Portal:Scotland/Selected picture/2012
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Months in 2012[edit]
- January
Barra Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Bharraigh) (IATA: BRR, ICAO: EGPR) (also known as Barra Eoligarry Airport) is a short-runway airport (or STOLport) situated in the wide shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr at the north tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway. The airport is operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, which owns most of the regional airports in mainland Scotland and the outlying islands.
- February
The National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. The building, which was designed by William Henry Playfair, first opened to the public in 1859. The National Gallery shares the Mound with the Royal Scottish Academy Building.
- March
Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. It was built between 1897 and 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Highlands of Scotland, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monument and the waters of Loch Shiel.
- April
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, to the east of the Forth Road Bridge, and 14 kilometres (9 mi) west of central Edinburgh. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of 2,528.7 metres (8,296 ft). It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge or Forth Railway Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge.
- May
Hopetoun House is the traditional residence of the Earl of Hopetoun (later the Marquess of Linlithgow). It was built 1699-1701, designed by William Bruce. It was then hugely extended from 1721 by William Adam until his death in 1748 being one of his most notable projects. The parklands in which it lies were laid out in 1725, also by William Adam. The interior was completed by his sons John Adam and Robert Adam. The magnificent entrance hall dates from 1752.
- June
Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the home of the Clan Murray family, who hold the title of Duke of Atholl. The Castle is said to have been started in 1269 by John I Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, a northern neighbour of the Earl of Atholl, who started building on the Earl's land while he was away on crusade. Upon his return, the Earl complained about the interloper to King Alexander III, won back his land and incorporated the tower that had been built into his own Castle.
- July
Calton Hill (archaically spelt Caltoun Hill,) is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, just to the east of the New Town. It is the headquarters of the Scottish Government, which is based at St Andrew's House, on the steep southern slope of the hill; with the Scottish Parliament Building, and other key buildings, for example Holyrood Palace, lying near the foot of the hill. The hill also includes several iconic monuments and buildings: the National Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the New Parliament House (the Royal High School), the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs' Monument and the City Observatory.
- August
Bealach na Bà is a historic pass through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula, in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands—and the name of a famous twisting, single-track mountain road through the pass and mountains. The road is one of few in the Scottish Highlands that is engineered similarly to roads through the great mountain passes in the Alps, with very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside and gradients that approach 20%. It boasts the greatest ascent of any road climb in the UK, rising from sea level at Applecross to 626 metres (2,054 ft), and is the third highest road in Scotland.
- September
Bruichladdich Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay. It is one of eight distilleries on the island, and until the recent opening of Kilchoman farm distillery, the only independent one. One interpretation of the Gaelic word Bruichladdich is "stony shore bank", referring to a post glacial raised beach, though an alternative, perhaps more pertinent translation may be "rocky lee shore". Normally pronounced brook-lad-dee, or by some Gaelic speakers as broo-ee-clah-dee (depending on accent), it incorporates a specific, localised soft pronunciation of the Gaelic ch element.
- October
Loch Linnhe (known in Gaelic as An Linne Dhubh upstream of Corran and as An Linne Sheileach downstream of Corran) is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Linnhe is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) long, and an average of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide. It opens onto the Firth of Lorne at its south-western end, by Loch Leven. The branch of the loch which lies to the south-east of the island of Lismore is known as the Lynn of Lorne. Loch Eil feeds into Loch Linnhe at the latter's northernmost point, while Loch Creran feeds into the Lynn of Lorne from the east. The town of Fort William lies at the northeast end of the loch, at the mouth of the River Lochy.
- November
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. From the 15th century the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century its principal role was as a military base with a large garrison. Its importance as a historic monument was recognised from the 19th century, and various restoration programmes have been carried out since.
- December
Cramond (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair Amain) is a seaside village now part of suburban Edinburgh, Scotland, located in the north-west corner of the city at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has a long history, with evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman activity. In the centuries that followed the end of the Roman occupation, Cramond passed into the hands of the Votadini, who spoke Cumbric, a Brythonic Celtic language, and gave the settlement its name. Cramond is derived from the compound Caer Amon, meaning 'fort on the river', referring to the Roman fort that lay on the River Almond.