View allAll Photos Tagged soffits
Looking at courtyard from indoor on 2nd floor. Design of soffit is so interesting.
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Historic sites Kanayama Castle guidance facilities and Ota City Kanayama Regional Exchange Center (史跡金山城跡ガイダンス施設・太田市金山地域交流センター).
Architect : Kengo Kuma And Associates (設計：隈研吾建築都市設計事務所).
Contractor : Kanto Construction (施工：関東建設工業).
Completed : May 2009 (竣工：2009年5月).
Structured : (構造：ＲＣ造).
Costs : $ million (総工費：約億円).
Use : Museum (用途：博物館).
Height : ft (高さ：m).
Floor : 2 (階数：地上3階).
Owner : Ota City (発注者：太田市).
Floor area : 17,954 sq.ft. (延床面積：1,668㎡).
Building area : sq.ft. (建築面積：㎡).
Site area : sq.ft. (敷地面積：㎡).
Location : 40-30 Kanayamacho, Ota City, Gunma, Japan (所在地：日本国群馬県太田市金山町40-30).
Referenced :
www.city.ota.gunma.jp/005gyosei/0170-009kyoiku-bunka/gaid...
kkaa.co.jp/works/architecture/museum-of-kanayama-castle-r...
kousin242.sakura.ne.jp/wordpress016/000-2/%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB...
www.kanto-k.co.jp/business/construction-results/public-fa...
One last major project for the year involved adding new maintenance free fascia and soffits to the house. Having some handsome young construction workers doing the job was a side bonus!
Built in 1841, the Ouse Valley Viaduct (also called Balcombe Viaduct) over the River Ouse on the London-Brighton Railway Line in England north of Haywards Heath and south of Balcombe is 1,475 feet (450 m) long.
The viaduct is 96 feet (29 m) high and is carried on 37 semi-circular arches, each of 30 feet (9.1 m), surmounted by balustrades. Each pier contains a Jack arch with a semi-circular soffit to reduce the number of bricks required.At each end of the abutment is an ornamental square open tower, the brickwork of which is faced with stone from Heddon Quarries near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The viaduct was designed by engineer for the line John Urpeth Rastrick in association with the architect of the London to Brighton railway, David Mocatta. It has been described as “probably the most elegant viaduct in Britain.”
The viaduct was opened in July 1841. The 11 million bricks needed for its construction were shipped up the Ouse River (via Newhaven and Lewes) from the Netherlands. It cost £38,500 to build (equivalent to about £3½ million in 2014).
The structure is a Grade II* listed building and was restored in 1996 with grants from the Railway Heritage Trust and English Heritage. Matching stone was imported from France, to ensure a close match with the existing balustrades and pavilions.
The viaduct is still used, with around 110 trains per day passing over it on the Brighton Main Line.
My husband was tearing down a soffit on a house he was working on and found these babies. He thought their mom would destroy them if their nest was disturbed so, he brought them home 2 weeks ago and has been taking care of them since. They all made it! Today, they graduated into a larger cage until they are ready to go out on their own.
Excerpt from historicplaces.ca:
Description of Historic Place
The property at 232 Highway 8, known as the McKinlay-McGinty House, is situated in the village of West Flamborough, in the City of Hamilton. The two-and-a-half-storey brick building was designed in the Classical Revival style and constructed in ca. 1848.
The exterior, selected elements of the interior and the scenic character of the property are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement (1987). The property is also designated by the former Town of Flamborough (now part of the City of Hamilton) under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 80-119).
Heritage Value
Located in the village of West Flamborough, west of the City of Hamilton, McKinlay-McGinty House is situated within the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area and its semi-rural setting contributes to its heritage value. The house is set back from the highway, surrounded by a number of mature trees with the old carriage house located at the rear of the property.
The McKinlay-McGinty House is significant for its association with William McKinlay, Hugh McGinty Jr. and the early economic prosperity of West Flamborough. William McKinlay (1807-1849) came to the village of West Flamborough in the early 1830s from the United States, acquiring the three-quarter acre lot upon which he would build the McKinlay-McGinty House in 1833. He established an iron and brass foundry in 1836 and his enterprise became the most important economic concern in the village, contributing greatly to its early prosperity. The McKinlay-McGinty House, constructed in 1848, is a reminder of the town's early growth and McKinlay's contributions to it.
The house was acquired by Hugh McGinty Sr. in 1922. Hugh Sr. died in 1932, leaving the house to his son Hugh Jr., a local historian and a collector and restorer of early Canadian furniture. McGinty remained in the house until his death in 1982, bequeathing the property, its contents and his estate to the Ontario Heritage Foundation (now Ontario Heritage Trust). It was acquired by the Trust in 1984, restored and sold as a private home with a protective covenant.
The McKinlay-McGinty House is a remarkable example of the Classical Revival architectural style. Two-and-a-half storeys high, built of red brick laid in Flemish bond on a limestone foundation, the McKinlay-McGinty House has a centre hall plan, is five bays wide and two bays deep, has four pairs of octagonal brick chimneys and is capped with a low hip roof. The projecting centre bay contains the front entrance and is set within an umbrage and screened by four Tuscan wooden columns. The main door is flanked by pilasters of ashlar limestone set on a plinth and surmounted by a limestone lintel carved to simulate a rusticated voussoir. The surface of each 'stone' in the voussoir is finished with a dressed margin and picked surface. The door frame is finished with broad fluted pilaster trim and is flanked by sidelights glazed in a lozenge pattern with a four light transom above. The panels below the sidelights and of the umbrage soffit are decorated with bead and reel moulding. The door contains a single rectangular panel. Above the entrance there is a Palladian-inspired window, set within an elliptical arch, with a central semi-circular headed window with gothic glazing bars, flanked by a pair of lancet windows showing the growing influence of the Picturesque and early Gothic Revival movement. Above this window is a recessed yellow brick lozenge pattern detail below a low gable with return eaves. The front windows are detailed with shutters and rusticated voussoirs.
The centre-hall plan has original elements including Greek Revival mantels in the parlour and ballroom, plank flooring, baseboards and six paneled doors with pilaster and architrave trim. Ornamental plaster work survives in three rooms. In the hall there is a ribbed plaster cornice, and small acanthus leaf ceiling medallion, in the parlour a larger acanthus leaf medallion and an elaborate three banded cornice. The second floor ballroom also has a ribbed plaster cornice. The hall has a black and white painted floor in a lozenge pattern. The stairs have cherry wood railings with white spindles.
Although the McKinlay-McGinty House has never had an archaeological assessment, animal bones, pottery shards, bottle fragments and pieces of clay pipe recovered indicate a high archaeological potential on site.
Character-Defining Elements
Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the McKinlay-McGinty House include its:
- Classical Revival style
- red brick laid in Flemish bond
- limestone foundation
- low hip roof
- slightly projecting centre bay
- front door set within a shallow umbrage
- sidelights and transom in the front entrance
- four wooden columns with Tuscan bases and capitals
- limestone ashlar pilasters flanking the front entrance
- limestone lintel carved to simulate a heavily rusticated double voussoir
- dressed margin and picked surface of each 'stone' in the voussoir
- sidelights glazed in a lozenge pattern
- wood panels below the sidelights and paneled soffits of the umbrage decorated with bead and reel moulding
- single rectangular panel with simple chamfered detailing on the door
- Palladian-inspired window with a central semi-circular headed window with gothic glazing bars, flanked by a pair of narrow lancet windows
- recessed yellow brick lozenge pattern detail below a low gable
- classically inspired return eaves of the centre gable
- plain limestone lintels of the side and rear windows
- wooden window shutters
- stylized voussoirs of the front façade windows
- four pairs of octagonal brick chimneys
- centre hall plan
- staircase with cherry wood railing and white spindles
- six-panel doors with plain mouldings
- Greek Revival mantels in the ballroom and parlour
- ribbed plaster cornice, paneled plaster ceiling with a small plaster acanthus leaf ceiling medallion in the hall
- large plaster acanthus leaf medallion and elaborate cornice composed of three bands of cast decoration in Parlour
- second floor ballroom with a ribbed plaster cornice
- painted floor rendered in a lozenge patterned of black and white
- high baseboards
- wooden door and window frames
- wide plank flooring
- grounds surrounding the house as areas of high archaeological potential
- semi-rural location in the Village of West Flamborough, within the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area
- mature trees surrounding the house
- relationship to the carriage house at the rear of the property
April 17, 2017
A cedar shingle roof under wispy clouds of a clear blue sky.
Nauset Light Beach
Eastham, Massachusetts,
Cape Cod National Seashore - USA
Photo by brucetopher
© Bruce Christopher 2017
All Rights Reserved
...always learning - critiques welcome.
Shot with a Canon 7D.
No use without permission.
Please email for usage info.
Carpark diving
For other images and the occasional musing on photography, the universe and everything, visit and like:
A while ago, a Toronto auctioneer that I follow regularly had this vintage wooden "temple" (they were mistaken, I believe this is meant to be a schoolhouse based on the texts on the four front columns) on auction. I was hugely in love with it.
But I had also mis-read the dimension on the catalogue, thinking that it mesaures 55 cm high. I decided to go to the preview to investigate. It was a very good thing that I did, for the "miniature" schoolhouse is 55-inch high, not 55 cm! It is made of some sort of hardwood (mahogany?) and very heavy. Even though I still loved it very much, I don't have the space to store it, nor the manpower or the means to take it home. So I didn't bid on it.
ahwilkens.com/Auctions/Lots/282/1244
In the end, it sold for CAD $1,140. It was a very very good price... but it was not meant to be mine. (Plus, like, why do I need such a thing anyway. right?)
Hammer price:
CAD $1,140
USD $907
HKD $7,119
GBP 723
CHF 883
EUR 862
JPY 117,825
BRL 4,482
One last major project for the year involved adding new maintenance free fascia and soffits to the house. Having some handsome young construction workers doing the job was a side bonus!
Looking at courtyard from indoor on 2nd floor. Design of soffit is so interesting.
-------------------------------------
Historic sites Kanayama Castle guidance facilities and Ota City Kanayama Regional Exchange Center (史跡金山城跡ガイダンス施設・太田市金山地域交流センター).
Architect : Kengo Kuma And Associates (設計：隈研吾建築都市設計事務所).
Contractor : Kanto Construction (施工：関東建設工業).
Completed : May 2009 (竣工：2009年5月).
Structured : (構造：ＲＣ造).
Costs : $ million (総工費：約億円).
Use : Museum (用途：博物館).
Height : ft (高さ：m).
Floor : 2 (階数：地上3階).
Owner : Ota City (発注者：太田市).
Floor area : 17,954 sq.ft. (延床面積：1,668㎡).
Building area : sq.ft. (建築面積：㎡).
Site area : sq.ft. (敷地面積：㎡).
Location : 40-30 Kanayamacho, Ota City, Gunma, Japan (所在地：日本国群馬県太田市金山町40-30).
Referenced :
www.city.ota.gunma.jp/005gyosei/0170-009kyoiku-bunka/gaid...
kkaa.co.jp/works/architecture/museum-of-kanayama-castle-r...
kousin242.sakura.ne.jp/wordpress016/000-2/%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB...
www.kanto-k.co.jp/business/construction-results/public-fa...
This fine fellow had found the feeder hanging from the soffit and is deciding if it's safe to make another visit. New Jersey, 2016.
These beautiful panels at the main entry of the Ryerson Student Learning Centre, Yonge St Toronto. DSC00651-Edit
Built c. 1870.
"Constructed of granite in the Italianate style. Cultural heritage attributes include the leaded and bevelled glass in the sidelights and transom, segmentally and elliptically arched windows, fine porch details, wide soffits and brackets and dentilled cornice." - info from the City of Cambridge.
"Galt is a community in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario on the Grand River. Prior to 1973, it was an independent city, incorporated in 1915, but amalgamation with the village of Hespeler, the town of Preston and the village of Blair formed the new municipality of Cambridge. Being the largest constituent community in the city, it is commonly seen as the downtown core of Cambridge. The first mayor of Cambridge was Claudette Millar.
There was considerable resistance among the local population to this "shotgun marriage" arranged by the provincial government and a healthy sense of rivalry had always governed relations among the three communities. Even today, many residents identify Galt, Preston, and Hespeler as still being cities or towns in their own right. Each unique centre has its own history that is well documented in the Cambridge City Archives.
No current population data is available for the former Galt since the Census reports cover only the full area of Cambridge.
The former Galt covers the largest portion of the amalgamated municipality, making up the southern half of the city. It is located on the Grand River and has a very long history as an industrialized area. The former Preston and Blair are located on the western side of the city, while the former Hespeler is in the most northeasterly section of Cambridge.
Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 census. Along with Kitchener and Waterloo, Cambridge is one of the three core cities of Canada's tenth-largest metropolitan area.
Cambridge was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of Galt, Preston, Hespeler, the settlement of Blair, North Dumfries, as well as east and west Galt. The former Galt covers the largest portion of Cambridge, making up the southern half of the city, while Preston and Blair cover the western side. Hespeler makes up the most northeastern section of Cambridge. Historical information and records of each entity are well documented in the Cambridge City Archives." - info from Wikipedia.
Late June to early July, 2024 I did my 4th major cycling tour. I cycled from Ottawa to London, Ontario on a convoluted route that passed by Niagara Falls. During this journey I cycled 1,876.26 km and took 21,413 photos. As with my other tours a major focus was old architecture.
Find me on Instagram.
Only happens when a large spider drops down from the soffit, and dangles in front of the moon. Shot with my Sigma 105mm Macro lens.
The colorful eaves and soffits on the Red Parrot Restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island.
Pentax K-3 - Pentax DA*55mm F1.4 SDM
(IMG30936ec1a)
Architect: Sir Denys Lasdun, 1976. Steps, under coffered concrete soffit, to the Terrace Restaurant. Grade II* listed building. At the South Bank, London Borough of Lambeth.
(CC BY-SA - credit: Images George Rex.)
the great cantilevered roof with a mirrored surface/soffit of the Russian pavilion at Expo Milano 2015
Aluminium footbridge, built from 1948 to 1950, on the River Tummel at Loch Faskally by the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board. The consulting engineers were Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners. The contractors were P. & W. McLennan Ltd, Glasgow. The aluminium alloys were supplied by James Booth & Co. Ltd. The concrete piers were constructed by William Tawse, Aberdeen.
The bridge is of a cantilevered design with a shallow-arched deck. It is 95 metres long with a centre span of around 53 metres and two side spans of 21 metres. The width of the walkway is 2 metres. The trusses, handrail, arched soffits, walkway and rivets are aluminium alloy. The trusses are braced in a mirrored 'N' formation between the soffits and the handrail. The bridge is supported by two concrete piers that taper slightly above the water level. Tapering concrete block abutments flank the entrance at either end of the bridge.
The Clunie Footbridge is the first major example of an aluminium bridge in Scotland, and is one of the earliest surviving aluminium bridges of notable design quality in the world. Its lightweight, cantilevered design is elegant and forward-thinking and effectively exploits the properties of the modern material. The footbridge is also of interest as an integral part of the Tummel Garry Hydro Electric scheme, a hugely significant feat of post-war engineering in Scotland, and takes into account the picturesque context of the nearby Pitlochry power station. The bridge also illustrates Scotland's historical associations with the early mass production of aluminium on a global scale.
This footbridge was built in 1948-50 by the North of Scotland Hydro Board as an integral part of the Tummel Garry Hydro Electric scheme (1947-51), one of the most ambitious civil engineering projects of its time in Scotland. The creation of the Pitlochry Dam and Power Station, around 1km downstream from the bridge, saw the water level at this part of the River Tummel rise by 40 feet to form Loch Faskally.
The bridge was the first aluminium bridge of notable scale in Scotland. A 1948 sketch of the proposed footbridge shows that an aluminium suspension bridge was being considered for the site at that time (Dundee Courier 1948). The slender, cantilevered design that was settled on used significantly less raw material than a suspension bridge, lowering the cost of production. The new bridge was more forward-thinking in its design and appearance, reflecting the relative modernity of its building material. The design may also have changed in line with new understanding of the structural properties of aluminium. Photographs taken in 1950 show the completed footbridge before the water level was raised. They also show the old stone bridge of 1832 being taken down as part of the Loch Faskally works (Canmore; Dundee Courier).
Until the end of the 19th century, aluminium was regarded as a precious metal due to the difficulty in extracting alumina from bauxite ore. The separation process was aided significantly by electrolysis, which required large amounts of electricity. In the UK, this was provided by hydroelectric power generated in the Scottish Highlands. The first hydroelectric powered aluminium smelter in Scotland opened at Foyers in 1896, followed by smelters at Kinlochleven in 1909 and Lochaber in 1929, all for the British Aluminium Company. Among the attributes of aluminium alloys are its lightness and strength-to-weight ratio, and its high resistance to corrosion and staining. Advances in fabrication led to its extensive use in the emerging aviation industry, and for military purposes during the world wars.
The first known use of aluminium alloy in bridge construction was in 1933 in Pittsburgh, home of the American Aluminum Company. In 1946 the first bridge with an all-aluminium span (as well as six steel spans) was constructed in Massena, New York. As production costs are around 25% to 30% higher than reinforced steel, aluminium has rarely been used for large-scale bridges. The Arvida Bridge (1948-50) in Quebec, Canada was the first all-aluminium road bridge in the world and remains the largest by some margin (2018). In more recent years, aluminium has been used for small scale bridges where a longer life-cycle is considered to justify the initial cost (Kaufman 2007).
The three earliest aluminium bridges of notable scale in Europe were built in Britain between 1948 and 1953 (Alison, 1984). The raw material for all three was produced in Scotland. Of these, the 1948 Port Hendon bascule bridge in Sunderland and the 1953 Victoria Dock bascule bridge in Aberdeen were dismantled during the 1970s, making this bridge, the Clunie Footbridge (1948-50) the only survivor. It should be noted that in 1948 a 7 metre flat-deck aluminium footbridge was constructed over the Luibeg Burn in the Cairngorms by the Cairngorm Club. Its aluminium frame was salvaged after it was thrown some distance downstream by a heavy spate in 1956 and rebuilt on higher ground. Between 1950 and 1960, at least six more aluminium bridges were erected in Europe, four of which were footbridges (Alison 1984).
Footbridges are not a rare building type in Scotland and there are many 19th and 20th century examples across rivers and streams in remote and scenic areas throughout the country. Examples near the Clunie Footbridge include the 1913 Port-Na-Craig suspension bridge (LB39858) around 2km downstream in Pitlochry, and the 1911 Coronation suspension bridge (LB47622) located at the Linn of Tummel around 2km upstream. Designed to bespoke specifications, the Clunie Footbridge is the only example of its kind. It is understood to be the earliest surviving aluminium bridge of notable scale in Europe, and is among the first in the world. The innovative and experimental use of this material makes a significant contribution to Scotland's bridge engineering legacy, and this interest is increased by the bridge's elegant architectural design and close contextual association with a nationally significant hydroelectric scheme.
The Clunie Footbridge uses a standard linear plan form and there is no particular interest under this heading in listing terms.
In global terms, Scotland has a long and notable history of innovation in bridge building, pioneering the early use of cast iron, wrought iron and then steel as construction materials. The Clunie footbridge is significant for its early use of aluminium as its principal building material. 'Little information on aluminium alloy riveting practice was available at the time of erection and this aspect required careful investigation' (Paxton and Shipway 2007).
While modest in scale, the cantilevered and lattice design of the footbridge is elegant. Applied to a modern material to great aesthetic effect, the design responds the picturesque context of nearby Pitlochry power station. It therefore reflects the wider design ethos of the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board and their team of consultant architects, who favoured Modernist architectural treatments.
It is also significant, in terms of the selection of building material, that aluminium extraction in the United Kingdom largely took place in Scotland, using Highland hydropower. This factor may have contributed to the decision to construct the Clunie footbridge using aluminium. Within this context, the aluminium footbridge illustrates leading-edge technological innovation in Scotland as part of a nationally significant civil engineering project.
While aluminium has a low flexibility compared to steel and has been associated with difficulties in joining parts, the Clunie Footbridge has 'proven not to be vulnerable to deflection effects or vibration' (Paxton and Shipway 2007). The stable condition and little-altered appearance (2018) of the bridge is evidence of its technological and design quality in terms of a largely untested material within the context of bridge construction.
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners were the engineering consultants for the Clunie Footbridge. Founded in 1922 by noted Scottish Civil Engineer Sir Alexander Gibb (1872-1958), the firm brought together architecture and mechanical services to offer clients a complete service. Earlier works in Scotland include the 1932-6 Kincardine Bridge (LB50078, listed category A) across the Firth of Forth, which was Europe's largest swing-span road bridge at the time. Their contribution here further reinforces Scotland's innovative approach to bridge building.
As noted, the Clunie Footbridge was built as an integral part of the Tummel Garry Hydro Electric power scheme. Pitlochry Dam and Power Station, at the other end of Loch Faskally, is listed at category A (LB47534). While the dam is not inter-visible with the footbridge due to a natural bend in the river, it contributes to the wider context and setting of this important post-war infrastructural project.
The footbridge is located on a tree-lined section of the river at the head of Loch Faskally, and is adjacent to a later A9 road bridge, known as the Coronation Bridge, which passes over the river at a higher level to the east. Remains of the north abutment of the older Clunie Bridge are situated on the bank to the northwest of the current footbridge, with salvaged stone used to create a small viewing platform nearby.
The setting has changed little since the road bridge was built in 1981. It is understood that an addition to the east side of the road bridge will be constructed as part of the ongoing A9 dual-carriageway project (2018) in order to 'minimise impact on the aluminium Clunie Footbridge to the west'. (A9 Dualling Programme, Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, Cultural Heritage, Chapter 15, p11).
The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.
The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.
The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.
The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.
Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.
Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".
Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".
Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West. Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way. The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.
Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities. Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land. In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.
In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.
When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected. This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms. Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.
The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.
Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.
According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".
The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.
For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.
In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.
A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.
Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.
The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.
There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.
Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.
The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.
These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.
The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.
Climate
The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.
Places of interest
An Teallach
Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)
Arrochar Alps
Balmoral Castle
Balquhidder
Battlefield of Culloden
Beinn Alligin
Beinn Eighe
Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station
Ben Lomond
Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)
Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)
Cairngorms National Park
Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore
Cairngorm Mountains
Caledonian Canal
Cape Wrath
Carrick Castle
Castle Stalker
Castle Tioram
Chanonry Point
Conic Hill
Culloden Moor
Dunadd
Duart Castle
Durness
Eilean Donan
Fingal's Cave (Staffa)
Fort George
Glen Coe
Glen Etive
Glen Kinglas
Glen Lyon
Glen Orchy
Glenshee Ski Centre
Glen Shiel
Glen Spean
Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)
Grampian Mountains
Hebrides
Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.
Highland Wildlife Park
Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Jail
Inverness Castle
Inverewe Garden
Iona Abbey
Isle of Staffa
Kilchurn Castle
Kilmartin Glen
Liathach
Lecht Ski Centre
Loch Alsh
Loch Ard
Loch Awe
Loch Assynt
Loch Earn
Loch Etive
Loch Fyne
Loch Goil
Loch Katrine
Loch Leven
Loch Linnhe
Loch Lochy
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Loch Lubnaig
Loch Maree
Loch Morar
Loch Morlich
Loch Ness
Loch Nevis
Loch Rannoch
Loch Tay
Lochranza
Luss
Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)
Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran
Rannoch Moor
Red Cuillin
Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83
River Carron, Wester Ross
River Spey
River Tay
Ross and Cromarty
Smoo Cave
Stob Coire a' Chàirn
Stac Polly
Strathspey Railway
Sutherland
Tor Castle
Torridon Hills
Urquhart Castle
West Highland Line (scenic railway)
West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)
Wester Ross
Hagia Sophia (Greek Orthodox church) 360-1453;
Ayasofya Camii (Mosque) 1453-1935;
Museum (Hagia Sophia Museum) 1935-2020;
Ayasofya Camii (Mosque) 2020.
Patron: Justinian I, the Great (Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus) 482-565, Chalcedonian Christian Eastern Roman Emperor (r.527-565); married to empress Theodora.
Compare this with:
www.flickr.com/photos/gballardice/5081144595/
One last major project for the year involved adding new maintenance free fascia and soffits to the house. Having some handsome young construction workers doing the job was a side bonus!
This is a small village church showing an apparently straight-forward structural development; a two-cell Norman building was enlarged later in the medieval period by the addition of a chantry chapel south of the nave and a west tower.
The Norman Church
The Norman building appears to have consisted of a nave and chancel, built of local Magnesium Limestone rubble with roughly-shaped quoins; neither quoin type (a mixture of face-and-side alternate) nor the wall thickness of 0.85 metre shows any real evidence of Pre-conquest building traditions. The main surviving feature is a round-headed chancel arch of a single square order, with imposts chamfered beneath. On the soffit of the arch the rubble wall core is exposed between the cut voussoirs. Other contemporary features are part of a single-light window on the south side of the chancel and probably the round-headed rere arch of the south door. The blocked priest's door on the south side of the chancel also has a round arch but its neat continuous chamfer suggests that it may be rather later (late 12th or 13th century?) in date. In addition, there are traces of blocked openings in the south wall of the nave, on either side of the arch into the south chapel, their fragmentary nature and the heavy modern pointing of the wall make their form unclear.
The possibility that the Normal chancel was shorter than at present deserves consideration. Earlier Norman chancels were often virtually square in plan (e.g., at Hooton Pagnell and Hickleton). Whilst no change in fabric is apparent in the Stainton chancel, it is possible that the east part is an extension, built in the same rubble, the eastern quoins re-set.
The Late 13th Century
The church underwent various alterations late in the thirteenth century, which might conceivably have included the extension of the chancel (see above). Two-light windows on the south of the chancel and the north of the nave date to this phase, having steeply pointed trefoiled lights within a pointed arch. Pevsner dates these to c.1290. The chancel window has its internal sill carried down to form a sedile. Remains of an adjacent piscine on the east are probably of the same date, as may be the aumbry opposite with its pointed arch rebated for a door. The lancet on the north of the chancel is probably part of the same re-modelling, and a plain piscine at the south-east corner of the nave may also be contemporary.
The 14th Century
The addition of a later medieval chantry chapel is a common feature in South Yorkshire churches. At Stainton, the new chapel shows a few more architectural pretensions than the earlier parts of the church, with its moulded plinth, stepped diagonal buttress and gargoyles. The three-light east window had trefoiled ogee-headed lights and reticulated tracery under a square head; a few scraps of medieval glass survive. Pevsner ascribes the window to c.1380. The double-chamfered arch into the chapel springs from moulded corbels, and in the south-east corner is a good piscine with a trefoil ogee arch.
The 15th Century
Many churches in the area had their west tower built or rebuild in the later 15th or early 16th century. That at Stainton is a quite typical example, opening from the nave by a double-chamfered arch springing from paneled corbels. Externally the tower ids divided into three stages by hollow-chamfered set-backs, and there are diagonal buttresses at the western angles. The three light west window has simple panel tracery without cuppings, which suggests quite a late date (or else post-medieval repair). The newel stair in the south-west angle of the tower is very steep and narrow, leading up to a belfry with two-light openings altered in the 19th century. The tower is capped by an embattled parapet with 8 crocketted pinnacles.
Post Medieval Alterations
During the three centuries subsequent to the Reformation, most village churches suffered little structural alteration other than the insertion of galleries and the substitution of sashes for decaying tracery in the windows. Evidence of such changes was usually erased by Victorian restorations aimed at returning the church to a more correctly "medieval" appearance. At Stainton the south door, inside the porch, is a plain pointed arch of late 18th or 19th century type, and the tripartite east window is of 1861; the other post-medieval features all date from the 1898 restoration. The south porch of this date presumably replaces an earlier one (to judge from the position of the older window in the west wall of the adjacent chapel).
The 1898 north door almost certainly replaces and earlier opening, probably that which has been re-set to form the entrance to the manor garden from the churchyard. This is a simple square-headed doorway with a massive roughly-shaped lintel and jambs of alternating horizontal and upright stones; stylistically this looks as early, if not earlier, than the oldest parts of the church. It is an interesting comment on the attitude of the Victorian restorers - dedicated as they were to the medieval ideal - that they found one of the earliest features of the building to be of too rude and simple a character to be retained in the restored building.
The overall pattern of the structural evolution of the church thus appears to be quite plain from the surviving features and fabric. However, a warning should be sounded against accepting as definitive any such interpretation. Where medieval parish churches have been examined by excavation and detailed structural analysis, as at Hickleton and Wharram Percy, the development of the building has been revealed as far more complex than first appeared. Whilst no feature of fabric type now visible at Stainton points to a date prior to c.1100 (in this area Pre-Conquest building traditions survived the arrival of the Normans by several decades) it is quite possible that an earlier church stood on the site; lines of evidence other than the architectural may shed light on this possibility.
Peter F. Ryder
February 1989