BUS TRIP SATURDAY 1st JULY 2000On a warm sunny morning our group boarded the 49 seater bus at the Adam Smith Theatre and headed for our first stop The David Livingstone Centre at Blantyre (8 miles south of Glasgow).
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| On our arrival at the centre we were met by our guides who led us to the tenement building called "Shuttle Row" where David Livingstone was born on the 19th March 1813. At the age of 10 David was sent to work at the cotton spinning mill. In 1836 he began a medical degree in Glasgow and in 1840 he sailed for Africa. Visit our Links Page to visit The David Livingstone Centre web site. | |
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One of the mill machines Livingstone
would have worked on. |
Our excellent guide describes one of the
routes Livingstone took through Africa. |
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Our second stop was Torphichen Preceptory where we were met and
shown round by a guide. The Preceptor was the head of a community of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. One of the Preceptors was an Alexander de Wells who is said to have entertained Edward I before the Battle of Falkirk. The building that stands on the site today is the centre part of the Church used by the Hospitallers. It was originally built in the 13th Century and rebuilt and enlarged in the 14th and 15th Centuries. |
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The south wall of the south transept has a piscina (a small niche on the left hand side) which was used for washing communion dishes. Below the 4-light geometric window is a tomb recess. After looking around we went to the upper level of the building where some time was spent studying an exhibition about the Knights Hospitallers. Later on we headed for Torphichen Kirk where,
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An engraving in the wall of the Church showed gothic
writing with a skeleton below.
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ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON SWANSON
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