Art Treasures of Kinloch Castle

KINLOCH CASTLE, ISLE OF RUM, SCOTLAND

Commissioned in 1897 by Lancashire industrialist George Bullough

as his Highland Hunting Lodge.

From 1957 under the care of the island of Rum's first Nature Reserve Manager,

Mr. Peter Wormell, the walled garden was used to raise seedlings for

the Great Woodland Regeneration Scheme .

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Researched and written by George W. Randall co-founder in July 1996 and former Vice Chairman Kinloch Castle Friends' Association

BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION:

PLEASE READ NOTES AT END OF THIS POST

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THE GLASSHOUSE COMPLEX.

BUILDER'S PLANS REPRODUCED:

A skeletal frame in 1992 the 14 section greenhouse

could still be discerned, today it is no more.

The author taking measurements at far end.

There being no castle tour on my first visit to the island of Rum in 1992.

As I was only on the island as a day visitor for a few hours I wandered into the former walled garden with its extensive greenhouses. I quickly realised the vulnerability of the rapidly decaying structures and made recording the 11,500 square feet former glass and palm houses my first project before they finally disappeared.

This was achieved over several subsequent visits and stays of over seven days.

Fortunately measuring and photographing the decaying skeletal remains was still possible in the 1990's, ... ... ... just!

In the course of my research I had the privilege of meeting three people who lived on the island at the time of Sir George and Lady Bullough, one not leaving until the 1960’s; their reminiscences have added greatly to my first hand research and are duly acknowledged !

George Bullough, 1870 - 1939, (later Sir George, Bt.), commissioned construction of Kinloch Castle which commenced in mid-1897 and lasted three years. He furnished his island home with an amazing assortment of contents, many collected on his world travels, and one with links to the Emperor of Japan. The walls display over three hundred pictures – oil, watercolour and fine engravings, all I have personally photographically recorded, measured and researched.

Also recorded are the twenty albums containing over seven hundred photographs of twenty-two year old Bullough’s three yearlong world tour 1892-1895. His library shelves hold over 1,500 volumes, including three Game Books – which, commencing 1866, provide a social record covering seventy years of the island’s sporting guests, the successful ones only of course!

Sir George Bullough's Ballymacad,
winner of the 1917 Grand National held at Gatwick,
the course today being part of the international airport.

Sir George Bullough, Bt.

Between 1910 and his death in 1939 Sir George Bullough owned over one hundred and fifty racehorses. As a long time member of the Jockey Club, my research, which remains on-going, has taken me several times to Newmarket, the very heart of flat racing and the training stables he used and the breeding facility he owned. I was privileged to be given access to the Jockey Club and their extensive library.

Owner of two magnificent ocean-going steam yachts, 1895 – 1919, Sir George sailed the world, he was member of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club and the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. In late 1899 he equipped and staffed “Rhouma I” as a hospital ship and personally sailed with her to Table Bay, Cape Town, where the vessel was placed at the disposal of Queen Victoria’s forces in the Anglo Boer War which commenced on 11 October that year.

The many facets of the Kinloch Castle story have become my passion, and here I must acknowledge the support of S.N.H. personnel both on and off the island in order to conduct my research.

Sir George Bullough's magnificent Steam Yacht Rhouma at Funchal Bay, Madeira.
The Portuguese island was his most popular destination.

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My early work was recognised in 1997 when I was approached by the late broadcaster and journalist Magnus Magnusson, K.B.E., at the time chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage, (S.N.H.), who was compiling a fortieth anniversary book entitled, “Rum: Nature’s Island”, with a request to make available my research to his chapters on the Bullough Family and Kinloch Castle. I readily agreed and met Mr. Magnusson at his home in Scotland.

In 2000 my illustrated account of Bullough and his castle was published in a local history of Accrington, the Lancashire town where James Bullough, (George Bullough’s grandfather), in partnership with John Howard, founded a factory manufacturing a full range of machinery for the cotton spinning industry - Howard & Bullough, Ltd., founded in 1853. In 1893 a second facility, the Howard & Bullough American Machine Company, was opened at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

In 2003 a BBC producer contacted me to discuss input for the forthcoming Restoration programme highlighting the plight of Kinloch Castle. In 2011, after a request from the London based Public Catalogue Foundation and S.N.H., I wrote the background notes to each of the thirty-two oil painting from the Castle featured on the BBC My Paintings – Kinloch Castle website.

In 2012 I received a request on behalf of S.N.H. to supply photographs and check over the text for their new Kinloch Castle Brochure. It was, as usual, difficult to contain my enthusiasm within the parameters set as there is so much of interest to bring to a visitor’s attention … … however I did my best.

I have also written and illustrated a number of papers on specific areas within my research which were circulated privately.

This brings me back to the purpose of my Blog … … to share my research and concerns for the future availability of this incredible publicly owned building together with its original contents in the hope both can be saved for future generations as part of Britain’s cultural heritage. Together they form a surviving example of Edwardian splendour which in so many cases quickly disappeared after the 1914-1918 war.