Pictures of Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle pictures , January 2016

On Wednesday I drove up to Eilean Donan Castle to take some new pictures of the castle and try some new ideas . I got there about half past twelve , just in time to catch some shots of the castle before the sun disappeared behind the clouds .

I also took a picture using the miniature effect as you can get quite interesting results with this effect .

The sky looks a bit more interesting and there seems to be a bit of HDR going on .

My plan was to get some pictures of the castle at night which meant I had a few hours to kill before darkness fell . I went up to Kyle of Lochalsh to have a look around for anything interesting to photograph but I had no luck. Usually there are some fishing boats in the harbour but there weren’t any there .

At night the character of the castle changes . It is floodlit and takes on an orange glow .

Eilean Donan Castle poster , Giant A3 size , 16 by 11 inches , just £5.50 including free UK delivery .
[wp_paypal_payment]This image is also available in a larger size as a poster to US and UK customers on RedbubblePictures of the castle have been published in hundreds of calendars , books and websites. Castle pictures.com has ńow published its own castle poster. The Scottish castles collection features pictures of Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland by photographer David Rankin.Our original image of Eilean Donan Castle is now available as a poster .Eilean Donan Castle means Island of Donan (a religious figure from the 12th century). Eilean Donan was Clan MacKenzie’s most important stronghold from the 13th Century until it was destroyed in 1719. Robert the Bruce was given refuge in Eilean Donan Castle by John MacKenzie, Second of Kintail when he was being hunted by the English at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

Eilean Donan Castle gifts , posters and ornaments are for sale at Redbubble.

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Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan Castle is the jewel in the crown of Scottish castles with its fairytale setting and a long and colourful history stretching back many centuries .

Eilean Donan Castle poster , Giant A3 size , 16 by 11 inches , just £3.95 including free UK delivery .

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This image is also available in a larger size as a poster to US and UK customers on RedbubblePictures of the castle have been published in hundreds of calendars , books and websites. Castle pictures.com has ńow published its own castle poster. The Scottish castles collection features pictures of Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland by photographer David Rankin.Our original image of Eilean Donan Castle is now available as a poster .

Eilean Donan Castle means Island of Donan (a religious figure from the 12th century). Eilean Donan was Clan MacKenzie’s most important stronghold from the 13th Century until it was destroyed in 1719. Robert the Bruce was given refuge in Eilean Donan Castle by John MacKenzie, Second of Kintail when he was being hunted by the English at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

Above the entrance to the castle there is a Gaelic inscription which translates as: As long as there is a MacRae inside, there will never be a Fraser outside. Inside the courtyard is the famous Murchison Stone with an inscription about John Murchison of Auchtertyre who was killed in the Battle of Sherrifmuir in 1715. In the upper floor inside the castle there are six bedrooms named Loch Alsh,Loch Long, Eilean Donan, Ballimore, Loch Duich and Conchra. There is also a panel with the names of the constables ( guardians ) of the castle carved on it.

Eilean Donan Castle was originally built in 1220 and owned by the MacKenzies of Kintail. The MacRae Clan who settled in the area came from the Beauly Firth where they had protected the Clan Fraser.They acted as bodyguards to the MacKenzie chiefs. Although there was a number of disputes, the MacKenzies held Eilean Donan right up until until the 16th century. The MacRaes first became Constables of the Castle in 1511 with a lot of control over the surrounding area. A feud between the MacKenzies and the McLeods of Dunvegan, over the disputed claims of Donald Gorm MacDonald to the title of Lord of the Isles, came to a head when he attacked the Castle with 50 galleys. He was shot and killed by Duncan MacRae with a single arrow. The Castle was garrisoned by Government troops but later retaken by the Jacobites before the Battle of Sheriffmuir.

In 1719 it was held by Spanish Jacobites. Three English frigates sailed into Loch Duich and bombarded the castle with cannon fire until it was in ruins. The castle them lay in ruins for nearly 200 years. In 1911 John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the castle and start work to restore the castle over a period of twenty years at a total cost of a quarter of a million pounds. Local materials were used wherever possible.

More recently the castle featured in the film Highlander and a James Bond movie.

Eilean Donan Castle is on an island in the middle of 3 lochs – Loch Alsh, Loch Long and Loch Duich – and surrounded by the mountains of the Highlands. If you climb the hill overlooking the castle you can see the Isle of Skye. The castle is next to the village of Dornie and about 10 miles from the Kyle of Lochalsh and the bridge to the Isle of Skye to the North. The castle is on the west coast of Scotland, about 90 miles north of Glencoe and about 180 miles from Edinburgh. You can take the train from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and take a taxi to the castle. There is a bus route from Glasgow past the castle once a day. There are many bus tours from Edinburgh to the castle.

Due to a change in Scots law it is now possible to get married in a Scottish castle. Wedding receptions can be held inside the castle . The castle is open most of the year and it is run by the Conchra Charitable Trust.

Eilean Donan Castle poster , Giant A3 size , 16 by 11 inches , just £3.95 including free UK delivery .

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Eilean Donan Castle gifts are available in a variety of sizes as a poster, postcard, ornament and tie to US and UK customers on Redbubble

Almond Castle

Just over 300 metres north of Muiravonside Church are the remains of Almond Castle. This was once the principal seat of the Barony of Manuel and, anciently, the castle and its immediate lands were known as Haining. William de Crawfurde de Manuel is on record in 1417. It remained with the Crawford family until the middle of the sixteenth century. William Crawford, the last of the male line, died in or around 1542. He was married to Margaret Livingston and he was survived by their two daughters, Agnes and Margaret. Agnes was married to Thomas Livingston, third son of Alexander, Lord Livingston of Callendar and, Margaret once she came of age, sold her half to Agnes in 1551. The estate was held by this branch of the Livingstons until the middle of the seventeenth century. Sir James Livingston, the younger son of Alexander, Lord of Callendar and Earl of Linlithgow acquired the lordship of the castle and lands sometime around 1640. He had been honoured with the title of Lord Almond by King Charles I in 1633 for his past services and, as was not uncommon, his title became attached to the property. A writ of 1694 has ‘Hayning now called Almond’. After the forfeiture of the Livingstons of Callendar in 1716 the castle and lands were held by the York Buildings Company until they were purchased by William Forbes in 1783.

The castle appears to have been first built as a tower-house in the fifteenth century by the Crawford family; the surviving part is that earliest structure. Major additions were made in the sixteenth century superficially transforming it into a mansion house. By the time it came into the hands of Forbes it was uninhabited and ruinous. In recent decades the ruin has survived within the work premises of Stein’s of Manuel. The recent closure of the works and the planned redevelopment of the area offers hope for repair and stabilisation of the castle in the future.

Information about Almond Castle provided by the Falkirk Local Historical Society

unique Scottish art – Dancer In Emerald poster by Jack Vettriano

Dancer In Emerald poster by Jack Vettriano , price £12 , free UK delivery by first class post .

Dancer in Emerald is a licensed reproduction
printed on Premium Heavy Stock Paper
paper size is 43 x 50 cm
perfect for hanging or framing
ideal addition to your home or office

Printed on 275 gsm white silk paper

This print is produced in the UK to the very highest standards under the direct supervision of Jack Vettriano’s publishing company , assuring its quality.

Image Copyright: Jack Vettriano.

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All prints are carefully packed and sent out in heavy duty tubes to ensure their safe delivery.

iPhone 6S for sale , £400 , 1 year old

The iPhone 6S is an excellent phone with a powerful camera . I have a 1 year old Rose Gold iPhone 6S for sale , locked to the Vodafone network .

Technology: GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE
2G bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands: LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700)

Body
SIM: Nano-SIM
– Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified)

Display
Type: LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Multitouch: Yes
Protection: Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating
– Force Touch display
– Display Zoom

Platform
OS: Apple iOS
Chipset: Apple A9
CPU: Dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister
GPU: PowerVR GT7600 (six-core graphics)

Memory
Card slot: No
Internal: 2 GB RAM

Camera
Primary: 12 MP, f/2.2, 29mm, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, check quality
Features: 1/3″ sensor size, 1.22 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/panorama)
Video: 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps,1080p@120fps, 720p@240fps, check quality
Secondary: 5 MP, f/2.2, 31mm, 1080p@30fps, 720p@240fps, face detection, HDR, panorama

Sound
Alert types: Vibration, proprietary ringtones
Loudspeaker: Yes
3.5mm jack: Yes

Comms
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth: v4.2, A2DP, LE
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
NFC: Yes (Apple Pay only)
Radio: No
USB: v2.0, reversible connector

Features
Sensors: Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Messaging: iMessage, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email
Browser: HTML5 (Safari)
Java: No
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
– Siri natural language commands and dictation
– iCloud cloud service
– iCloud Keychain
– TV-out
– Maps
– Organizer
– Document editor
– Photo/video editor

In the Box
Apple iPhone
EarPhones with Mic
USB Cable
USB Charger