Marcritch Hill Windfarm Update

Some really good news arrived today. The application for the Macritch Hill Windfarm had been withdrawn by Scottish Water and the organisation has communicated that they have no plans to resubmit. This means that the local beauty spot of the Backwater Reservoir, which is adjacent to Balintore Castle is no longer under threat. Hurrah! 

The development would have been massive with eighteen 125 metre tall wind turbines arranged around the reservoir. My thanks go to everyone who fought against the proposal. I know a number of  individuals who have been absolute heroes, but I will not embarrass them by giving names here. 

The Quest for Monymusk

The “Knights of Monymusk” are a historical reenactment group who very kindly provided the entertainment for one of the parties I held at Balintore Castle. The combat demonstrations were really impressive, and throwing friendly knights and wenches into the proceedings, really helped the party to go with a swing.

Never one to avoid a google, I discovered there is an early 8th Century “Cabinet of Monymusk”, which is rare surviving treasure from Celtic Scotland, which is said to have once contained the remains of St. Columba. It was also used, allegedly, to provide spiritual assistance to the Gaelic army, at the battle of Bannockburn (1314).

This reliquary in silver, copper-alloy and wood was probably made in Iona. It has been associated with Arbroath Abbey (close to Balintore) and Forglen House in Aberdeenshire but now resides at the National Museum of Scotland. So on a trip to Edinburgh in December of last year on castle business, I went over to the museum specially to finally get a glimpse of the cabinet.

I went to the most likely section of the museum (next to the Lewis Chessmen) found some other cabinets but not the Monymusk one. I asked a museum attendant who took me to the exact same spot: he said “I thought it was here”. Towards the end of the day when I could not find the cabinet anywhere, I approached a second attendant who gave directions to the same place, but he thought it could possibly be on loan. Just as the museum was about to close I asked a third attendant. She was really helpful, taking me to the same spot and then said it was likely to be at the Celts Exhibit at the British Museum in London. How ironic, given I had just travelled from the south of England to Edinburgh!

Last week, when I unexpectedly found myself with free time in London, there was no doubt where I should go. This knight does not give up on his quests! :-) After being stung for £16.50 for entry to the special Celts exhibit, I finally tracked down the cabinet. It is tiny, much smaller that I expected, but absolutely exquisite, possessing that quintessential refined Celtic aesthetic at once entirely modest yet so beautiful.

the Cabinet of Monymusk - it takes the form of a house

Monymusk Cabinet: roof detail

Monymusk Cabinet: clasp detail

Monymusk Cabinet: roundel detail

Also on display some distance away was a tiny cabinet from Norway which was identical in design to the Monymusk cabinet, but this was in better condition though in a slightly less appealing colour-way. The Norwegian cabinet was part of a Viking raid, and it was thought to have been taken from either Ireland or Scotland. There was no explanatory text to link the two items, but to me they came from precisely the same stable.

It made me realise that this special exhibit was nothing more than a latter-day meta treasure raid, with the very best in Celtic art being purloined/gathered from all over Europe. The Moneymusk Cabinet got no special billing amongst the hundreds of other marvellous treasures, and in fact due to its small size I suspect most people would have overlooked it.

What could not be overlooked by any visitor was the massive Gundestrup Cauldron (200-300AD) from Denmark. It is the largest known item of Iron Age silver work. I knew a great deal about this piece already from TV documentaries and from private study, so was delighted to unexpectedly see it in the flesh. I took a couple of photographs with no flash and in all innocence, only be told off by a museum attendant, so I then felt unable to take a photo of the Moneymusk or Norwegian cabinets to prove my long quest had succeeded.

The  rich imagery on the Gundestrup Cauldron defines the Celtic universe of gods, animals and men and the strange chimera from mixing all three. Their mythology is largely lost, and so we cannot identify much of what the scenes depict. As there is no written record from the Celts, all we have is their art and this cauldron is as good as it gets.

the Gundestrup Cauldron

the Gundestrup Cauldron: interior detail

I did not know whether to write up the Moneymusk Quest for the restoration blog. The connection is relatively tenuous. However, the cabinet is decidedly at the core of Scottish history much like Balintore Castle. Last night I watched the first part of a new documentary series on Scottish art. Lo and behold the Cabinet of Monymusk featured, a sign perhaps that I should write this entry. Anyhow, if I use my photos of the Gundestrup Cauldron, then I will feel less bad about having to pay the £16.50, when I could have seen the cabinet for free at the National Museum of Scotland.

And irony of ironies, the Celts exhibition is coming to the National Museum of Scotland at the beginning of February. I have yet to find out whether visitors will have to pay South of England prices (£16.50) to view this 8th century coal to Newcastle. :-)

The cabinet images were stills I grabbed from the TV documentary: better than just getting something from Wikipedia.

Octi-Biblical

The bridge across the Carity Burn leading towards the western approach for Balintore Castle has just been rebuilt after a recent collapse. During the current floods, the locals are naturally very much on the look-out to see how it fares. So far, the bridge is holding up, though there is considerable flooding in the immediate area as can be seen from the photographs.

The castle's carpenter was held hostage in his house by the floods last week, and food has had to be brought to him across a field. The current inundation could be called octi-biblical: it has been raining constantly for 5 days and nights, an eighth of the 40 days and nights that caused the Flood in Genesis.

location of bridge on western approach to Balintore Castle

looking north over rebuilt Carity Burn bridge towards Castle Hill

looking south over rebuilt Carity Burn bridge

You can see a rather nervous-looking silver car in the last picture, wondering whether it should attempt driving through the flooded section of road!

A Scuttle With a Tale to Tell

I made a trip yesterday to UK Architectural Heritage to pick up a fireplace for Balintore Castle. It turned out to be the best architectural reclaim establishment I have ever visited both in terms of item range and item quality, and a couple of hours just disappeared in absolute enchantment as I looked around. Thankfully, I have tight control of the castle budget and just bought a couple of additional small inexpensive items: a pair of marble roundels to replace those missing from another fireplace I already have and a brass "helmet" coal scuttle. However, I suspect I will be visiting again - there were a number of larger items which would suit Baltimore Castle very well indeed.

the helmet coal scuttle I purchased

"Helmet" coal scuttles are so-called as they look like upside-down military helmets. A misguided attempt to "try it on for size" ended up with the scuttle dropping totally and unceremoniously down over my head. I emerged sheepishly with coal-smuts gracing my face in best chimney-sweep tradition.

the scuttle's marker's mark

Anyhow, the maker's mark on the scuttle  "BENETFINK&Co." is particularly clear. How very odd: the company, a large retail business which located at  89-90 Cheapside, London, from c1845 to 1907, was named after the parish "Benet Fink" in London. Further web-surfing provided an explanation. In 1844 the Benetfink company was established by a young man who had been found as a baby on the steps of St. Benet Fink's church in the city of London. This baby was given the saints name of Benetfink. I could not resist including the following poster from 1852 advertising his store:

a poster for Benetfink&Co.

The copy is sheer genius and works equally well today. My favourite section runs thus:

THAT WE CAN FURNISH A MANSION IS DEMONSTRATED BY THE CONTINUED

PATRONAGE OF THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY

And to prove we can also suit the necessary and judicious economy of those moving in a more humble sphere, we are 

enabled actually to

FURNISH AN EIGHT-ROOMED HOUSE FOR FIVE POUNDS,

AND THE

ARTICLES, TOO, OF THE BEST QUALITY AND WORKMANSHIP

How I would love to go back in time and step through the portals of Benetfink&Co. It would be a fabulous way to furnish the castle. Given the dates of operation of the company, it is likely that the coal scuttle is of the correct period for the castle. There are sometimes recreated Victorian street scenes in museums. If memory serves, both the Museum of York and the Museum of London have one. And just for a precious moment, it is possible to imagine yourself about to walk through the door of one of the shop frontage set-ups, to purchase the treasures inside.

Balintore in Minecraft

With just 10 minutes to go until Christmas day 2015, a suitable gift to all friends of Balintore are these screen captures of a Minecraft version of Balintore Castle courtesy of my friend Andrew. I find a strange reassurance in that, however geeky I am, I am not that geeky! :-) Seriously, I cannot imagine the patience and time required to generate this model. Anyone who knows the castle, will appreciate how accurate it are. Naturally, round towers are tricky in a block-based world, but Andrew has improvised extremely well.

Two Thousand, Five Hundred and Seventy-Nine Slaves

The first owner of Balintore Castle, David Lyon, made his money in the West Indies, so I had always guessed that "slaves and sugar" were involved.

However, when friend of Balintore Castle, David Orr, emailed me some of the details this year I was actually quite badly shaken. David Lyon had owned 2,579 slaves, and this particular statistic gave me great pause for thought: how can one human being own thousands of other human beings?

Slavery ended in the lifetime of David Lyon, and the British government compensated the slave owners financially. Lyon's compensation payments seem to have come through in 1838, 22 years before he commissioned Balintore Castle. Although this is quite a gap, it seems not unreasonable to assume that construction of the castle was funded from slave labour and the subsequent government compensation after abolition.

Here's the text that David Orr sent me:-

A friend mentioned noticing Balentore (sic) Castle mentioned in the documentation relating to compensation for slave owners for slaves freed on the British abolition of slavery (1833). The name was David Lyon Jnr, Balentore Castle, Glamis, Forfarshire, North East Scotland.  He had slaves in a number of Parishes in Jamaica (Hanover, Trelawney and Westmoreland) and on a number of Plantations within each Parish.  In total he had 2,579 slaves and received compensation of approx £46,860 which would have been an astronomically large sum in the mid 1800s.

UCL have a great website on the legacy of British slave ownership. Click here to see the details held on David Lyon. A political cartoon of the time, shown below, suggests that the abolition of slavery may have been more about conning the government out of the 20 million pound compensation money rather than having a higher moral purpose.

SLAVE EMANCIPATION; OR, JOHN BULL GULLED OUT OF TWENTY MILLIONS

Happy Christmas 2015

The photos I've chosen for this year's Christmas blog entry were taken early in December at Balintore, just I was driving away from the castle and heading towards the south of England. The combination of the blue skies and snow glinting in the sunshine made me very reluctant to leave. However, gainful employment is required to keep the restoration in funds.

bottom of castle drive - looking south-west

Due to the mild winter, so far, this snow on the upper slopes at Balintore may be the best the UK has to offer this year in the "White Christmas" department.

driving east with a snow-capped Cat Law (671 m) on right-hand side

The restoration work keeps going with further gains in reclaiming internal space in 2015. Now the principal bedroom level is completely floored and all the windows are installed. The windows in particular make a huge difference with light now flooding into the building on this level as well as the level below. The rooms even warm up while the sun in shining! My pet project, replacing the castle's marble fireplaces, is in full swing and a  number of the reclaimed fireplaces that I have purchased are now installed. We are now working on the top servants' bedroom level rebuilding the floors here.

There has been further work on the roof, with the last sections of box gutter being totally rebuilt - we have been slowly working round the building. Two additional turrets have also been given a complete makeover. The dry-lining and insulation of the kitchen wing has started so finally the holes in walls and ceilings which allow heat from the wood burner to rapidly escape the building are being blocked-up. There may even come a day when the wood burner does not have to be run at full throttle.  :-)

Fighting wind farms proposals in the unspoiled scenery around the castle has taken up far too much time this year, but then that has been the case for the last 7 years; expect some more related blog entries in 2016.

I am hoping to spend some quality hands-on restoration time at the building in 2016. However I am resigned to keep working in order to keep funding the restoration and for Andy to handle things on site on a day-to-day basis. Thank goodness for Andy. :-) In fact, I am only too pleased to be working again after last year's back operation which made it possible for me to walk again and sit-down again. Never underestimate the power of sitting down for a computer geek! 

It is continually heartening to hear from people all over the the world through the blog, despite the fewer entries this year (heavy work schedule!). I wish all friends of Balintore Castle, old and new, a "Happy Christmas" and best wishes for 2016. 

And finally, here's a photo taken inside the castle by my friend Andrew, I wish you could all join me in front of this roaring fire to celebrate the festive season! 

a roaring fire in the principal dressing room/study