Glencripesdale Estate is situated along the south side of Loch Sunart, a sea loch in the west highlands of Scotland.
Today, the Isle of Càrna is the last remaining part of the once huge 35,000 acre deer forest and grousemoor based Glencripesdale Estate, which was bought in 1870 by the three Newton brothers T.H.Goodwin, William III, and Canon Horace Newton of Barrells Hall and Holmwood, Redditch, ancestors of the current family, who are also of direct Milward's Needles descent.
The Glencripesdale Estate once stretched for 20 miles (32 km) along the entire south side of Loch Sunart, and the entire east side of Loch Teacuis. The estate comprised the smaller estates of Glencripesdale and Laudale (25,000 acres) and also Rahoy (10,000 acres). The total estate measured 41 square miles (110 km2), with waterside access to over 20 miles (32 km) of coastline.
In 1904 the estate had 9,000 sheep grazing its land, and had 4 separate working farms, with 2,500 deer in the forest.
In the 1920s the Estate was put up for sale by the family, and sold for a distressed low price due to its vast size and the general worldwide economic downturn. The 600-acre (2.4 km2) Isle of Càrna at the mouth of Loch Sunart was bought back by the family from the sale, and still remains within the family as a monument to the once great estate.
Contents |
Glencripesdale House (or Glencripesdale Castle as it was sometimes referred to) was a grand house built for, and uniquely, designed by, the Newton brothers in 1874, and featured 28 bedrooms. 20 of these bedrooms were for the use of family and guests, and eight were for servants quarters, featuring multiple beds within, some in dormitory style rooms. The house is believed to be the first in Scotland to be built of the as then state of the art material, Concrete. Materials had to be floated along the loch due to the lack of access to the site from nearby roads, mainly by steam ship.
Because the house was largely served by sea, due to the remote nature, the house featured its own private Dock for steam ships of up to 100 tonnes.
The Factors house, or Land Agent as he would be known in England, situated a few miles East up the coast at Laudale, still exists and is a substantial dwelling in its own right having been built with 9 bedrooms, and has been enlarged further over the years.
Glencripesdale House featured a very distinct and unusual blend of architectural styles including, among other things, white harled walls, Gothic windows and a large tower which resembled a lift-shaft crowned with crowstep gables.
The house was a blend of new building methods, “traditional” Scottish Baronial elements and a general appearance suggestive, perhaps, of a monastery in parts. Whilst unconventional in style, the result was considered pleasing. With two of the three Newton brothers being clergymen, some have remarked that the ecclesiastical flavour of much of the building is perhaps attributable to their career choice. There is a suggestion that they actually designed the house themselves using a church plan as a basis. Another suggestion is that the architect Temple Lushington Moore may have helped design the property, having already designed a large country house Holmwood, Redditch for Canon Horace Newton.
A guest of the family Elizabeth Inglis noted on a visit to Glencripesdale approximately ten years after the house was built that the approach route from the loch was suitably atmospheric:-
The house was occupied by the British military during World War II, specifically the Commando units, who needed extreme countryside to practice manoeuvres on.
The Newtons returned at the end of the war to find large amounts of their belongings had been stolen, and the property and outbuildings severely damaged by the troops, requiring large sums to repair, which was not uncommon at the time.
This, combined with the fact that like many large houses who relied on large numbers of staff to run, meant that the house was not occupied again, and slowly fell into disrepair.
After World War II, a new owner bought the House, and stripped its lead off the roof, leaving the buildings shell exposed, because he was able to sell the lead for more than he had bought the property for, according to local legend.
The estate with the shell of the house was sold to the Forestry Commission next, who slowly planted up the woodland with conifers and then sold off the estate in chunks throughout the 1990s.
In 1966 the house was blown up by the Army as part of an exercise, and due to the unique construction, being built of reinforced concrete, required two attempts to blow up. The first time the Army used a normal amount of explosive for the size of the building, however once the dust had cleared the building still stood.[2]
The ruins still remain on the original site, however the land has become very overgrown.