The Sixties may have been swinging in places like London, Paris and San Francisco – but in Scotland, there wasn’t much to smile about.
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| Scotland in the 1960s |
High unemployment, shipyard closures and the troubles of traditional industries all contributed to a mood that the country was sinking, and little could be done to stop the slow death.
However, from this gloom a new political spirit suddenly emerged – the whirlwind of Scottish nationalism. At a stroke, Scottish independence was on the political agenda, and there seemed to be little anyone could do to stop it.
It was a remarkable renaissance. At the start of the Sixties, the Scottish National Party (SNP) had been so small and weak that one of their own leaders quipped that if all the senior members had been together in a small plane and it had crashed, then the party would have been wiped out forever.
However, hard work by the SNP’s activists, particularly in West Lothian where they established a stronghold, started to restore the party’s fortunes.
These wonderful color photos from MartinJSnelling that show what Scotland looked like during the 1960s.
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| Ballater Station, Scotland |
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| Black Watch Monument, Aberfeldy, Scotland |
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| Boats at Mallaig, Scotland |
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| Boats Upon the Water, Mallaig, Scotland |
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| Cannons at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland |







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