Archives and Manuscript Catalogue

Scope and Contents

The journal is unsigned, but the text indicates that the writer was an Irishman living in Glasgow or Greenock. Inside the front cover is written in pencil 'Mr Jn. Gordon'. The journal is a connected narrative interspersed with scenic descriptions of places such as Glen Farigaig, the falls of Foyers (folios 55-61) and Glencoe (folios 70-72). It is incomplete, ending in an unfinished sentence when the travellers had arrived at Greenock, one day's journey from the writer's home.

Scope and Contents

The writer is not named but was apparently a young lady travelling with her brother and friends from Hampshire. She gives brief descriptions of the places visited which included Nottingham, the Lake District and Edinburgh; from here they toured the Highlands via Stirling, Inveraray and Loch Lomond before returning south through York and Peterborough.

Scope and Contents

Starting from Carr, near Blackburn, the diarist travelled by Carlisle, Dumfries, Dumbarton, Stirling, Blair Atholl, Perth, and Edinburgh to Berwick, visiting many intermediate places as well.

The writer of the journal is probably John Clayton (1729-1803) of Carr Hall, near Blackburn, Lancashire.

Scope and Contents The journal is made up from transcripts of letters to his mother written on the journey between 26 August and 8 September 1842. Among the main places visited are Glasgow, Inveraray, Oban, Glencoe, Callander and Edinburgh. The text is ornamented with thirty-three engraved views, several dried plant specimens, and a few pencil sketches. The journal is followed by a 'Dissertation on the Gael and their language' (folio 49), dealing with regional variations in language, intonation,...

Scope and Contents

The journal includes Ilay Burns' observations and comments on the countryside, the state of crops, the situation of towns with regard to commerce, behaviour of fellow-travellers, and other matters.

Scope and Contents The author and his companion started from Newcastle on 19 February 1786 and travelled up or near the east coast with lengthy stops at Edinburgh and Dundee, arriving at Aberdeen on 2 May, where the narrative breaks off. It appears to be a fair copy written up after the journey was completed and is written on the blank leaves and sides of leaves in a copy of ‘The Aberdeen almanack for the year MDCCLXXX’. The travellers appear to have been English, and may have been members of a theatre...

Scope and Contents Starting from London, the writer journeys by the eastern counties to Edinburgh, thence to Glasgow, and south by Hamilton, Crawfordjohn, and Moffat, a tract of country which he describes as the 'Western Highlands', to Lockerbie. The author notes customs and manners which he finds remarkable, and describes most of the important or interesting buildings.Tim Griffiths suggests that the unnamed author was a young man, possibly a university student, travelling with his tutor and a...

Scope and Contents

The record stops abruptly soon after the commencement of the third volume, on 14 January, when the writer is passing Blair [Atholl]. This English traveller has been identified as John Pease (1775-1808) of the Quaker family of Pease, cloth merchants in Leeds, by Peter Barber, who has printed the full text in 'Journal of a traveller in Scotland', in 'Scottish Historical Review', volume xxxvi (1957).

Scope and Contents Sir (Nathaniel) William Wraxall travelled from Loch Lomond by Inveraray and neighbourhood, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Stirling, and Dunfermline to Kirkcaldy, 12-27 July; stayed with the Fergusons of Raith from 28 July to 4 September; and visited Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Leith, and Haddington, ending at Beil, 4-29 September. There are 'general observations on Scotland' on folios 28 verso-31 verso. The writer takes an interest in everything that he sees, and besides describing scenery and discussing...