Scotland

McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock

Part of my reason for travelling to Scotland last year, and Greenock in particular, was to do some family tree research. My paternal grandmother was born in Greenock, her grandfather having been moved up there from Kent in the early 1900s to work at the Torpedo Factory which was, at the time, an extremely secretive job. My first stop therefore was to the McLean Museum where I had been hoping to find more information about the factory. There was, in fact, barely any mention of it that I hadn’t already found elsewhere – a veil of secrecy seems to still hang around the details – but there was plenty of other items of interest in the museum.

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Categories: Greenock, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Calton Hill, Edinburgh

Back in October last year I spent just under a week in Edinburgh, using it as a base to explore other areas of Scotland as well as the city itself. This was my second visit to the city – you can read my previous posts about Edinburgh Castle, the National Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh Zoo. With the exception of the zoo which I revisited, I wanted to visit places that I hadn’t managed to the first time. One of these was Calton Hill which I headed to straight after checking in to my accommodation (The Elder York Guest House – highly recommended). Situated to the east of the city it is one of the best places to get a view of Edinburgh.

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Categories: Edinburgh, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘Tis the Season: Christmas Decorations 2023

Decorations for the Christmas tree are an easy souvenir from my travels, usually small so easily packed away in hand luggage. I didn’t take nearly as many trips as I wanted to this year due to various health shenanigans but I did manage to buy more than a few new decorations for the tree and they’re featured here in what has become something of a traditional yearly post. The first was from Cambridge and is of King’s College Chapel which you’ll be able to read about in a couple of weeks.

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Categories: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Edinburgh, England, Scotland | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Halloween Post: Witch Corner and the Halloween Trail at Abbotsford, Scotland

Abbotsford was the home of Sir Walter Scott, writer of such classics as Waverley and Ivanhoe. I’ll have much more to say about the house and gardens later, but in the grounds of the house they’ve created Witch Corner, an interactive story trail inspired by the writings and research of Scott who was particularly interested in Scottish folktales. In fact Witch Corner takes its name from Scott’s nickname for the section of his library that contains 250 rare books about witchcraft, folklore and superstition.

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Categories: Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Halloween Post: City of Edinburgh Underground Ghost Tour

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I recently returned from a week away in Scotland. It’ll be a little while before I start on those posts in depth but in honour of the spooky season I’m bringing forward a couple of them. On one of my evenings in Edinburgh I decided to do a ghost/history tour, and this one was the one that came most highly recommended. I didn’t take a huge amount of photos since much of the tour took place in the dark. The tour was lead by John Napier who was dressed in period costume (I can’t remember who he said he was representing now – a scientist of some sort) and he was a very engaging guide. The group was quite large, around 20 or so of us I think and we met here at the tour’s ticket booth.

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Categories: Edinburgh, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Throwback Thursday: The Britannia Panoptican Music Hall, Glasgow

The Britannia Panopticon in Glasgow began life as the Britannic Music Hall in the late 1850s. Items on the bill included dancing girls and comic and ballad singers and it was also a popular haunt for prostitutes. A Mr and Mrs Rossborough took over to clean things up and revamped the interior and increased the range of acts.

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Throwback Thursday: The Ramshorn, Glasgow

Designed by Thomas Rickman in the Gothic Revival style the Ramshorn was originally St David’s Parish Church and dates from 1824. It is now owned by the University of Strathclyde and houses Scotland’s National Centre for Languages and the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools.

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Throwback Thursday: The Italian Centre, Glasgow

The Italian Centre opened in 1991 and was designed by Page and Park architects. The design is based on an Italian-style palazzo, with a central courtyard and is filled with a mix of residential spaces, offices, cafes and shops.

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Throwback Thursday: La Pasionaria Memorial, Glasgow

This striking statue on the bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow is a memorial to British citizens who fought in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. Created by sculptor Arthur Dooley it was unveiled in 1979. The statue is based upon Dolores Ibarruri, known as La Pasionaria (The Passion Flower), a female politician and prominent anti-fascist from Spain.

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City Chambers, Glasgow

Glasgow’s City Chambers, the headquarters of Glasgow City Council, is an imposing building that was completed from 1888. There are (pre-COVID) free public tours twice a day Monday to Friday with tickets handed out on a first come first served basis. I got there about half an hour before the start time and was first in a group of about eight people.

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