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.
Tour Scotland video of the Limekilns at Boddin Point, South of Montrose, Scotland. The kiln was built on the orders of local landowner, Robert Scott, of nearby Dunninald Castle, on the discovery of a rich seam of limestone. The kilns were built during a period when agrarian improvements and enclosure created an enormous demand for lime, which was used until the late 19th century to reduce acidity and improve the workability and drainage properties of heavy clay soils.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of Dunninald Castle, South of Montrose, Scotland. Dunninald has a history of at least a thousand years. The name is derived from the gaelic, dun a castle and ard, a high place. The first Dunninald was on the cliff high above the North Sea, so the name is a good description of the original site. A second house was built about 1590, to replace the old tower fortalice. By 1819 the second house was some 230 years old and the new owner, Peter Arkley, commissioned James Gillespie Graham to built a new house. This was designed in the gothic revival style and was completed in 1824. James Gillespie Graham specialised in the gothic revival style and built many houses and churches around Scotland. He designed the Glenfinnan Monument in 1815.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of photographs of Croft Moraig Stone Circle in Perthshire, Scotland. Croft Moraig, near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, with its concentric rings and outliers on an artificial platform. The history of the site is known from an excavation in 1965: Aout 5000 years ago, a horseshoe arrangement of fourteen wide wooden posts was erected in an ellipse 7 metres by 8 metres. This was surrounded by a ditch. The posts were later replaced by eight stones of graded height. Another smaller stone stood just outside. Some neolithic pottery was found related to this phase of the site. A rubble bank was created outside the stones and cup-marked stones added that aligned with the southern moonset and the midsummer sunrise. A twelve metre diameter circle of twelve large stones was constructed and a couple of large outlying stones added.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of photographs of the Atholl Highlanders in Perthshire, Scotland. The Atholl Highlanders are a Scottish infantry regiment. Based in Blair Atholl, the regiment is not part of the British Army. Instead, the regiment is in the private employ of the Duke of Atholl, making it the only legal private army in Britain and Europe. The regiment wears the tartan of the Clan Murray of Atholl.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottages in Dalguise, Perthshire, Scotland. Located on the western side of the River Tay on the B898 road, north of Dunkeld, This is the place, in Dalguise House, where Beatrix Potter stayed in her childhood as a summer visitor, and acted as inspiration for some of her later stories.
Old photograph of Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland. The long High Street of Auchterarder gave the town its popular name of The Lang Toun or Long Town. The Jacobite Earl of Mar's army torched the town in 1716, but it quickly rose to prominence again thanks mainly to the handloom weaving industry. Robert Nisbet was born on 7 January 1814 in Auchterarder, the son of Christopher Nisbet and his wife, Margaret Sime. He was educated at the local school then studied Divinity at St Andrews University in Fife, and Edinburgh University. He was licensed to preach in 1836 and began as assistant minister in Lanark. In 1842 he took on the highly prestigious role of minister of West St Giles in Edinburgh. In 1853 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews. In 1863 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Thomas Stevenson. In 1848 he married Eliza Tawse, died died 1883, daughter of John Tawse of Stobshiel, born 1787, died 1861, an advocate living in Edinburgh. Their children included Christopher Charles Nisbet and John Tawse Nisbet. Their daughter Christian Nisbet married James Paisley son of Reverend Robert Paisley of St Ninians in Leith. Robert died at his home, 56 Great King Street in Edinburgh's Second New Town on 22 November 1874. In 1983 the A9 was diverted to the south, bypassing Auchterarder and Aberuthven, to improve the connection between Stirling and Perth. 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.
Old photograph of thatched cottages, horse and cart and people in Fortingall near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. The village of Fortingall, with its large hotel adjoining the churchyard, was built 1890 by shipowner and Unionist MP, Sir Donald Currie, born 1825, died 1909, who bought the Glenlyon Estate, including the village, in 1885. It was designed by the architect James M MacLaren, born 1853, died 1890, and built by John McNaughton. The thatched cottages are notable examples of a planned village built in vernacular style, combining both Lowland Scottish and English influences, notably from Devon.England, and are increasingly appreciated as one of the most important examples of arts and crafts vernacular style in Scotland.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of The Old Schoolhouse in Cottown near St Madoes in Perthshire, Scotland. This building in the Carse of Gowrie is a rare example of a clay and thatch building. Cottown is a small hamlet next to the village of St.Madoes, approximately eight miles to the east of Perth. The building is thought to have been constructed between 1745 and 1770.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of the Hawk Stane, standing stone near St Madoes in Perthshire, Scotland. This stone in the Carse of Gowrie is connected with the Hays of Errol, and the Falcon Stone near Knapp.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of photographs of Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was sacked in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation and permitted to fall into disrepair. Part of the old abbey church continued in use at that time and some parts of the abbey infrastructure still remain to this day. Dunfermline Abbey is one of Scotland's most important cultural sites. The Benedictine Abbey of the Holy Trinity and St Margaret, was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but the monastic establishment was based on an earlier foundation dating back to the reign of King Malcolm Canmore. Saint Margaret of Scotland was buried here in 1093; on 19th June 1250. King Robert the Bruce was buried, in 1329, in the choir, now the site of the present parish church. Bruce's heart rests in Melrose, but his bones lie in Dunfermline Abbey, where, after the discovery of the skeleton in 1818, they were reinterred with fitting pomp below the pulpit of the New church. In 1891 the pulpit was moved back and a monumental brass inserted in the floor to indicate the royal vault.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of photographs of the Sculptured Pictish Stones at Aberlemno, Scotland. Aberlemno 1 is the central roadside stone. It is an unshaped standing stone, bearing incised Pictish symbols. Aberlemno 2 stone can be found in Aberlemno kirkyard, it is a shaped cross-slab, bearing Pictish symbols as well as Christian symbols in relief. On the rear of Aberlemno 2 is a scene showing human figures bearing weapons, apparently engaged in battle. Aberlemno 3 stone has an elaborately decorated ringed cross flanked by adoring angels on one side, and a hunting scene on the reverse, below two large Pictish symbols.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Nelson's Tower on Cluny Hill on the South side of Forres, Moray, Scotland. At the top of Cluny Hill is Nelson's Tower, built in 1806 to commemorate Admiral Lord Nelson and his victory at Trafalgar.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of shops, buildings and people in Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland. This Scottish town is the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans, and has a history dating back to the 11th century. The town boasts some impressive examples of historical architecture, such as the Preston Tower and the doocot and the local Mercat Cross.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the interior of Mellerstain House near Kelso, Scotland. Mellerstain was built between 1725 and 1778. The architect William Adam initially designed the east and west wings for George Baillie, born 1664, died 1738, and his wife Lady Grisell, born 1665, died 1746, daughter of Patrick Hume, Earl of Marchmont. Work ceased after the wings were completed, and it was another 45 years before George Baillie commissioned Robert Adam to design and build the main mansion house. George was the second son of Charles, Lord Binning, born 1697, died 1732, heir to the 6th Earl of Haddington, and he inherited the Mellerstain estate when his aunt Grisell, Lady Murray, died in 1759. He had changed his name from Hamilton to Baillie as a mark of respect. The mansion house is possibly the only remaining complete building designed by Robert Adam, as most of his other works were additions to existing buildings. The Adelphi Building, in London, England, was a speculative neoclassical terraced housing development by the Adam brothers but is now largely demolished, leaving Mellerstain House as an important record of Robert Adam's work. The interior is a masterpiece of delicate and colourful plasterwork, comprising a small sitting room, originally a breakfast room, a beautiful library, a music room, originally the dining room, the main drawing room, with original silk brocade wall coverings, a small drawing room, originally a bed chamber, and a small library, originally two dressing rooms. The main entrance hall leads to a long corridor with a staircase to the bedroom floor, from which there is a small back staircase leading to a large gallery room running north to south.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottage and houses in Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland. Near this Scottish village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.
Old photograph of cottages and people in Kelty, Fife, Scotland. Kelty is a former coal mining village in the heart of the old mining heartlands of Fife. It is situated on the Fife and Perthshire boundary.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Isle of Eigg, Scotland. An island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides located South of the Isle of Skye. During the sixteenth century there was a lengthy feud between the MacLeod and MacDonald clans, which may have led to the massacre of the island's entire population in the late 16th century.
Tour Scotland video of photographs of stained glass windows in St John's Church, Edinburgh, Scotland. The Church of St John the Evangelist is a Scottish Episcopal church in the centre of Edinburgh. It was dedicated as St John's Chapel on Maundy Thursday 1818 with construction having begun in 1816. It was designed by the architect William Burn the previous year, at the remarkable age of only 25.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a Black watch Sergeant from St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. The Black Watch was formed at Aberfeldy in Perthshire in the early eighteenth century as an independent security force, or 'watch', to guard the approaches to the lawless areas of the Scottish Highlands.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottages in Newton Wamphray, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Wamphray is also the name of the surrounding parish and of the Wamphray Water, which flows south west through the Wamphray Glen to join the River Annan near the small village, or hamlet, of Newton.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
