SOMETIMES we have a funny way of caring for our heritage.
As revealed on page eight, a Kingairloch schoolhouse that "almost certainly" hosted Robert Louis Stevenson while he was researching Kidnapped, is to be demolished. Highland Council was unable to reject plans to replace it, as it had not been listed by Historic Scotland. One councillor lamented that he felt "utterly toothless" on the issue.
On the other hand, on the Outer Hebrides, dozens of remote old family homes have been left to quietly rot. Their owners have often been bequeathed them but are not keen for estate agents to sell them. On page three we carry some remarkable photographs taken inside these houses. They have been frozen in time; in many cases, personal effects have lain untouched for years, almost as if the original owners had left in a hurry, never to return.
It seems there is a kind of family sentimentality attached to the refusal to countenance any sale. Even if they are remote, and would need a lot of work, interest has been expressed in buying them.
The absentee owner of Kingairloch estate disputes that the schoolhouse was the building referred to in Kidnapped, which is, of course, his right. Some however might think it a pity that the sentimentality that preserves the Outer Hebrides homes is not echoed further down on the mainland.
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