Owning Scotland

Paul Dacre’s Langwell estate, near Ullapool

For reader’s information, here are the ten wealthiest people we know about who own a chunk of Scotland. The SNP did little if anything to retrieve land from the rich and the unscrupulous and put it back in the hands of Scotland. If SNP had had its wits about it, the administration would never have allowed Trump to step off his plane to buy a slice of of Aberdeenshire. They were warned of his nefarious character and his tendency to lie and bluster his way through deals, but took no notice. Is it not a remarkable thing how the rich detest our wish for self-governance and yet want to live in our country away from the smelly rest of us?

When on location surveying what has been taken from us, in early days over a game of cards, or by a phony set of deeds conjured by an alcoholic lawyer in need of drinking money, I ask myself this: did the elite who owns this place now build the buildings? Did his family fence or dyke the land? Did his family shepherd the sheep or husband the cattle? Did his family till the soil and cultivate the produce? No? The hard grinding work on the land was done by the labourers, peasants, and rough hands who were mostly short-changed in the payment they received. The surplus value that the laird extracted from their work is the basis of their continuing landholding.

1. Donald Trump

The US president and property tycoon, whose Macleod mother Mary was born in Lewis, owns over 1,000 acres on the rugged Aberdeenshire coast. Trump International Golf Links on the Menie Estate was pushed through despite the protests of conservationists worried about the affect on birdlife and the Machair. Trump then fought to stop a wind farm being built off the coast. But it hasn’t put him off Scotland – he also bought Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, with whose money is as yet unidentified.

2. Sigrid Rausing

The Swedish philanthrophist owns the 40,000-acre Coignafearn estate in the Monadhliath mountains in the Highlands. The scion of the Tetra Pak empire and owner of the Granta publishing house is passionate about wildlife, and has criticised other land owners for building wind turbines and allowing their gamekeepers to kill golden eagles. Her sister Lisbet owns the 65,000-acre Corrour estate.

3. Mohammed Al Fayed

The former owner of Harrods has said he always wanted to buy a Scottish estate because a tutor told him that the Egyptians discovered Scotland. He bought the ‘pink’ Balnagowan Castle in Easter Ross in 1972 and has restored buildings throughout the 5,000 acre estate. He has created a new Ross tartan and also claims to have found evidence the Egyptians really did discover Scotland.

4. His Excellency Mahdi Mohammed Al Tajir

The Highland Spring owner and Scotland’s wealthiest man owns the Blackford Estate in the Ochil hills near Gleneagles. The Dubai-based businessman and former UAE ambassador to Britain is said to be building a hotel to rival Gleneagles on the 24,000 acre estate. The al-Tajirs became one of the first of a line of super rich Arabs to snap up grand Scottish estates in the late 1970s. Others include the al-Tajirs’ close associates, the Dubai royal family, who own estates in Ross-shire and near Dundee.

5. Sir Paul McCartney

The former Beatle bought High Park Farm in 1966 to recover from the break up of the band. The pretty farm on the Mull of Kintyre did indeed save his sanity and inspire an album. Sir Paul, his wife Linda and their young family enjoyed a simple life on the 1,000 acre farm growing their own food. But after the death of his wife in 1998, the family visits to the farm became less frequent. Sir Paul is well-loved in the area but in 2014 it was claimed he hadn’t been back to the farm for five years.

6. Kjeld Kirk-Kristiansen

The former head of Lego (where does all that plastic go?) owns 60,000 acres in Strathconon, Ross-shire. The estate, which boasts several Munros and 4,000 acres of forest, contains two sites of special scientific interest. Like many foreign owners Kirk-Kristiansen claims he is interested in conservation and has worked closely with charities and the Government to preserve the environment. In 2017, he added Ledgowan Estate, in Wester Ross, to his portfolio for £4.5million.

7. Paul Dacre

The former ruthless editor of the far-right Daily Mail, currently under legal fire for alleged industrial level phone hacking, owns Langwell Estate near Ullapool. The 17,000 acre estate includes deer stalking, grouse shooting and salmon fishing. With a crushing inevitability, the outspoken journalist has been criticised for accepting EU subsidies as a landowner while criticising the system in his newspaper. To keep in with the locals he sponsors the Ullapool and District Junior Pipe Band.

8. Sir Cameron Mackintosh

In 1994 the theatre impresario famous for an endless string of musicals composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, bought the 15,000 acre Nevis Estate in the shadow of Ben Nevis, where he had spent his holidays as a child. He has helped regenerate the area, having proposed a £750,000 development of new marina facilities including a private pier in Mallaig. Some villagers were against the plans because new restaurants on the site threaten to put local people out of business.

9. The Duke of Westminster

Ah, where would Scotland be if the English monarchy did not own vast areas of Scotland – free? The godfather of Prince William is one of the UK’s largest landowners. He owns 100,000 acres in Scotland but sold the 15 bedroom Lochmore Lodge in Sutherland, once used by Prince Charles and Diana, last year. The Duke also owns estates in Canada and Spain and is said to be worth £7.8 billion. But despite his wealth Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, who was brought up in remote Northern Ireland, is said to be a terribly nice down-to-earth man who is happiest in the countryside. Whoopee!

10. Bob Dylan

The folk singer honoured by St Andrews University with a Ph.D, bought Aultmore House in the foothills of the Cairngorms with his brother in 2007. The secluded Edwardian mansion has 10 bedrooms, a billiard room and has featured in the downmarket BBC television comedic drama Monarch of the Glen. There are 25 acres in the grounds and no sign of Dylan taking up country sports just yet.

NOTES:

This is a work in progress. More satire and blatant detestation of the filthy rich who think Scotland is England’s playground will be added as informsation is researched. With thanks to The Scottish Field, and land register for the information so far.

The ‘Right to Roam’ is the common name for that portion of The Land Reform (Scotland) Act of 2003 which gives everyone rights of access to land and inland water throughout Scotland so long as they act responsibly. Community buyouts refers to the ‘Community right to buy’ encapsulated in the same 2003 Act and extended and updated since. It gives local communities a pre-emptive right to acquire land and has resulted in increasing numbers of acquisitions of property by local communities.

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