Estate on Isle of Skye includes castle, gardens, and Museum of the Isles
Clan Donald Lands Trust has just announced that it will sell the 20,000-acre Armadale Castle estates, one of the largest on the southern Sleat peninsula of Isle of Skye. The property includes the castle, gardens, café, and Museum of the Isles.
When the Alexander Godfrey, the 7th Lord Macdonald of Sleat died in 1971, members of Clan MacDonald formed the Clan Donald Lands Trust to purchase the estate. According to the BBC, the charity which owns the land said it had taken the "difficult" decision to sell and the estate because of financial challenges and that the Trust wanted to focus on giving grants to "Clan and indigenous Highland heritage projects".
(See https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c871z5gvl8do)
In a statement, the board of trustees said: "Due to the high-cost, low-income nature of Armadale, we have always been reliant on external grant funding to cover our operating costs. The availability of this funding has been reduced by the impact of ongoing investment market volatility.”
According to the High Council of Clan Donald, the MacDonalds of Sleat had built a tower and farmhouse at Armadale before 1670. In 1703, a replacement house was constructed nearer the shore. This was used for visits and trade, and also leased out to clan relatives. The MacDonalds of Sleat left Monkstadt House in 1798 to return to a newly-built mansion house, the white building still standing today. They added the Gillespie-Graham mock Gothic castle in 1815.
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Mar 26, 2025