Welcome. Thanks for joining me as I reminisce of my journeys. http://www.TravelPhotoPics.com
Its been so long since my last blog entry that I must apologize. What with chronic low back pain, a fall resulting in a broken heal and two heart attacks, one last October and one last December, its been hard getting back into the game.
What's the news. There are some plans afoot to sell a selection of my travel images as posters and framed prints on Cafepress. More on this later.
Why do we travel? I am not herein referring to the purpose built trip, to attend to a wedding, a funeral or some commerce. I am referring to that type of travel that quickens the heart and puts a spring back into our step, a smile on our face and some anticipation back into our anticipators.
To say we are all eager to acquire a sense of place as we travel seems to be some ancestral imperative driving us ever farther, deeper and higher from home. More on this in the days to come.
I would like to leave you with a little gift. Right now, at our store LingoTshirts you can use the following coupon for a discount on any item totalling $50 or more.
Coupon Code: SECANTFIVER
Expires: Aug 13, 2008
Carlton McEachern
Carlton has been a photographer for over twenty years. His master's degree in Sociology has given him a broad understanding and interest in other peoples and cultures.From his home base in Ontario, Canada, Carlton travels extensively in search of great photo opportunities. Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the U.K., the United States and Canada are some of the countries represented in Carlton's portfolio.
Publications include cover shots for newspapers, photo essays for magazines such as The Kintyre Mag, local gallery showings and numerous print sales under the brand Photomac. Carlton is a member of the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts.
Together with his wife Teresa, he operates the web site http://www.lingotshirts.com featuring his images on gift wear and clothing as well as thousands of other interesting designs.
When not traveling, he is available for assignment work. You may contact him at:
Email: carltonmceachern@travelphotopics.ca
By Carlton McEachern
© 2007 Carlton McEachern
Waterfront walkways in urban spaces are a great place to get away from it all. They can be a place to calm your soul, romance your girl, cool off during warm summer nights or just enjoy the features of nature.
The Toronto Islands, Barrie, Orillia and Sault Ste. Marie all have wonderful waterfront areas and I have spent memorable time at all of these locations but for me, you just can't beat North Bay's 2 mile lakefront walkway, situated on the shores of Lake Nipissing, one of Canada's top 10 fishing and family vacation destinations.
Walk with me as we cover some of the highlights.
250 Boat Slip Marina
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Family Friendly
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North Bay Bandstand
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Chief Commanda 1 Restaurant
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Chief Commanda 2 Cruise Boat
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Le Droit A La Difference
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Gardens
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Flowers
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Insects
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Birds
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And Finally Wildlife
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That is all for today's post but do join me tomorrow for more featured pics from this area and Travels With McEachern.
Carlton has been a photographer for over twenty years. His master's degree in Sociology has given him a broad understanding and interest in other peoples and cultures. Recently he completed an extensive photo tour of the U.K. and many of the images he captured along the way are available here.
From his home base in Ontario, Canada, Carlton travels from sea to sea in search of great photo opportunities. Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the U.K., the United States and Canada are some of the countries represented in Carlton's portfolio.
Publications include cover shots for newspapers, photo essays for magazines such as The Kintyre Mag, local gallery showings and numerous print sales under the brand Photomac. Carlton is a member of the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts.
Together with his wife Teresa, he operates the web site http://www.lingotshirts.com featuring his images on gift wear and clothing as well as thousands of other interesting designs.
When not traveling, he is available for assignment work. You may contact him at:
Email: carlton.mceachern@sympatico.ca
By Carlton McEachern
© 2007 Carlton McEachern
click pic to buy
North Bay, Ontario is a modest sized city of 50,000 souls, situated on the shores of Lake Nipissing. Its past history as a rail hub has given way to newer functions including 4 season tourist center, north eastern Ontario education center with both a university and college, shopping mecca for the surrounding regional population and an airport capable of landing a Concorde jet.
Todays images depict summer life in this part of the great white north. North Bay has many fine public beaches with thousands of feet of white sand and safe swimming for all family members. Most beaches have lifeguards on duty during the day.
If swimming and beaches aren't your thing, try your hand with the locals at pier fishing. Here we see a young "Bay Boy" with his line in the water at the Government wharf.
click pic to buy
No luck fishing. Why not try a fresh fish dinner at one of the many seafood restaurants in and around town. Some of my favorites include Chester's Shore Lunch, Joey's Only and Tek's.
Well, that's all for today but see us again tomorrow for a few more images from Travels with McEachern.
Carlton has been a photographer for over twenty years. His master's degree in Sociology has given him a broad understanding and interest in other peoples and cultures. Recently he completed an extensive photo tour of the U.K. and many of the images he captured along the way are available here.
From his home base in Ontario, Canada, Carlton travels from sea to sea in search of great photo opportunities. Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the U.K., the United States and Canada are some of the countries represented in Carlton's portfolio.
Publications include cover shots for newspapers, photo essays for magazines such as The Kintyre Mag, local gallery showings and numerous print sales under the brand Photomac. Carlton is a member of the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts.
Together with his wife Teresa, he operates the web site http://www.lingotshirts.com featuring his images on gift wear and clothing as well as thousands of other interesting designs.
When not traveling, he is available for assignment work. You may contact him at:
Email: carlton.mceachern@sympatico.ca
By Carlton McEachern
© 2007 Carlton McEachern
>
North Bay, Ontario is a modest sized city of 50,000 souls, situated on the shores of Lake Nipissing. Its past history as a rail hub has given way to newer functions including 4 season tourist center, north eastern Ontario education center with both a university and college, shopping mecca for the surrounding regional population and an airport capable of landing a Concorde jet.
Those of us who live in the great white north frequently turn our attention at this time of year to warmer summer days - which is the mood evoked by todays image. The government dock provided a great location for this image and the helpful heron standing still in front of the cruise ship Chief Commanda 2 was an added bonus.
Carlton McEachern
Carlton has been a photographer for over twenty years. His master's degree in Sociology has given him a broad understanding and interest in other peoples and cultures. Recently he completed an extensive photo tour of the U.K. and many of the images he captured along the way are available here.
From his home base in Ontario, Canada, Carlton travels from sea to sea in search of great photo opportunities. Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the U.K., the United States and Canada are some of the countries represented in Carlton's portfolio.
Publications include cover shots for newspapers, photo essays for magazines such as The Kintyre Mag, local gallery showings and numerous print sales under the brand Photomac. Carlton is a member of the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts.
Together with his wife Teresa, he operates the web site http://www.lingotshirts.com featuring his images on gift wear and clothing.
When not traveling, he is available for assignment work. You may contact him at:
Email: carlton.mceachern@sympatico.ca
The Ghosts of the Tower of London - Part 1
By:Stuart Bazga
Over the coming week, I hope to lead you on a journey of discovery and adventure. Briefly taking a glimpse into a past so horrid. Of haunting tales and ghastly ends that awaited so many of her most famous occupants. Firing your imagination, so that you will delve deeper into her history for yourselves.
During her long and illustrious 900 years, The Tower of London has developed into one of the most haunted places in Britain. She has been home to beheadings and murders, torture and hangings, as well as being a prison to Queens and Nobles alike.
Thomas A. Becket is "the first reported sighting of a ghost at the Tower of London."
During the construction on the Inner Curtain Wall in the 13th century, Thomas appeared apparently unhappy about the construction, and it is said he reduced the wall to rubble with a strike of his cross. Henry III's grandfather was responsible for the death of Thomas Becket, so Henry III wasted no time building a chapel in the Tower of London, naming it for the archbishop.
This must have pleased Thomas' ghost because there were no further interruptions during the construction of the wall.
The Bloody Tower was the scene of the infamous disappearance of the two princes; Edward V (12) and Richard Duke of York (10), who are thought to have been murdered in 1483 on the probable command of the Duke of Gloucestershire, who was to be crowned Richard the III.
According to one story, guards in the late 15th century, who were passing the Bloody Tower, spotted the shadows of two small figures gliding down the stairs still wearing the white night shirts they had on the night they disappeared. They stood silently, hand in hand, before fading back into the stones of the Bloody Tower.
These figures were identified as the ghosts of the two princes. In 1674 workmen found a chest that contained the skeletons of two young children, they were thought to be the remains of the princess, and were given a royal burial not long afterwards. The story of the little princes is still to this day a heartbreaking story. They are "among the most poignant ghosts" in the Tower of London.
The most persistent ghost in The Tower of London is the ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn.
The King, Henry VIII, after learning the baby she carried for nine months was a boy and still born, accused by her of infidelity.
She was taken to TOWER GREEN and was beheaded on May 19, 1536. Queen Anne appears near the Queen's House, close to the site where her execution was carried out. She can be seen leading a ghostly procession of Lords and Ladies down the aisle of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula.
She floats down the aisle to her final resting place. Queen Anne is buried under the Chapel's altar. Her headless body has also been seen walking the corridors of the Tower.
Sir Walter Raleigh lived quite comfortable compared to others who were imprisoned within the walls of the Bloody Tower. His "rooms" are still furnished as they were in the 16th century, and can be seen when visiting the Tower today. He was executed by James I, and has been seen looking exactly as he does in his portrait hanging in the Bloody Tower.
I hope you have enjoyed Pt1 to The Ghosts of The Tower of London. In Pt2 we discover what happened to Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey as well as the Horrific end to the Countess of Salisbury.
If these tales have brought your imagination back to life and you want to discover more ghostly and gruesome stories of times past. Then pay a visit to my Haunted Castles page where you can find out about the grisly goings on at Windsor Castle or read about the Heroic tale of the Two Brothers of Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon.
Best wishes and have a great day! Stuart Bazga www.guide-to-castles-of-europe.com
About the author: A Guide to Castles of Europe was born from childhood dreams and aspirations. It is my hope to educate and stimulate you into exploring these castles for yourselves.
© 2005 by www.guide-to-castles-of-europe.com All rights reserved.
This article first appeared in issue 37-2 of Kintyre Magazine
It was one of those days that tourists hate. Wet, cold, foggy and wet. Did I mention wet. My son Andrew and I were on the Kintyre in search of the McEachern cross at Kilkerran Cemetery. Back in Canada we would have been out in the canoe on a fine day in July but here in Scotland we sat peering through the windscreen of our rented Kia van as we wove our way down the peninsula to Campbeltown.
We stopped at the Kennecraig ferry terminal to buy our tickets for the crossing to Islay later that day and then we made the final dash the rest of the way to grab a quick lunch in Campbeltown before going in search of the cemetery.
Kilkerran refers to a location on the Kintyre peninsula, which is now a suburb of Campbeltown. Kilkerran means Ciaran's Church or place and for many centuries, Campbeltown was known as Kinloch Kilkerran or 'The Head of the Loch of the Church of Ciaran'. Who was Ciaran you might well ask? He was an Irish monk who first journeyed to Kintyre in 536 AD, a full 27 years before the arrival of his famous contemporary Columba. It is said he made his home in a cave on the shore of Auchenhoan, about a mile along the coast from the mouth of the Campbeltown Loch. He began his missionary work in the Campbeltown area, founding the first Christian church on the site of what is now Kilkerran Cemetery. The shaft of the cross with the McEachern name still stands at the entrance to the cemetery. This damaged Celtic cross represents a significant historical artifact for the McEachern family.
I first learned of the McEachern cross at Kilkerran in the Web Edition of Kintyre Magazine, a publication of the Kintyre Antiquarian and Natural History Society. An article by Norman S. Newton provided a detailed description and narrative about the inscription on the shaft of the MacEachern Cross at Kilkerran as well as comments on its style. It appears on page 3 of the Web Edition #27 from March 1999.
I was anxious to see if the remains of the cross still existed since efforts to ascertain this by email had proven futile. Were the fragments of the cross still there? Would the inscriptions still be readable? Would it be possible to find the cross and photograph it? This then was our mission on this rainy afternoon in July as we snaked our way toward Campbeltown.
The pictures appearing below are what remains of the cross and can be referred to as you read Newton’s article. The pictures were taken in a heavy downpour. I would like to thank a nameless employee at the cemetery for directing me to the standing shaft of the cross and unlocking the gate to this part of the cemetery for me even though it was raining hard and he was on his way home.
I cannot tell you what a thrill it was to have seen the cross fragments at Kilkerran. They represent some of the earliest evidence of McEacherns on the Kintyre and satisfied my quest to find these fragments and see them with my own eyes. My son Andrew was also impressed as evidenced by his determination to have me photograph every other McEachern marker in the cemetery that he could find, despite the fact that we were drenched to the skin.
MACEACHERN'S CROSS, KILKERRAN CEMETERY, CAMPBELTOWN
Norman S. Newton
In Kilkerran Cemetery are two portions of the shaft of a cross, erected to commemorate Colin MacEachern and his wife Katherine. The base is on the site of the mediaeval church, surrounded by the graves of later MacEacherns, while the upper part lies with other stones near the cemetery entrance.
INSCRIPTION:
At the top of the front of the shaft is a 12-line inscription in Latin, in a style of lettering known as Lombardic Capitals, suggesting a date of before 1500:
HEC E/ST CR/VX CA/LENI / MACHEA/CHYR/NA ET / KATI/RINE / VXOR/IS E/IVS
"This is the cross of Colin MacEachern and his wife Katherine'
The Latin Calenus or Colinus, is for the Gaelic personal name Cailean. Macheachyrna is from Gaelic Mac, 'son of", each, 'horse' and tighearna, 'lord' - 'son of the horse lords. The name also appears on the Campheltown Cross of around 1380 (from which it may have been copied) commemorating Ivor and Andrew MacEachern, father and son, successive pastors at Kilkivan, near the village of Machrihanish, to the west of Campbeltown. We know from contemporary documents that Colin MacEachern was chief of the MacEacherns of Killellan, in the neighbouring parish of Kilblane (Kilblaan), now part of Southend parish. A royal charter of 1499 confirmed him in the office of inner of South Kintyre, a hereditary post granted to him by John, the last Lord of the Isles; he was also confirmed in grants of land at Killellan and other lands In the parish of Kilblane. As all the lands of the Lordship were forfeited In 1493, Colin MacEachern must have been the chief by that year, and perhaps even by 1475, when John's lands in Kintyre were forfeited.(1) The MacEacherns held Killellan until about 1740, when the male line came to an end.(2) In 1507 Colin was given the office of Chamberlain for South Kintyre, and granted further lands, which he had been leasing previously from the Earl of Argyll. These lands included Glenramskillmore, which we know was given to the church of Kilkerran by Colin before 1507, thus establishing a connection with the church where the cross dedicated to Colin MacEachern and his wife is found.
In 1511 Colin's eldest son Malcolm was granted some of the MacEachern lands, including Killellan. We know that Colin was still alive at that date, as the grant included a provision that he should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of these lands for his lifetime. By 1525 his second son Andrew had succeeded him, but there is no record of Colin's death.
Colin had previously applied to the Church, in 1510, for legitimation of his six sons: Malcolm, Andrew, John, Donald, Eachann and Niall, probably in preparation for the grant of lands to Malcolm and to make the ownership of the clan lands more secure for his successors. Apart from being born out of wedlock, the most common reason for such an application at this time was that the parents were too closely related, thus infringing the forbidden degrees of kinship between partners.
DECORATION
Under the Inscription, the front of the MacEachern Cross has two small panels: in the left panel is a pair of shears, perhaps symbolising Colin's involvement in the cloth industry, while the right panel is blank. Below is a niche containing a man and a woman embracing - presumably Colin and Katherine - and a warrior on horseback, with sword, spear, spurs and pointed helmet. At the bottom of the shaft is a galley with sails furled, showing the masts and rigging. The hinged rudder characteristic of the West Highland biorlinn is clearly visible, and there is a shield embossed with a trefoil between the prow and the rigging. Traditionally the adoption of the hinged rudder is attributed to Somerled, ancestor of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles who ruled Kintyre and the Western isles from the 12th century until the last forfeiture in 1493.
The reverse side of the shaft has at its top a square panel of plaitwork interlaced with four rings. Below it, in a niche, is a Crucifixion scene, showing Christ being speared by two soldiers. The rest of the shaft is made up of interlaced foliage, terminating at the bottom in a dragon or griffin attacking another beast. The edges of the shaft are decorated with a variety of patterns: a leaf-scroll (which ends in a dragon's head) and a T-fret design on the right edge; a three-cord ribbon plait and a straight fret on the left edge. (3)(4)
The style of decoration suggests that this cross is a product of the Kintyre school of carving based at Saddell Abbey from c 1425 to c 1500.(5) It is very similar to the cross at Kilkerran commemorating Gliclirist MacKay and his wife, arid to the cross at Saddell Abbey for an Alexander (the rest of the inscription is missing). Fragments of a cross-shaft from Kilchousland, two miles north--east of Caupheltown, can be seen in the Campbeltown Museum. Another fragment of a cross-head has recently come to light at Saddell. It was common for such crosses to be erected during the lifetime of the persons honoured, and taking into account the documentary evidence, artistic style and lettering It seems likely that the MacEachern Gross was made in the 1490s; thus it is over a hundred years younger than the Campbeltown Cross, which from its inscription and style was carved at Iona around 1380.(6)
Apart from the Saddell crosses, nothing survives of the cross-heads to indicate their design. At Saddell, enough survives to be able to say with assurance that the heads had the shape of a cross-patonce.(7) This is seen fully preserved on the cross at inveraray, which, like the disk-headed Campbeltown Cross, was made on Iona. The choice of cross-head was probably a matter of preference by the person commissioning the work.
Recent work on the late mediaeval carved stones of the West Highlands has identified five different schools of carving, based in workshops at Iona, Saddell, Loch Awe (Kilmartin), Loch Sween (Kilmory) and Oronsay. The Iona school dates from 1350, and has its own distinctive style. After 1500 the lettering used in all the workshops changed from Lombardic capitals to the style known as black letter: this transition took place in England about 150 years earlier.
REFERENCES
(1) STEER, K A and BANNERNAN, J.W.M., Late medieval monumental sculpture in the West Highlands, RCAHMS, 1977, no. 99, 157-8.
(2) MCKERRAL, Andrew, Kintyre in the seventeenth century, Oliver and Boyd, 1948, 10-11.
(3) WHITE, T P, Archaeological sketches in Scotland: District of Kintyre, Blackwood, 1873, 95 and Plate VIII.
(4) ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND, Argyll: an inventory of ancient monuments, Vol 1: Kintyre, RCAHMS, 1971, no. 285/3, 126.
(5) STEER and BANNERMAN, op cit, 44-50.
(6) Ibid, no. 104, 159-160.
(7) Ibid, 33, FIg. 7.4
My Photographs from Scotland
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