The Kintyre Forum

Just noticed on the BBC that Leslie House in Fife is a "raging inferno".

Far be it from me to suggest foul play, but this is the 3rd stately home I've seen in as many weeks that has burnt to the ground while undergoing a renovation.

Either there's some really crap tradesmen out there or the @rse is well and truly out the property development/funding/grants market ... or it could just be coincidence ....

I wonder if it was insured ? ....

Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

Think it's somebody arson aboot'?

petewick wrote:Think it's somebody arson aboot'?

Absolutely brilliant

Next time, am doon the road - I will bring a box of matches, to light up - round the back of Inverary Castle.

ionnsaigh wrote:

petewick wrote:Think it's somebody arson aboot'?

Absolutely brilliant

Next time, am doon the road - I will bring a box of matches, to light up - round the back of Inverary Castle.

Will ye' be wearin' yer' new blazer?

ionnsaigh wrote:
Inverary Castle.

Already been burnt. (1975/76?)

EMDEE wrote:

ionnsaigh wrote:
Inverary Castle.

Already been burnt. (1975/76?)

I know - my late father in law received a begging letter from the Duke of Argyll

ionnsaigh wrote:

EMDEE wrote:
Already been burnt. (1975/76?)

I know - my late father in law received a begging letter from the Duke of Argyll

ionnsaigh wrote:I know - my late father in law received a begging letter from the Duke of Argyll

I only just found out about these letters. A friend of mine - surname Campbell - who grew up in a small, crowded flat in Cowcaddens along with her five sisters and parents told me about the letter they received at the time. She mentioned it around six months ago when Inveraray Castle cropped up in the conversation. According to her memory the letter went along the lines of:

Dear Cousin,
You will have heard about the great loss ... fire in the ancestral castle ... our shared clan heritage and home ... donate what you can to help the restoration ...

The duke's people had obviously scoured the records and sent a letter to everyone in Scotland with the surname Campbell (further afield too, I don't doubt). Now if it is the mid-70's, and you are struggling to bring up a large family in a small tenement flat, the idea that you would make a donation is ludicrous. Such a practice would be roundly ridiculed today, I think.

Aye the same said letter - arrived in Wullie Campbell's hoose - followed afterward by the sound of Ridicule.

I wonder if the Duke would been so "clannish" if all his alleged "cousins" had turned up on his doorstep at Inveraray hoping to spend a weekend with their new found relative in their "shared clan heritage and home".

I think not.

What also makes this laughable (or pitiful) is the fact that the previous Duke of Argyll regularly featured in the published lists of the 100 wealthiest individuals in the country.

EMDEE wrote:I wonder if the Duke would been so "clannish" if all his alleged "cousins" had turned up on his doorstep at Inveraray hoping to spend a weekend with their new found relative in their "shared clan heritage and home".

Fiona and I have this conversation every time we go over the bridge at Inveraray. Imagine the likes of me ( Dead Rab C like)
turning up at his door saying am merried tae a Campbell - kin we come in fur a wee cup o tea.

ionnsaigh wrote:- kin we come in fur a wee cup o tea.

That wouldn't be a problem - they've a tearoom

A tearoom in a hoose, my my wits next.
Scenario. Mick: Fiona dae ya fancy a coffee -- up at the big hoose
Fiona: Aye a widnae mind
Waitress arrives with bill ( as in check )
Mick: Noo noo ye don't understawn - ye see mae wifes a Campbell fae Islay
Waitress : No you don't understand ( she sighs thinking trailer trash ) That will be £13.73p
Wit cries Mick - yur kiddin me oan - awe thon money fur a couple of coffees, an two wee slices o two day auld slab
Fiona: Fur Gods sake Mick - keep yur voice doon, yer gein yersel a right shown up
Mick: Well am noo payin - a want tae see yer manager
Waitress: I am the manager ( mmm cutting corners his lordship ) hiring cheap Inverary labour me thinks
Mick: Well a couldnae gie a frick - if yir his lordship or noo - am noo payin
Mick: An noo payin oan the grounds o public health an taste
Waitress : What do you mean sir - funny how English her accents becomes
Mick: Well fur a start ye could go away - an get sum claithes oan.
Thon skirt is hauf wie up yer arse - it put me right aff ma tea
Barred fae wan big hoose - guest of another.

Another one yesterday at KelBURN Castle in Ayrshire, home of Lord Glasgow.
Seen it in today's Press and Journal.