A CONSERVATION pressure group which had planned to buy the ruins of
Uttershill Castle, a sixteenth-century laird's house overlooking
Penicuik in Midlothian, expressed alarm and disappointment yesterday
when the property was put on the market at offers over #55,000.
Uttershill Watch, a group of Penicuik residents, had offered #20,000
to buy the ruins and have them preserved and consolidated.
They hoped to frustrate proposals to restore the ruin for residential
use. Although planning consent was granted by Midlothian District
Council, the ruin was granted listed status, and any plans for
rebuilding will require the approval of the Secretary of State for
Scotland.
Detailed plans for a four-bedroom house were drawn up by Mr Ian
Cumming, a restoration expert of Glenisla, near Blairgowrie, who
successfully restored Hatton Castle in Perthshire and Tillycairn Castle
in Aberdeenshire. The plans and costings will be made available to
potential purchasers.
Mr Adrian Fitzgerald, of Uttershill Watch, said the group had made a
formal offer to the owner Mr David Lumsden, of Innerleithen,
Peeblesshire, but had received no response.
He said they were both ''alarmed and disappointed'' at what had
happened, and astonished at the asking price. They had hoped a trust
could be established to secure and maintain the historic site for
Penicuik residents in perpetuity.
Mr Fitzgerald said the group had not given up hope altogether. The
owner and developer had not yet been able to fulfill one of the
conditions for planning consent, which required documentary evidence of
the original design of the castle.
Mrs Margaret Drummond, of the Uttershill Restoration Society, which is
in favour of the development, said she was delighted. ''I think it's
worth more than #55,000. I hope whoever buys it takes the same care over
restoring as the present owner would have done.''
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