Research Day Two - ScotlandsPeople Centre

We returned to ScotlandsPeople Centre today and enjoyed another productive day. Lots of information discovered in Census records, OPRs, statutory records and Valuation Rolls.

Late afternoon, I found myself fading rather quickly, so decided to take a jaunt up Calton Hill. Fortunately the weather was co-operative making the jaunt quite a pleasant one.

The top of Calton Hill offers spectacular views of both Holyrood House with the Salisbury Craggs in the back ground

 

and of the Old Town of Edinburgh.

Research Day One ScotlandsPeople Centre

We travelled down to Princes Street this morning to spend the day trawling the records at SP Centre. The weather has been quite glorious since our arrival in Scotland and it was almost difficult to be indoors. However, after an orientation to the Centre and the records it holds, we were assigned computers and before long we were deeply immersed in the lives of our ancestors.

 

 

Only when we ventured over to the cafe did we notice how spectacular the weather was. The weather made the short jaunt through the Archivists Garden quite pleasant.

All too soon, it seemed, it was time to be finished for the day. Everyone had a successful and productive day. Plans were made for how to spend the evening. Mine included catching up with family.

Wordless Wednesday - "Burial Place for Strangers 1815"

Tombstone Tuesday - Indulgence of a Taphophile

This year's first cemetery walkabout was the Ramshorn Cemetery in the Merchant City area of Glasgow. Many of the City's monied merchants are buried here. With very little fanfare, interestingly.

Imagine finding such a treasure trove of social and genealogical information on a tombstone such as this!

 

Another treasure trove of genealogical information!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Tenement House Museum

A late start this morning as we start to adjust to the time change. Awoke to rain this morning so knew we were in fact in Scotland. Today's agenda for Glasgow included the Tenement House Museum.

We had arrived a few minutes early so decided to wander around the neighbourhood. In doing so, we managed our own wee Charles Rennie Mackintosh tour. First stop was the Glasgow Museum of Art. 

As we headed back to the Tenement House ÿhMuseum, we also passed the Rennie Mackintosh Hotel.

 

Unfortunately that part of Glasgow is built on some serious hills. Including this one:

The Tenement Museum is under the care of the National Trust. Curiously, the NTS doesn't permit photography. Not just flash photography. Any photography. I say unfortunate because the museum houses a wealth of social History. By allowing photography, pieces of that history could have been shared which might have inspired additional visitors seeking to understand the way of life of their ancestors and their patronage could have generated income for the NTS.

And after touring the Tenement Museum, we went to the Willow Tea Room. on Sauchiehall Street.  This is one of five tea rooms that were part of the partnership between Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Kate Cranston. It was at the Willow that he was able to design an entire tea room.

 

His Piece de Resistance was called the Room de Luxe, an exclusive Ladies room that was for the more upscale women in the area. The chairs and settees were upholstered in a rich rose-purple. The tables and high backed, Mackintosh style chairs were painted silver.  The walls were painted white. There was a frieze of leaded glass panels. One side wall held the fireplace. This room, which was more luxurious and elegant than the rest of the tea rooms, charged an additional penny for tea to be taken here.

 

 

The original doors are worth nearly a quarter of a million pounds and are in protective plex-glass.

 

All too soon, it was time for us to leave Glasgow and head to Edinburgh where our research in the various archives will soon begin.

Merchant City Glasgow

After a wonderful blether with the cabbie between the airport and the hotel, we arrived in Merchant City. We chose to stay in this area based on our ancestry. After being asked to speak at the Fairfax (Virginia) Genealogical Society's spring conference next year (http://www.fxgs.org/), I paid particular attention to the relationship the Merchant City area has with Virginia thanks to this being the location of the Tobacco Lairds.

 

 

This particular area of Glasgow had a great deal to do with trading and any businesses associated with trading - a metal rendering factory (the Forge), carpets and textiles, tobacco and sugar.

 

We walked over to the People's Palace and once again viewed the architecture of the Dalton Fountain, dedicated to the British Commonwealth.

 

 

And then wandered over to view St Andrew's Suspension Bridge which connects Glasgow Green to Hutchesontown.

 

This is the same bridge that ancestors crossed on a daily basis to work at Templeton's Carpet Factory.

 

 

Once again we became acutely aware of what an awesome and humbling feeling it is to walk where our ancestors walked.

Ready Set Go

Nails done.

Packing done. List and files prepared. And suddenly we are off on another genealogical adventure. My UK landing card has been completed.

Not only does this satisfy the necessary customs regulations, but it also provides a tracking system for my descendants. They will be able to confirm my place of birth (Bellshill), know my point of departure, where my passport was renewed, the hotel I will be calling home, my occupation and will have a copy of my autograph. All from one 4x6 piece of paper which has become a required document. This tiny piece of bureaucracy will provide a treasure trove of genealogical information for my descendants two or three generations yet to be.