A BUSINESS friend of Russian President Boris Yeltsin becoming Baron of Skelbo is not exciting the conservative members of Dornoch Heritage Society in Sutherland.
Society chairman Ian Ross-Harper said yesterday: ``It is to be hoped the new owner will do something with the ruined manor house, which is hugely important in Sutherland's history.
``I doubt if it could be saved now for a residence, but it could become an attractive tourist draw.''
The new Baron Skelbo is Mikhail Debouar, said to be a wealthy businessman from Moscow, who acquired the title from writer and Colditz Castle survivor Michael Alexander.
It is understood he paid the Sara Alexander Trust, which owned the ruined fifteenth-century manor house and twelfth-century Norse stronghold, around #75,000 for the barony and its restricted grounds on the shores of Loch Fleet, between Dornoch and Golspie.
Mr Alexander, who disposed of the more modern Skelbo House on behalf of his daughter's trust three years ago to American medical consultant Michael Meftah, has not so far met Mr Debouar.
``I rather want to meet him,'' he said from his London home yesterday, ``because I would like him to do some work on the ruins of Skelbo Manor. I sold it on the understanding that restoration would occur, and I hope he will soon get on with it.''
The completed deal was set up by Mr Robert Smith of the Manorial Rights Society, with Labour life peer Lord Whaddon as sponsor for the Russian.
Mr Alexander, 75, a former officer in the Scots Guards, said: ``Mr Debouar has bought the land, which has the barony title with it, and I have the impression he does want to do something with it.
``I was assured he was even interested in building a residence at Skelbo, let alone just restoring the ruins. That would involve quite a lot of money, of course.''
At present, the ruined castle and its manor house are protected with ``Dangerous Building'' notices, warning off sightseers. It was here, in 1290, that emissaries from Edward 1 learned of the death of the Maid of Norway, who had been betrothed to his son, on her voyage across the North Sea to Orkney.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article