A recent article in Prospect Magazine by David Leigh investigates the “less than savoury” past of Balintore Castle: “a fairytale scene with conical turrets of antique fishtail slate. It is easy to imagine Rapunzel letting down her long hair from its Disneyesque towers”. However, “scratch the surface and the shameful truth of Britain’s wealth, generated by the transatlantic slave trade, emerges.” Current owner David Johnston has spent ten years restoring the castle but, as detailed in his blog, was “quite badly shaken” when he found out it was one of several “no-expense-spared” projects built by the Lyon family from the proceeds of slave ownership.
The Balintore story is one of many examples of how the “long-lost story”, as Tom Devine, a professor at the Edinburgh university, calls it, “rises everywhere out of the earth—even in such a little corner of Scotland.” Leigh is hopeful that we can come to understand: “more of Britain’s true heritage, rather than the fake kind we sell to tourists.”
Read the full article here (a free account is needed to access). Read David Johnston’s blog here.
