I don't think I've ever seen a "derp house" with quite so much stuff left behind and in such good condition. There is evidence that some of the belongings have begun to be "sorted" and from research I've done it would seem that a Charity is attempting to save the building and bring it back to life for the community as it appears to have been incredibly important to the locals for quite a large number of years. I think it'd be absolutely awful if this place got trashed and hopefully the contents will be saved and not just skipped when something is actually done.
History -
"Originally one of MacDonald of Clanranald’s old shooting lodges, it was enlarged in 1828 by Major General Sir Alexander Cameron with the proceeds of a military pension, a propitious marriage and French loot brought home from the Battle of Waterloo. It went on to acquire east and west wings under the ownership of James Head, a director of several shipping lines who married into the Cameron family in 1890 and died in 1922.
In 1940 Inverailort and its 12,000 acres was requisitioned by Lord Lovat and David Stirling as a Special Training Centre – out of which was born Britain’s first Commando unit. The Cameron-Heads (who had amalgamated their names in 1910) watched impotently from the nearby Lochailort Inn as their pictures, china and furniture were carted off in Army trucks. Within days the entire estate was converted to a barracks and assault course for 3,000 commandos.
The then estate house was used as the HQ building as the names of wartime officers on doors within the building testify to this day. The house was also used by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to train men for work behind enemy lines; hand to hand combat, sabotage, use of explosives, survival etc.
When the war ended, the Cameron-Heads’ sole heir, Francis, returned with his young bride Lucretia to take up residence. They described what they found as “a broken-down Victorian biscuit factory”, but went on to turn it into the living heart of the local community.
Since the River Ailort was well-known for its early run of sea trout and the deer forest was one of the best in the West Highlands, there were seldom fewer than 20 guests in the house for 11 months of the year, despite the rooms being, in the words of an American journalist, “as cold as the kiss of death”. Passers through might include cabinet ministers, crofters, playwrights, fish-farmers, television presenters and even the odd Russian Prince. A regular guest at dinner was a Roman Catholic priest who had called in to say Mass in the Castle chapel and had simply stayed on.
Most recently a small part of the house was used as the local Post Office"
Explore -
I came across this house quite by accident, I was reading "The Next Moon" ~ Andre Hue who was recruited into the SOE whilst running his own resistance unit in France during the early 1940's. He detailed his SOE training that had taken place "not far from Fort William" and as I knew we were intending to head up that way I thought I'd see what I could find. It turns out that where Andre Hue was trained is now a luxury spa and golf course however my research led me to Inverailort Castle. Ironically a few days later someone posted a report from the outside of the building naming it "Bottle Bank Mansion" which further confirmed that it was worth a look (although baffled why the poster of that report didn't bother to look inside?!)
After climbing Ben Nevis (and I mean almost immediately after getting back to the car) we headed on up to Lochailort with no real expectation as to what we were going to find or if the house was accessible etc. Personally I would have just been happy to see the outside of it but then I'm massively obsessed with WW2 Military Intelligence and just being there was enough to make me history-gasm.
Once inside we really were in awe of the sheer amount of belongings left inside, including the doors which are clearly from it's use during the war.
I was really on edge here, I didn't like that the house was clearly looked after by the local community and that there really wasn't a way to approach the house without being quite brazen and thus spent the majority of the explore expecting to see a neighbor peering in through the window! Plus, I was knackered because we'd just climbed a mountain.
History -
"Originally one of MacDonald of Clanranald’s old shooting lodges, it was enlarged in 1828 by Major General Sir Alexander Cameron with the proceeds of a military pension, a propitious marriage and French loot brought home from the Battle of Waterloo. It went on to acquire east and west wings under the ownership of James Head, a director of several shipping lines who married into the Cameron family in 1890 and died in 1922.
In 1940 Inverailort and its 12,000 acres was requisitioned by Lord Lovat and David Stirling as a Special Training Centre – out of which was born Britain’s first Commando unit. The Cameron-Heads (who had amalgamated their names in 1910) watched impotently from the nearby Lochailort Inn as their pictures, china and furniture were carted off in Army trucks. Within days the entire estate was converted to a barracks and assault course for 3,000 commandos.
The then estate house was used as the HQ building as the names of wartime officers on doors within the building testify to this day. The house was also used by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to train men for work behind enemy lines; hand to hand combat, sabotage, use of explosives, survival etc.
When the war ended, the Cameron-Heads’ sole heir, Francis, returned with his young bride Lucretia to take up residence. They described what they found as “a broken-down Victorian biscuit factory”, but went on to turn it into the living heart of the local community.
Since the River Ailort was well-known for its early run of sea trout and the deer forest was one of the best in the West Highlands, there were seldom fewer than 20 guests in the house for 11 months of the year, despite the rooms being, in the words of an American journalist, “as cold as the kiss of death”. Passers through might include cabinet ministers, crofters, playwrights, fish-farmers, television presenters and even the odd Russian Prince. A regular guest at dinner was a Roman Catholic priest who had called in to say Mass in the Castle chapel and had simply stayed on.
Most recently a small part of the house was used as the local Post Office"
Explore -
I came across this house quite by accident, I was reading "The Next Moon" ~ Andre Hue who was recruited into the SOE whilst running his own resistance unit in France during the early 1940's. He detailed his SOE training that had taken place "not far from Fort William" and as I knew we were intending to head up that way I thought I'd see what I could find. It turns out that where Andre Hue was trained is now a luxury spa and golf course however my research led me to Inverailort Castle. Ironically a few days later someone posted a report from the outside of the building naming it "Bottle Bank Mansion" which further confirmed that it was worth a look (although baffled why the poster of that report didn't bother to look inside?!)
After climbing Ben Nevis (and I mean almost immediately after getting back to the car) we headed on up to Lochailort with no real expectation as to what we were going to find or if the house was accessible etc. Personally I would have just been happy to see the outside of it but then I'm massively obsessed with WW2 Military Intelligence and just being there was enough to make me history-gasm.
Once inside we really were in awe of the sheer amount of belongings left inside, including the doors which are clearly from it's use during the war.
I was really on edge here, I didn't like that the house was clearly looked after by the local community and that there really wasn't a way to approach the house without being quite brazen and thus spent the majority of the explore expecting to see a neighbor peering in through the window! Plus, I was knackered because we'd just climbed a mountain.
