival, Isle of Rum, Scotland. Askival is the highest mountain on the island of Rum, located three miles south of the village of Kinloch. It is part of the Rùm Cuillin, a rocky range of hills in the southern end of Rùm.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Mausoleum at Harris Isle of Rum


Tour Scotland photograph of a Mausoleum at Harris, Isle of Rum, Scotland. Contains Tombs of: John Bullough of Rhum and Merrerinie, born 1839 died 1891; Sir George Bullough, Baronet of Rhum, died July 26 1939; Monica Lily wife of Sir George Bullough of Rhum. Born April 27, 1869 died May 22nd 1967. John Bullough, father of George, was first buried in mausoleum in hillside close to temple. Mausoleum at Harris with the Rumm Cullin behind.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Cill Chriosd Church Graveyard Isle Of Skye Inner Hebrides


Tour Scotland photograph of the ruined Cill Chriosd Church, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Located between Broadford and Elgol. Cill Chriosd, or Christ’s Church, the roofless ruins of a 16th century church that once served as the parish church of Strath. In 1840 a new church was built in Broadford, and Cill Chriosd was abandonned. Nearby is the small hillock where, legend tells us, the 7th century Saint Maelrubha held a mass for the locals. Beinn na Caillich, in the clouds, is one of the Red Hills, or Red Cuillin. Its name is translated into English as Hill of the Old Woman.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Wee Bunk House Kyle Of Lochalsh


Tour Scotland photograph of the Wee Bunk House for hikers and walkers in Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland. Kyle of Lochalsh is a village on the north west coast of Scotland, 63 miles west of Inverness. It is located at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. A ferry which used to connect the two villages was replaced by the Skye Bridge, about a mile to the west, in 1995. Along with nearby town Plockton, the town became the backdrop to the BBC drama series " Hamish MacBeth ". Kyle of Lochalsh lies almost precisely 500 miles due north of Land's End in Cornwall, England.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Spean Bridge Railway Station


Tour Scotland photograph of the railway station in Spean Bridge, Scotland. Spean Bridge railway station is a railway station serving the village of Spean Bridge in the Highland region of Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line.



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