Brough Lodge work to start after final part of funding jigsaw is put in place
Work is to start on the restoration of Brough Lodge in Fetlar next month after Historic Scotland put forward almost half of the £400,000 required for the first phase.
This work, also supported by Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Amenity Trust, will make the building wind and watertight.
Pierre Cambillard, chairman of the Brough Lodge Trust, welcomed the news that the first phase would now go ahead. He said: “The trust is very grateful to all those that have demonstrated their confidence in the project. We now need to identify sources of funding for phase two, which will see the building fully restored. The trust’s aim is to release the building’s full potential and ensure that it plays its part in diversifying and strengthening Fetlar’s economy.”
The trust ensured that the local community has been fully involved in the development of the project. Public meetings and consultation with the community council have helped to tie the project in to local plans for economic regeneration.
Voluntary work has also been carried out to help save the building. Over a weekend in March, volunteers helped to salvage a number of valuable historical items and remove debris.
The services of Nicholas Groves Raines were secured for the restoration of Brough Lodge. One of Scotland’s foremost conservation architects, he has an impressive record of saving beautiful and neglected buildings and bringing them back into use.
The work will be carried out by the Shetland Amenity Trust. The building warrant is expected soon.
P Fraser
As a descendent of a cleared family I believe public money should not be wasted commemorating one the most evil families ever to set foot on Shetland soil. Instead the building should be completely demolished and a memorial dedicated to the memory of those forcibly cleared from their homes by the Nicholsons be erected in its place.
W Conroy
Surely there are better things to spend nearly £4 MILLION pounds on than the rebuilding of a derelict building… (No you didn’t read that wrong – according to the Brough Lodge website the cost of rebuilding will be £3.6 Million)
In my opinion even spending this £400,000 on making the building wind and watertight is a disgusting waste of money.
I understand the need for a small community to bring jobs and business but to plan to spend this kind of money on it is insanity!
What next? Scalloway Castle???
Ian Tinkler
About as much use as Mareel?
Colin Hunter
I am in complete agreement with both the above. These fancy houses were built on the blood and sweat of the local people who were invariably treated abominably and charged rents way in excess of what would have been reasonable. They were beholden to the “Lairds” for just about everything and said Lairds would even take the Lions share of the proceeds of a Whale Caa, which has been much discussed recently. They are little better than monuments to mans inhumanity to man, and should be razed from the face of the earth!
Pierre Cambillard
I totally understand above reactions. They are legitimate considering the article provided little insight into what is intended to happen with the building. If the Brough Lodge Trust manages to find the major private sponsor for the inside works, the site shall become a residential center for courses addressing the Shetland heritage (knitting, fiddle music, geology, archeology etc…).
This will have, as consultants confirmed, quite some impact on Shetland, so not only a few jobs for the Fetlar and the North Isles.
The place would also be renamed after the major private donor’s name , so a kind of revenge to the dreadful past. Details on our website http://www.broughlodge.org
Pierre Cambillard
Chairman
Brough Lodge Trust
W Conroy
Mr.Cambillard… Your comment says you understand the above reactions. Do you really?
Do you think it makes any difference what the plans are for this building or what its intended name will be to the people who are commenting on this page and to many others? You seem to think that it’s acceptable to waste £4 million pounds on reconstructing a building that for many holds a dark past. Do you plan to put a display on the “heritage” of Brough Lodge inside your folly?
At least we can agree on one thing – It will, as your consultants have confirmed, have quite some impact on Shetland… It will upset many people and reduce the public purse!
Ron McMillan
While we’re at it, let’s get Edinburgh Castle torn down, since of course its occupants over the ages lived high on the hog on wealth exploited from the poor.
Knocking the building down would be a classic act of short-sightedness. Thank goodness folk with such sentiments are not in control of its future.
ron mcmillan
Colin Hunter
Edinburgh Castle is not in a state of parlous delapidation! It is, I assume, the responsibility of the people of Edinburgh, a place I have not been to since I was dragged there on a school trip in 1968! I have no interest in Edinburgh OR its Castle! It’s the waste of money that’s ongoing in Shetland that is my greatest concern, And places like Belmont House and Brough Lodge are at the forefront of that waste! If it’s about to fall down, Let it! Very few people will care, and if it does become what is proposed, very few people will care, so what is spending all that money going to change? I am from Unst, and it will be a cold day in Hell before I set foot over the threshhold of Berlmont House!
W Conroy
I also think it would be wrong to tear down Brough Lodge – I just think it’s a disgusting waste of money repairing it.
If it would bring in the kind of money Edinburgh Castle does it would be a worthwhile investment. As Scotlands most visited paid for tourist attraction Edinburgh Castle had over 200,000 visitors last month with adults paying £15 a time to see it. If only half the visitors were adults it still brought in over £2 million pounds last month.
How many visitors do you think it’ll take to recoup the cost of restoring Brough Lodge?
The castle is a historical monument with signs of habitation from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD that has housed many generations of kings and queens and is fondly looked at by many as the symbol of our Scottish capital – Brough Lodge was a family home which is looked at by many as a folly much of which was built using stone from homes belonging to people that were forced out during the clearances.
Edinburgh Castle houses a war memorial with over 200,000 names of soldiers killed during the 2 world wars and more recent conflicts. It hosts multi-national events encouraging peace and cooperation between nations.
Brough Lodge is a memorial to what exactly?
P Fraser
If Broch Lodge is restored it will stand as a monument to ‘Hobby Shetlanders’ who are happy to spend community funds on their unrealistic pet projects then vanish over the horizon when our funds run out. How many of the Broch Lodge Trustees permanently live: (a) on Fetlar? (b) on Shetland?