FOR hundreds of years it was a seat for Scotland’s largest clan. But now an island castle has gone on the market – angering opponents who have branded the move a ‘betrayal’.
Armadale Castle on Skye is one of several assets being sold off by Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) after it announced the ‘unavoidable and unanimous’ decision earlier this year following ‘long standing economic difficulties’.
CEO Alex Stoddart said the Armadale visitor business, which includes the 17th century castle, its heritage centre and gardens on the island’s Sleat peninsula, was ‘non-viable’ in its current form.
But the move has outraged clansmen and women from around the world who claim they are the ‘rightful beneficiaries’ of the trust and insist the actions of CDLT ‘defy the purpose of the trust deeds’.
Save Armadale – Clan Donald is now fundraising for a planned legal challenge to block the sale and push for new management of the trust to ‘preserve this jewel in the Crown of Clan Donald’.
The group, which has more than 400 members, believe clansmen and women should have been consulted on the decision to sell, with many having financially supported the trust since its formation in the 1970s.
The group’s gofundme page states it represents ‘the betrayed beneficiaries of the deed of trust of the Clan Donald Land Trust’ who are ‘opposing the decision of the 4 absentee trustees and CEO of the Clan Donald Lands Trust to sell off the beautiful Armadale Heritage Centre, museum, genealogy centre, library and extensive botanical gardens and trails’.
It adds: ‘We require to appoint a lawyer to challenge them and their decision on the basis that their current actions are not in the best interests of the beneficiaries of the trust, defy the purpose of the trust deeds, and betray the local community in Sleat.’
If they are successful they say any surplus funds raised will ‘go towards any future endeavours to support a newly invigorated heritage centre’ and, if not, they will be handed to ‘a similar cultural heritage project in Scotland’.
They claim the castle is ‘of national cultural and historical importance and its closure will have a huge, economic and detrimental affect in the Sound of Sleat in the South end of Skye’.
The castle, heritage centre and gardens are being sold for offers over £995,000, or along with ancillary buildings and other land for £2.7million, and comes just a month after CDLT put just over 20,000 acres of its land on the Sleat Peninsula on the market for £6.7million.
Campaign spokesman Morag McDonald said the group’s aim was to ‘put pressure’ on CLDT to ‘immediately halt the sale of our heritage centre, and demand they come to the table immediately to answer our questions and allow us time to seek a viable future for the Clan Donald Heritage Centre in Armadale under new, competent management and with our money handed over from phase 1 of the sale’.
The deed states the charitable purposes of the trust include ‘providing funds to assist in the education of Clansmen, to provide scholarships at schools and universities for the sons and daughters of Clansmen’.
The CDLT Board announced the sale stating: ‘The idea of selling the wider estate and using the proceeds to bolster Armadale was the initially preferred conclusion.
‘However, the estate sale proceeds are unlikely to be sufficient for the capital requirements of Armadale going forward.
‘The Trustees could not see any realistic way to retain Armadale whilst fulfilling their legal and moral obligations to the charity and the Clan, being mindful of their duty to act in the best interests of the charity including minimising exposure to risk.
It adds: ‘The Trustees’ objective is to find suitable buyers who will bring serious investment, prosperity, training, and employment to the community for the long term.’