Balnagown Castle
Balnagown Castle is a castle in the village of Kildary in Easter Ross in the Scottish county of Ross-shire (now part of the Highland administrative division ). There has been a castle there since the 14th century; the current building comes from renovations from the 18th and 19th centuries. Balnagown Castle used to belong to the Ross clan and from the 1970s to the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed . Historic Scotland has the castle listed as a Category B Historic Building and the park is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland .
history
In the early 14th century, Hugh , Mormaer of Ross began building a castle. Hugh was the husband of Maud , the sister of King Robert the Bruce , though the family lost royal favor and their lands after Hugh's death in 1333. Balnagown Castle acquired Hugh's stepson in 1375; he had the property expanded, a process that continued over the centuries. In 1585 Alexander Ross, 9th Laird of Balnagown , was declared outlawed, which also applied to his son George .
During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , David Ross, 12th Laird of Balnagown , fought for King Charles II of England in 1651 at the Battle of Worcester ; he was captured and died in the Tower of London . The 13th Laird, also David Ross , married Anne , daughter of James Stuart, 4th Earl of Moray , in 1666 . David and Anne had Balnagown Castle rebuilt, which can be seen on a date stone with the year 1672 in the castle. They left no heirs and in 1711 the property fell to the Ross of Halkhead family .
In 1754 Balnagown Castle fell to another branch of the family; Admiral Sir John Lockhart-Ross, 6th Baronet , inherited the property. The Admiral spent a great deal of time and money improving the property, becoming "the most efficient and enterprising holder of a property in the Highlands these days." His son and heir, Sir Charles Lockhart-Ross , commissioned James Gillespie Graham with a neo-Gothic remodeling of the castle and an Italian garden was created. Sir Charles Ross, 9th Baronet , inherited the property in 1911. He continued the tradition of agricultural improvements by introducing silos and harvesters to manage the lands. He also invented the Ross rifle , which he had made in Canada . In order to protect the Balnagown Estate from access by the British tax authorities, Ross declared the property a part of the municipality of the US state of Delaware . He was then unable to return to the UK as he faced imprisonment.
From the death of the last resident of the Ross family in 1942 to the purchase of the property by Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1972, the castle remained uninhabited and fell into disrepair. Al-Fayed began restoring the castle and estate.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ a b c d e f Garden and Designed Landscape - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ David Ross . In: thepeerage.com . Retrieved February 22, 2017.
Web links
Coordinates: 57 ° 44 ′ 57.8 " N , 4 ° 4 ′ 50.2" W.