Interest grows in Rum’s link with imperial Japan
Hidden among the overgrown rhododenrons and tangled shrubbery at Kinloch Castle on Rum lie the secret remains of a long lost link to the days of imperial Japan.
The story of how textiles millionaire and Victorian playboy Sir George Bullough stocked the castle with a jaw-dropping collection of exotic artefacts from around the world is already well known.
Bullough had inherited the island of Rum on his father’s death in 1891 and proceeded to build the grand Kinloch Castle.
It was in his 221ft Clyde-built yacht Rhouma that Bullough had sailed around the world, in particular to Japan where he had forged a friendship with Emperor Meiji. Evidence of this friendship can still be seen in the castle in the shape of gifts from the Japanese, such as the massive bronze Monkey Eating Eagle, incense burners and another sculpture of an ivory eagle.
But there was once an even greater reminder of Bullough’s days touring Japan to be found in the grounds, where he created his own interpretation of a traditional Japanese Walkway Garden.
Rum and its castle are still both administered by Scottish Natural Heritage and it was in 1996 that Kinloch Castle Friends Association was set up as a membership organisation by Professor Ewan Macdonald OBE and George Randall.
Following the failure of its asset transfer proposal last year, the group has been in talks with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to discuss the future for the castle and still wants to purchase it.
Mr Randall is still an enthusiastic researcher concerning the castle and his Art Treasures of Kinloch Castle Blogspot, with more than 100 articles, can be found on the KCFA website.
Recently Mr Randall contacted Japanese gardens expert Katie Croft to establish more facts about the castle’s garden.
Mr Randall told the Lochaber Times: ‘As to the Japanese garden, Ms Croft believes a series of rock grottoes, walkways, an arched (Japanese style) bridge across the mountain stream to the south of Kinloch Castle could be based on Japanese gardens Mr Bullough – he was not Sir George at the time – experienced and photographed in 1895, during his three-year-long world tour from 1893-1896.
‘Sadly, today the whole area is much overgrown. Pathways have collapsed into the burn because Rum ponies were allowed to graze and required water. I have supplied Ms Croft with archive pictures from circa 1910 and clearance work undertaken in the late 1990s, sadly now reclaimed by Mother Nature.’
Mr Randall is concerned that Kinloch Castle’s significance as a time capsule of late Victorian/Edwardian Scotland – albeit a rapidly deteriorating one – is still not sufficiently recognised.
‘Most newspaper reports tend to be scurrilous, concentrating on titillating stories,
The replacement Japanesestyle bridge that was erected by the Kinloch Castle Friends Association, far left; the huge bronze eagle from Japan in Kinloch Castle; and, below, an archive photograph of the Japanese garden at Kinloch Castle in its heyday.
unproven and certainly irrelevant, and totally missing the educational value of a bygone age, which is of enormous value to the visitor and most of all to the survival of the island community.’
Asked for her views, Ms Croft told us: ‘I was really interested to find out that a Japanese garden was built at Kinloch Castle around 1903.
‘In Europe, Japanese-style gardens of this age are incredibly rare and this could be one of the earliest examples in Scotland and the UK. It would be fantastic for the garden to be reinstated as part of the restoration of Kinloch Castle.’
KCFA secretary Catherine Duckworth added: ‘Kinloch Castle never fails to come up with surprises and pleasures, one of which has been to find the Japanese garden is of such interest. Sadly, little is left visible. The late George Logan, using the profile of the original bridge, spearheaded the building and replacement of the bridge in wood by the Kinloch Castle Friends Association.
‘KCFA will be maintaining the bridge and it will form part of our interpretation of the history of the buildings and gardens if we are able to purchase the building.’