Ananova:  

 

Clan's mountains and castle may become national property

 

One of Scotland's best known mountain ranges and most historic castles could become national assets.

 

Clan chief John MacLeod of MacLeod has confirmed he is in negotiations over the future of the Cuillin mountains and his clan seat Dunvegan Castle, on Skye.

 

Under the proposals, the mountains would be handed over to the people of Scotland to become national property while the castle would be transferred to a charitable trust.

 

The announcement came after Mr MacLeod put the mountain range on the market for £10 million three years ago to raise funds to carry out repairs at the castle, Scotland's oldest continually inhabited home.

 

If Dunvegan Castle, the residence of the MacLeod chiefs for 800 years, was to be transferred to the control of a charitable trust, such a body would be responsible for raising the funds needed to renovate it.

 

The prospect of the deal going through is central to a set of prospective property transactions being studied jointly by the MacLeod Estate, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Highland Council, in association with the John Muir Trust.

 

Mr MacLeod said: "I should be giving up properties which have been associated with my family for many centuries, and that is not at all easy. But the possibilities I am now discussing...seem to me to hold out an excellent prospect of securing the long-term future of the Cuillin, and of Dunvegan Castle."

 

HIE, in collaboration with the MacLeod Estate, is taking steps to establish the cost of a castle refurbishment programme. HIE said the repair bill could be in excess of £10 million and funding contributions are likely to be sought from a range of heritage bodies.

 

HIE chairman Dr James Hunter said: "Dunvegan Castle is of importance historically and, as a visitor attraction, it's of huge importance economically to the Dunvegan community, indeed to Skye as a whole. Of even greater importance, however, are the Cuillin."

 

In keeping with common practice, Mr MacLeod and his family would retain rights of residence in one part of the castle, should it become a major tourist attraction.

 

 

Story filed: 13:02 Wednesday 9th July 2003

From the telegraph news website, 23rd January 2006

 

£30m bid to save castle by giving mountains away

 

A deal that could lead to a clan chief giving an iconic mountain range to the nation in return for having his crumbling castle repaired is the subject of a £30 million bid for National Lottery funding.

 

The application is one of the biggest submitted and, if successful, it will bring the rugged Black Cuillin mountains on the Isle of Skye into community ownership.

A major tourist attraction and a popular challenge for climbers, they are owned by John MacLeod of MacLeod, the 29th chief of his clan.

 

He caused an outcry six years ago when he tried to sell the mountains for £10 million to raise the money needed to fix damage caused by the leaking roof on his ancestral home, Dunvegan Castle.

 

The move infuriated islanders, fuelled a debate on "who owns Scotland", and prompted an investigation of ancient title deeds to establish whether his ownership was legal.

 

The prospect of a foreign millionaire buying one of Britain's most famous mountain ranges also prompted public agencies and conservation bodies to broker a deal with Mr MacLeod.

 

They devised a scheme under which the mountains and the castle would be taken into charitable ownership, but it foundered two years ago when consultants estimated that the project would cost nearly £20 million.

 

Water has continued to pour into the castle through the copper roof put in place 50 years ago by an ill-advised predecessor, and it was feared that the most popular visitor attraction on the island could eventually be lost.

 

But an application was submitted a week ago to the Big Lottery Fund, a new body that supports large projects of national significance.

 

A consortium has put forward a £30 million project, in the hope of a 75 per cent grant, that would not only restore the castle but develop the gardens and create a £4 million visitor centre.

 

The mountains would benefit from a ranger service and interpretation facilities, and would be run as a form of wilderness park. If the bid is successful, Mr MacLeod will give up ownership of both Dunvegan Castle and the mountains.

 

Separate community trusts would be set up to run them, with Mr MacLeod, 69, retaining a right of residence and apartments in the 16th century building.

Robert Muir, of Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise, which is fronting the initial request on behalf of a range of bodies, including the local authority, said the fund's response should be known in two or three months.

 

If the bid is approved, a sum of £150,000 would be made available to allow the consortium to draw up detailed proposals this year, with a final decision on funding in 2007.

Mr Muir said the project would only go ahead if it won approval on Skye.

"This is an exciting opportunity but local support is crucial," he said. "If we are told there is interest in our project the first thing we will do is go back to the community to ask for their reaction."

 

The MacLeods of Dunvegan have owned the site for more than 800 years, although the castle is the result of a romantic restoration by the 25th chief between 1840 and 1850.

 

Repairing the castle would cost around £7 million. The roof has dozens of pinprick holes and water has caused widespread damage to the fabric of the building, particularly the south wing.

 

While the public tours main rooms that are not affected, in other parts of the building the walls are damp and cracked, ceilings have collapsed and pots gather the drips. When Mr MacLeod hosted 23 people one New Year, a couple told him: "We slept well, but we did have to put up an umbrella."

 

The landowner said he was delighted that the project was still moving forward.

Interestingly there is an older land ownership issue here which goes back to the times of the Highland Clearances, and that is that the land belonged to the clan as a family, however when the chiefs realised that they could make a fortune and put in sheep instead of people they seemed to adopt ownership rather than administrative responsibility and shipped out the people, often through forced evictions and emmigration. A simplified version, but it does raise the question that if as of old the chief of Macleod administered the land on behalf of the clan, should not the clan have a say as to whether he can sell, even if it is to maintain the castle? A completely rhetorical point, since from the times of the clearances chiefs still in possession of the estates have been identified as the landowners, even if as a result of a great injustice.

An engraving of Dunvegan Castle, from around 1800.

From The Press & Journal, 15th May 2008

 

Controversial landowner will reveal his new strategy

Chief’s £18m plan to restore Skye clan seat

 

A clan chief is planning to restore his castle home, with work estimated to cost more than £18million. But Hugh MacLeod of MacLeod will not unveil his proposals for Dunvegan Castle on Skye until February – the second anniversary of the death of his father.

 

John MacLeod, the 29th chief of the MacLeods, controversially threatened to sell the Black Cuillin mountains on Skye for £10million to pay for repairs to the roof of the castle, clan seat for more than 800 years. He died in 2006 at the age of 71 after a short battle with leukaemia, with the majority of his £15million estate going to his eldest son and 30th clan chief, Hugh Macleod, 37. He has now moved to Skye from London to take over the running of the estate, which employs about 50 people, and has since started on a programme to restore the castle.

 

Yesterday, he was reported to have said: “It is public knowledge that I am attempting to do a phased restoration that may take years. We have made a start and, currently, the roof is watertight. I intend taking a hands-on role and will be here for much of the season.”

 

However, yesterday he was off the island on holiday.

 

Following his father’s death, Mr. MacLeod wrote in the clan magazine: “What I must do over the next few years is to focus all my available time to finding a solution to restoring Dunvegan Castle and to building on my father’s legacy.”

 

The late Mr. Macleod succeeded his grandmother, Dame Flora, as clan chief in 1976. He caused a furore in 2000 when he tried to sell the Cuillins for £10million to pay for the castle repairs. It was understood that he would have given up ownership of both the castle and the mountains had the bid been successful. Despite reported interest from an US buyer, the mountains were never sold.

 

Mr. Macleod then proposed transferring the mountains to public ownership under a plan which would have seen the castle transferred to a charitable trust. However, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the region’s business development agency, said it could not afford the cost of refurbishing the castle, then estimated at up to £19million. A £25million application to the National Lottery for a grant to restore the castle, tidy the grounds and develop the existing visitor centre was rejected.