In the first Jacobite Rebellion (in 1689) a battle took place at the Pass of Killiecrankie.

I had always meant to visit the site but somehow never had until April last year, despite it being only three miles from Pitlochry which we have visited many times.

The Pass is a very tight space between two steep hills on either side of the River Garry. Not an obvious spot for a battle.

The government forces were advancing from the south to remove the Jacobite presence from Blair Castle just to the north and were attacked from the hills by the Jacobites under the command of John Graham of Claverhouse (aka ‘Bonnie Dundee’) scourge of the Covenanters by whom he was later dubbed ‘Bluidy Clavers’.

Such was the lack of space in the Pass the government troops could only line up three deep, firing up the hill.

The Jacobites were victorious but Dundee was killed by a musket ball. With his death the Jacobites lost their militarily talented leader and the rebellion petered out soon after.

In the government soldiers’ retreat one of them was forced to make a desperate jump acros the river to escape capture (or worse.) A path leads down from the Killiecrankie Visitor Centre to the site of the leap.

Soldier’s Leap:-

Video:-

We took a trip through to Dumbarton in November 2024 and stopped off at the Loch Lomond Shores shopping complex.

By the entrance was this model of The Maid of the Loch, the last paddle steamer on Loch Lomond which I hvave featured here and here:-

The Moon over the Rock (somewhat outdone by the floodlights):-

Colonnade:-

Basement corridor:-

Wall of eyes and mirrors:-

So-called “Civil War” coat. This is of course a “Wars of the Three Kingdoms” coat:-

Hand puppet Kasparli, made by a World War 2 POW:-

China cabinet:-

Portraits of Henry VIII and Catharine Parr:-

Staircase:-

The Delavals used to give wild parties where they would wear perukes like ths one:-

Apparently they put those who had overindulged too much into this room so that they would be confused when they woke up:-

Bed:-

Games table:-

The main room as you enter Seaton Delaval Hall has no ceiling having been devastated by a fire . Neither has the floor above  and you can see right up to the roof:-

The room itself was once grand, as can be observed from the statues in niches on the walls:-

And the fireplace:-

This spherical steel ball was hanging from the ceiling:-

The Delavals made most of their money from local coal deposits and this table displays that material under glass:-

The family’s maritime heritage is commemorated by this anchor:-

Plus this ship in a bottle:-

Cleadon is a village in South Tyneside, just north of Whitburn where a friend of ours lives.

We had never actually stopped in Cleadon – apart from to buy petrol once – until Oct 2024.

While stopping to photograph Cleadon’s War Memorial I spotted this minor Art Deco building:-

Cleadon War Memorial is a stone pillar on a pedestal. Details of the memorial are on this website.

View from side:-

Names of Great War dead and those who served:-

Second World War names:-

Dedication:- In memory of those young men and women from Cleadon Cottage Homes who served
during the World Wars 1914-1919 1939-1945.
“They that put aside today
All the joys of their today
And with toil of their today
Bought for us tomorrow.” – Rudyard Kipling

Blanchland is the site of an old Abbey which nowadays acts as the local church.

Blanchland Abbey:-

Rear of Abbey:-

Blanchland’s War Memorial sits beside the Abbey’s entrance pathway:-

It commemorates the village’s Great War dead. Dedication and names with inscription, “All they had they gave.”:-

Blanchland is a village in Northumberland (just.) We visited it because it was featured in a book of picturesque British villages which we have. (Titled the AA Book of British Villages.) Its buildings are lovely, all built of stone.

The village’s focal point is a kind of square whose entrance is on the left below:-

The Square. Note The Lord Crewe Arms on the left:-

The Lord Crewe Arms:-

The Square:-

The Square’s entrance porch building houses the village shop:-

One of the buildings has a stream running under it:-

An old church:-

A stone wall with two columns surmounted by a pediment with wreath.

Radcliffe was a town in Northumberland just south of Amble.

Its War Memorial was relocated to Amble’s War Memorial garden in the 1970s when the former mining town was demolished and its residents moved to Amble.

Amble is a town at the mouth of the River Coquet (pronounced to rhyme with croquet) in Northumberland.

It can be seen from the top of Warkworth Castle:-

Amble’s War Memorial is a clock tower set in a memorial garden:-

Great War Dedication. Second World War names below:-

Great War names, Adamson – Henderson:-

Great War names Henshell – Wintrip; plus T Bain, R Coulson, J Feretti:-