Kinloch Castle
Encyclopedia
Kinloch Castle is a late Victorian
mansion located on the Isle of Rùm
, one of the Small Isles
off the west coast of Scotland
. It was built as a private residence for Sir George Bullough
, a textile
tycoon from Lancashire
whose father bought Rùm as his summer residence and shooting estate. Construction began in 1897, and was completed in 1900. Built as a luxurious retreat, Kinloch Castle has since declined. The castle and island are now owned by Scottish Natural Heritage
, and part of the castle operates as a hostel. The Kinloch Castle Friends Association was established in 1996 to secure the long-term future of the building.
Kinloch Castle is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland
, the national listing of significant gardens.
in the early 19th century. At that time, during the Napoleonic Wars
, kelp
from the Scottish islands was a valuable commodity, being used to produce soda ash for use in explosives. After the war, prices collapsed and Maclean was forced to lease the island to a relative, Dr Lachlan Maclean, for sheep farming. As a result, the entire population was cleared
from the island by 1828, only for new tenants to be brought in from Skye
and Muck
to service the sheep farm.
Dr Lachlan Maclean constructed Kinloch House, on a site to the north-east of the present castle, but was forced to give up the lease in the late 1830s. Hugh Maclean of Coll then sold the island in 1845 to Conservative politician James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
(1791–1868), for £26,455. Lord Salisbury reorganised the sheep farm, constructing new cottages linked by roads to a pier at Kinloch. Salisbury also reintroduced red deer
and game. He passed the estate to his son, Viscount Cranborne (1821–1865), on whose death it was inherited by his brother, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
, later 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. However, he sold Rùm in 1870 to Farquhar Campbell of Aros. The shooting lodge at Tigh Ban was built around this time.
. In 1884 Bullough purchased Meggernie Castle
in Perthshire, and in 1888 he bought Rùm for £35,000. His intention was to create a shooting reserve, and he introduced new stock of deer and game birds, as well as planting trees. When he died in 1891, his son George Bullough
inherited, and built a mausoleum to his father on the island. The first mausoleum, decorated with ceramic tiles, was compared to a public toilet, and Bullough had it demolished, replacing it with the Doric
temple which stands today.
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He then commissioned a London firm of architects, Leeming & Leeming, to design a luxurious new house. Work on Kinloch Castle began in 1897, employing 300 men from Eigg
and Lancashire. The house was built in a castellated Tudor style, using red sandstone from Annan
. It had its own electricity supply, and also had modern plumbing, heating and telephone systems. A mechanical orchestrion
, manufactured in Germany, was installed to provide music in the hall. Kinloch Castle was completed in 1900, at a total cost of £250,000, although further changes were made following Bullough's marriage in 1903. Formal and informal gardens, including a water garden, Japanese garden, bowling green and golf course, were laid out by 1912, using topsoil
imported from Ayrshire. A walled garden with glasshouses was erected, which also briefly housed alligator
s.
During the Boer War
, Bullough lent his yacht Rhouma as a hospital ship, bringing wounded soldiers back to Kinloch Castle. For this service he was knighted in 1901. Kinloch Castle was occupied by Bullough and his friends during the shooting season each year, but they visited less frequently after the First World War, and the estate was neglected. The island's population dwindled from 100 in 1900 to 28 in 1951. After Sir George Bullough's death in 1939, the castle and the island were held by trustees, who sold the estate in 1957, retaining only the family mausoleum. In 1967 Sir George's widow Monica was buried at the mausoleum, alongside her husband.
, a government agency with responsibility for natural heritage
, for £23,000, and was designated a National Nature Reserve
in line with Lady Monica's wishes. Ownership of Rùm and Kinloch Castle passed to Scottish Natural Heritage
(SNH) on its formation in 1992.
The castle appeared on the BBC
television series Restoration
in 2003, as part of a bid for funds to restore the structure, reaching the final stages of the competition. Although it did not win, its cause has since been taken up by The Prince's Regeneration Trust
, a charity founded by HRH Prince Charles which promotes heritage-led regeneration schemes. Funds are being sought for an £8 million scheme to restore the castle.
A section at the rear of the castle operates as a hostel for visitors to the island. Guests have a choice of bunk rooms, or can upgrade to one of a handful of "Oak Rooms" with four-poster beds. The hostel area is kept separate from the museum rooms of the castle. It is proposed that the hostel will close in 2012.
Tours of the castle are available, timed to coincide with ferries where possible. Highlights of the tour include the under-stairs orchestrion
, a variety of gifts from the Emperor of Japan, and a selection of "gently pornographic" art.
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
mansion located on the Isle of Rùm
Rùm
Rùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
, one of the Small Isles
Small Isles
The Small Isles are a small archipelago of islands in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. They lie south of Skye and north of Mull and Ardnamurchan – the most westerly point of mainland Scotland.The four main islands are Canna, Rùm, Eigg and Muck...
off the west coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It was built as a private residence for Sir George Bullough
Sir George Bullough, 1st Baronet
Sir George Bullough, 1st Baronet was an English businessman, soldier, and Thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder.Born in Accrington, Lancashire, George Bullough was educated at Harrow School...
, a textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
tycoon from Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
whose father bought Rùm as his summer residence and shooting estate. Construction began in 1897, and was completed in 1900. Built as a luxurious retreat, Kinloch Castle has since declined. The castle and island are now owned by Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage is a Scottish public body. It is responsible for Scotland's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and scenic diversity. It advises the Scottish Government and acts as a government agent in the delivery of conservation designations, i.e...
, and part of the castle operates as a hostel. The Kinloch Castle Friends Association was established in 1996 to secure the long-term future of the building.
Kinloch Castle is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland
Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland
The Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland is a listing of gardens and designed landscapes of national artistic and/or historical significance, in Scotland. The Inventory was originally compiled in 1987, although it is a continually evolving list...
, the national listing of significant gardens.
History
Rùm was owned by Alexander Maclean of CollColl
Coll is a small island, west of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breachacha Castle.-Geography and geology:...
in the early 19th century. At that time, during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, kelp
Kelp
Kelps are large seaweeds belonging to the brown algae in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera....
from the Scottish islands was a valuable commodity, being used to produce soda ash for use in explosives. After the war, prices collapsed and Maclean was forced to lease the island to a relative, Dr Lachlan Maclean, for sheep farming. As a result, the entire population was cleared
Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...
from the island by 1828, only for new tenants to be brought in from Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
and Muck
Muck, Scotland
Muck is the smallest of four main islands in the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It measures roughly 2.5 miles east to west and has a population of around 30, mostly living near the harbour at Port Mòr. The other settlement on the island is the farm at Gallanach...
to service the sheep farm.
Dr Lachlan Maclean constructed Kinloch House, on a site to the north-east of the present castle, but was forced to give up the lease in the late 1830s. Hugh Maclean of Coll then sold the island in 1845 to Conservative politician James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, PC , styled Viscount Cranborne until 1823, was a British Conservative politician. He held office under the Earl of Derby as Lord Privy Seal in 1852 and Lord President of the Council between 1858 and 1859...
(1791–1868), for £26,455. Lord Salisbury reorganised the sheep farm, constructing new cottages linked by roads to a pier at Kinloch. Salisbury also reintroduced red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
and game. He passed the estate to his son, Viscount Cranborne (1821–1865), on whose death it was inherited by his brother, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
, later 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. However, he sold Rùm in 1870 to Farquhar Campbell of Aros. The shooting lodge at Tigh Ban was built around this time.
The Bulloughs
From 1879, the shooting lease was taken by John Bullough (1838–1891), a textile-mill owner from LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
. In 1884 Bullough purchased Meggernie Castle
Meggernie Castle
Meggernie Castle is a castle in the heart of Perth and Kinross, in central Scotland. It is located halfway up Glenlyon, where the river Lyon flows through on its way to join Loch Tay...
in Perthshire, and in 1888 he bought Rùm for £35,000. His intention was to create a shooting reserve, and he introduced new stock of deer and game birds, as well as planting trees. When he died in 1891, his son George Bullough
Sir George Bullough, 1st Baronet
Sir George Bullough, 1st Baronet was an English businessman, soldier, and Thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder.Born in Accrington, Lancashire, George Bullough was educated at Harrow School...
inherited, and built a mausoleum to his father on the island. The first mausoleum, decorated with ceramic tiles, was compared to a public toilet, and Bullough had it demolished, replacing it with the Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
temple which stands today.
Eigg
Eigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is long from north to south, and east to west. With an area of , it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.-Geography:The main...
and Lancashire. The house was built in a castellated Tudor style, using red sandstone from Annan
Annan, Dumfries and Galloway
The royal burgh of Annan is a well-built town, red sandstone being the material mainly used. Each year in July, Annan celebrates the Royal Charter and the boundaries of the Royal Burgh are confirmed when a mounted cavalcade undertakes the Riding of the Marches. Entertainment includes a...
. It had its own electricity supply, and also had modern plumbing, heating and telephone systems. A mechanical orchestrion
Orchestrion
An orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced...
, manufactured in Germany, was installed to provide music in the hall. Kinloch Castle was completed in 1900, at a total cost of £250,000, although further changes were made following Bullough's marriage in 1903. Formal and informal gardens, including a water garden, Japanese garden, bowling green and golf course, were laid out by 1912, using topsoil
Topsoil
Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of soil, usually the top to . It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs.-Importance:...
imported from Ayrshire. A walled garden with glasshouses was erected, which also briefly housed alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
s.
During the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
, Bullough lent his yacht Rhouma as a hospital ship, bringing wounded soldiers back to Kinloch Castle. For this service he was knighted in 1901. Kinloch Castle was occupied by Bullough and his friends during the shooting season each year, but they visited less frequently after the First World War, and the estate was neglected. The island's population dwindled from 100 in 1900 to 28 in 1951. After Sir George Bullough's death in 1939, the castle and the island were held by trustees, who sold the estate in 1957, retaining only the family mausoleum. In 1967 Sir George's widow Monica was buried at the mausoleum, alongside her husband.
Public ownership
The island was purchased by the Nature ConservancyNature Conservancy (UK)
The Nature Conservancy was a British government agency established by Royal Charter in 1949.The Nature Conservancy was superseded by the Nature Conservancy Council in 1973....
, a government agency with responsibility for natural heritage
Natural heritage
Natural heritage is the legacy of natural objects and intangible attributes encompassing the countryside and natural environment, including flora and fauna, scientifically known as biodiversity, and geology and landforms ....
, for £23,000, and was designated a National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
in line with Lady Monica's wishes. Ownership of Rùm and Kinloch Castle passed to Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage is a Scottish public body. It is responsible for Scotland's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and scenic diversity. It advises the Scottish Government and acts as a government agent in the delivery of conservation designations, i.e...
(SNH) on its formation in 1992.
The castle appeared on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series Restoration
Restoration (TV series)
Restoration, Restoration, Restoration is a set of BBC television series where viewers decided on which listed building that was in immediate need of remedial works was to win a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund...
in 2003, as part of a bid for funds to restore the structure, reaching the final stages of the competition. Although it did not win, its cause has since been taken up by The Prince's Regeneration Trust
The Prince's Regeneration Trust
The Prince’s Regeneration Trust is one of The Prince's Charities, a group of 19 charities of which HRH The Prince of Wales is President.The Prince's Regeneration Trust works throughout the United Kingdom to ensure that important historic buildings at risk of demolition or decay are preserved,...
, a charity founded by HRH Prince Charles which promotes heritage-led regeneration schemes. Funds are being sought for an £8 million scheme to restore the castle.
Present use
Kinloch Castle is now managed by Scottish Natural Heritage, supported by the Kinloch Castle Friends Association, a registered charitable organisation set up in 1996. A number of repairs have been carried out in 2010 and 2011, although the long-term future of the building remains uncertain.A section at the rear of the castle operates as a hostel for visitors to the island. Guests have a choice of bunk rooms, or can upgrade to one of a handful of "Oak Rooms" with four-poster beds. The hostel area is kept separate from the museum rooms of the castle. It is proposed that the hostel will close in 2012.
Tours of the castle are available, timed to coincide with ferries where possible. Highlights of the tour include the under-stairs orchestrion
Orchestrion
An orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced...
, a variety of gifts from the Emperor of Japan, and a selection of "gently pornographic" art.
External links
- Kinloch Castle Friends Association website
- Kinloch Castle, Isle of Rum Community Website
- The Reserve Plan for Rum National Nature Reserve 2010 - 2016, Scottish Natural Heritage