Could island buyout end 1,500 years of family history?
Baron to quit ancestral home
THE holder of one of the most ancient titles in Britain is to leave the ancestral Scottish homeland where his family have lived for 1,500 years.
Niall, Baron of the Bachuil, is the only person other than the Queen whose passport and title – which precedes the Kingdom of Scotland – are granted ‘by the Grace of God’.
As the heir of St Moluag, who by the time of his death in 592 had founded more than 120 monasteries, the baron is the Keeper of The Bachuil Mor – his ancestor’s legendary staff, renowned for its miraculous powers.
But when maintenance of Bachuil House, the family home on the isle of Lismore, near Oban, Argyll, became too difficult, the baron put it up for sale at £910,000.
However, he has now agreed to take it off the market to allow the Lismore Community Trust to investigate the possibility of a buyout.
Lismore has 185 residents and has a high proportion of older people, so the trust believes improvements would encourage more young families to move there.
Speaking yesterday at the family home he shares with his wife, Anita, the 63-year-old baron said: ‘My family are very sad to be selling Bachuil.
‘The house is too big for the two of us and it is becoming increasingly more difficult for me to maintain it.
‘I don’t want to make the same mistake as my father, who became a cripple while repairing slates in his old age.’
The baron said he had been delighted to learn that the islanders were interested in buying the prop- erty. He added: ‘If this becomes the first step to creating what I call the Lismore Dream, it could be the best thing to happen to the island since the arrival of St Moluag in 562.
‘I am very, very supportive of this dream and doing all I can to help in its realisation.’
The baron said that while he would be leaving the island, he would retain some land to maintain the historic connection for future generations.
Trust chairman Sebastian Tombs said: ‘Some members and our directors approached the vendor and he said he would like to leave something for the island in a durable way.
‘Getting land on the island is difficult and this will allow us to explore the opportunities for creating accommodation, housing for families, workspace units, public facilities.
‘There is an idea of running the house as a guest house that could provide regular income.’
The first step will be to ask the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) for finance to survey the state of the buildings and carry out a feasibility study of the project before taking the findings to the entire community for its decision.
If the islanders want to go ahead, it is hoped the SLF would provide 95 per cent of the purchase price, leaving the community to find the remaining 5 per cent.
‘We are very sad to be selling’