Websites
created by
Michael Hopcroft

Forgotten stories from Lochwinnoch's hidden vale.

From first time author, Michael Hopcroft, an exploration of the remarkable natural and human histories of a forgotten river valley: Calder Glen.

A digital reproduction of a 19th century colonial newspaper.

In 2018 researchers of Guyana's colonial past received a significant boon when almost 100,000 pages of archival material held at the National Archives of Guyana were, for the first time, made freely available online. This so-called "Dutch Series" was the result of a preservation and digitisation programme initiated by the National Archives of the Netherlands. Here I share my own Optical Character Recognition (OCR) analysis of one newspaper amongst this collection, The Berbice Gazette, in the hope that it may prove to be a useful (though imperfect) finding aid for others who are interested in Guyana's past.

Sharing my reserach on Scots and the slave plantations of the Caribbean.

Scots in the West Indies is the creation of Michael Hopcroft, an independent researcher of the role played by Scots in the slave-based economies of the Caribbean, c.1660-1860. Based in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Michael has conducted extensive primary source research in both public and private archives across Scotland, England and the Caribbean. Through this website Michael hopes to develop new ways of sharing his research to help in the process of bringing about a greater societal understanding of this challenging but vital aspect of our nation's history.

A Renfrewshire estate remembered.

An oral and documentary history of an old Renfrewshire country estate, turned housing estate: Craigends.

This website was retired in August 2011.

Screenshots: 1, 2, 3, 4

Archived page: Driving Mrs Cuninghame (2011/07/23)

Media coverage: Paisley Daily Express (2009/05/04).

The author conducting a guided tour of the estate (2010/05/31).

Internet Archive partial snapshot of the site (2011/07/23).