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| Figure 1: The south front in 176 (by Ruairidh H. MacLeod) |
The first available records of the Orbost Estate show that in 1683, one Ean Mc Wannane (John McLennan) was paying rent to the MacLeod Chief for the tack of 'Hirbost'. The amount paid for the tack was the third highest rent on the MacLeod estates at that time, indicating its relative status in economic terms.
EARLY DAYS
The story of Orbost House itself begins in 1745, when the tack was reset from its former tacksman, a John MacLeod, to Dr. Samuel Campbell, who nine years previously had been military surgeon to the Laird of MacLeod´s 'Independent Companies' and therefore must have been in the Chiefs good books.
Dr. Campbell was probably of the Campbells of Harris and it was he who built a new tack house, (fig. 1) now being the oldest part of Orbost House. The tackhouse was of three bays, and two storeys with garrets over. It must have been thatched with reed or straw. As is common with country houses of the early 18th century, the house had a north facing entrance. Also, there must have been some kind of formal garden north of the house bisected by a drive to a now blocked entrance that was shaded by a wych elm.
By 1769 the 22nd Chief of the Clan MacLeod, Norman MacLeod, also known as 'The Wicked Man' was short of money and decided to increase the rents, raise the entry fees and reset the tacks (some people might find similarities to modern times...). This line of action forced many tacksmen out off their leases and some of then subsequently emigrated to North Carolina. Samuel Campbell´s tack was to be terminated four years before it had run its course and from 1776 to 1792 the tacksman at Orbost was one Neil Beaton.
In 1792 Orbost and the neighbouring tack of Bharcasaig were taken over by Olaus MacLeod. Olaus and his wife Julia extended the tack house by adding two wings of one and a half storeys each with garrets over and ending in chimney blocks (fig. 2). The new west-wing was to house a new big kitchen and servants quarters. Purpose and exact layout of the east wing are unclear, but it more or less must have mirrored its counterpart on the west, since symmetry was of prime importance in those times. The old tackhouse was adapted accordingly. Also, a new building was added north of the house - its original use is not precisely known, though. Most probably it was the house of a farm-manager or steward.
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| Figure 2: The south front in 1800 (by Ruairidh H. MacLeod) |
Unfortunately, for Olaus, the chief of MacLeod, this time the 23rd, also a Norman MacLeod ('The General') once again, owing to an extravagant life-style, was in need of money, and in 1799 large tracts of the clan´s patrimony were sold off. Norman´s son wrote after his father death: 'He was the first of the family to part with his inheritance and he was doubly grieved to find that he had impoverished his heirs without materially benefiting himself'.
Orbost and its neighbouring tacks of Bharcasaig, Brandersaig, Idrigill and Forse were to be sold to Captain Angus Campbell of Ensay, who, interestingly enough, is thought to have been related to Dr. Samuel Campbell, who built the original building. The 'consolidation' of these tacks more or less created what we know as Orbost today. Angus had also to purchase the 'improvements' at Orbost, the tackhouse built by Samuel and enlarged by Olaus.
But, yet again, the ownership did not last long and Angus remained in the possession of 'greater' Orbost for seven years only. In 1805 his financial troubles forced him to borrow money from his sister-in-law, Isabella MacLeod, and in 1806 she became the owner of Orbost and its lands, most probably, because he could not pay her back. And because she herself was forced out of her own tack (the island of Berneray) by an insisting, as likely as not, unpleasant cousin, she came to live at Orbost with her sister, brother-in-law and young niece, Margaret. Thus Orbost passed back to the MacLeods, although not to the Laird but to a family that was to become known as the MacLeods of Orbost.
A FINE NEW ENTRANCE
Isabella stayed unmarried and did not have any children and upon Angus death in 1812 she became the executrix for her young niece, Margaret Campbell. In 1817 Margaret came of age and in 1823 she married her first cousin William MacLeod (a son of Isabella´s sister Anne).
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| Figure 3: The Regency east front (by David Roberts) |
The new structure, made from tooled Soay stone, was a fine two storey Regency House of three bays with
attics and faced east, out over a walled garden with a carriage drive
towards Bharcasaig Bay, thus reorientating the principle axis of the
house by 900. Inside, the quality of woodwork and plaster decoration of c. 1840 was worthy of contemporary houses in Edinburgh´s New Town. The dining room´s south wall was bowed internally with corresponding curved doors.
In the Statistical Account of 1841 the Reverend Archibald Clerk, minister of Duirinish notes that 'the only mansion-houses, besides the Castle of Dunvegan, are those of Orbost, Greshornish and Waternish', and also that Mr. MacLeods of Orbost and Mr. Cumming of Greshornish are following the example of MacLeod of MacLeod by planting trees around their houses which is of interest because the district was Otherwise devoid of wood'.
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| Figure 4: The south front after addition of the new east wing (by Ruairidh H. MacLeod) |
It can be assumed that ageing Aunt Isabella lived in the old tackhouse apartments, whilst the young couple took up residence in the new wing.
These years also saw the erection of a detached laundry, west of the house. Additionally, necessary houses (=toilets) were introduced and a large agricultural square, a so-called steading, as well as a walled garden were built some distance to the north.
Figure 5 shows a general view of Orbost House and its immediate surroundings some time after 1840. The new Regency wing, laundry, steading and walled garden are in place. The trees have just been planted. (We apologise for the poor quality of the picture.)
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| Figure 5: Water colour of Orbost House and its surroundings, ca. 1840 (artist unknown) |
CLEARANCES & SMUGGLING
But building all these extensions was expensive and on top of that very hard times had struck Skye. In 1836 the harvest failed and people of Skye were destitute and starving. Bad weather also destroyed the peat stocks and people began burning the divots off their own roofs to keep warm.
William though, had his ways to raise funds for his lifestyle. On one hand he was an 'improver', a cattle drover who wanted to convert his land to pasturing, meaning he had to get rid of the people living on it. During the next decade he laid waste to and cleared all of Orbost´s 'townships' to make place for his sheep and cattle.
On the other hand, he was also a well known 'runner', a smuggler, utilising the many caves along the coast adjoining the Estate to conceal contraband from the Customs Men. William would have his contraband -i.e. brandy from France- delivered to the neighbouring Isle of Rùm (!) and then would ship it over to Bharcasaig Bay, covered up with soil from Rùm, that supposedly was to be used for the walled garden. This camouflage in hindsight became a bit frayed by the fact, that the soil of Rùm is of poor quality and when in 1897 the construction of Kinloch Castle commenced, the soil in turn had to be brought in from Arran.
Aunt Isabella died in 1839 with Margaret and William now officially inheriting Orbost. At 1841 they lived there with their seven children, a tutor, a governess, and nine servants - one of them an elderly housekeeper and the remainder between 15 and 20 years old. Also, a gardener, with his family lived close by.
William died some years later and with Margaret´s death in 1855 the ownership of Orbost fell to their eldest son, Norman Alexander MacLeod, who was an officer in the Indian army. Him being away most of the time, Orbost became neglected.
NEGLECT & SALE
In 1865 poet and author Alexander Smith visited Orbost and gave a very detailed account of the bachelor household he came upon. Interestingly, because he approached the house from the land side, he thought it was not well positioned, the direction of its windows limiting the view of the sea. Everybody who has seen the house, though, knows that Smith got it wrong. Had he approached the house from the sea, he would have seen it slowly unfolding in front him, including its 17 windows with seaview.
The general aspect of Orbost at that time might have been a seen in the Figure 6 (again, we apologise for the poor quality). It was taken from almost the same point of view as the one above, but clearly the trees have grown and the farmhouse to the north-west of Orbost House has been built.
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| Figure 6: Oilpainting of Orbost House and its surroundings, ca. 1870 (artist unknown) |
Norman MacLeod sold Orbost in 1869 to move away and get married at the late age of 51. This time there were two fierce competitors for Orbost. One was the 25th Chief Norman (!) MacLeod, who bid £ 11.000 for Orbost and its lands in an attempt to recover some of the MacLeod´s patrimony sold 70 years previously. He was, however, outbid by £ 200 by Kenneth MacLeod of the Gesto family.
Kenneth´s family had been living at Gesto as tacksmen for more than 500 years when in 1825 Capt. Neil MacLeod of Gesto was thrown out of the tack because of a quarrel about land boundaries with the 24th Chief John Norman. The Gesto family were badly shaken by that incident and Neil´s son, Kenneth, was obviously determined to get his father´s farm back. At the age of 15 he went to India, with his fare paid out and one golden
guinea in his pocket given him by Mrs. MacDonald of Waternish. After a
years' work, he took the river boat down to Calcutta. On the way he went
ashore and visited a place where an auction of the contents of a sugar
factory was in progress. With his precious guinea, he bought a copper boiler,
which he sold in Calcutta for £30. He now returned to the derelict
sugar factory and bought it for very little. This set him on the ladder
to making a fortune in India.
After his return to Skye, he sought to buy Gesto from the Laird of Dunvegan, but without success. Kenneth, piqued, went off to buy notable amounts of estate in the north-west of Skye, such as Edinbane -where he set and endowed a hospital
for the people of Skye-, Greshornish, Tote, Skeabost, Skirinish and much of Portree instead. His greatest satisfaction, though, must have been to outbid the Chief on Orbost, who obviously had been very eager to restore Orbost to his assets.
In a kind of early Monopoly©, Kenneth now proceded to offer the Chief a swap of Gesto for Orbost and was even prepared to pay a premium on top. However, the deal fell through. It can be assumed that the lure of Orbost was not sufficient enough to overcome the remnants of the old feud. Unfortunately, Kenneth died very soon after without much chance to enjoy his new estates and the unfullfilled dream of regaining Gesto. Since he was unmarried and childless his properties went to his five-year-old grand-nephew Kenneth Robertson, who upon these proceedings took up the name of MacLeod.
HUNTING LODGE, SANATORIUM & HOTEL
Kenneth and his parents, Isabella and John Robertson, went to live at Greshornish, whereas Orbost House was let to Dr. John MacLean who ran it as a sanatorium, or, alternatively phrased, as a 'home for gentlemen with drink problems' from 1871 to 1885. There was some work done to the house, to accomodate the gentlemen, including the provision of a billiard room for recreational uses. In 1871 Dr. MacLean had 13 boarders, including two other doctors, as well as his wife, four children and seven servants, making this a total of 27 people living at Orbost House.
In 1885 Kenneth came of age and he ended the era of Orbost House as a sanatorium by installing his parents at Orbost while he stayed at Greshornish. Dr. MacLean and his family had to remove themselves to Inverness. From now on Orbost was to be let for shooting every year.
Orbost House was described an a 'mansion-house...beautifully situated near the sea, and contains two public rooms, billiard-room, and accommodation for a large party...Post and telegraph office at Dunvegan...Medical man somewhat nearer.'
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| Figure 7: Pictures from around 1890 (first two: from the book 'Skye remembered' by Derek Cooper, 1983; third: artist unknown) |
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In 1892, a young barrister, who later was to become the famous scholar and writer William Woodthorpe Tarn first took up shooting at Orbost, where he became 'captivated' by Kenneth´s sister Flora Robertson. William and Flora were married and in 1898 their daughter, Otta, was born. Both, William and his daughter Otta, wrote books with strong associations to Orbost House, and especially Otta´s book is still in print.
Figure 8 is a picture from the 1937 edition of W. W. Tarns book 'The Treasure of the Isle of Mist' and must have been taken around the beginning of the 20th century. W. W. Tarn wrote this book to cheer up Otta when she was ill and featured her as the the female protagonist 'Fiona' and her portrait can be found in the book, too (fig. 10).
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| Figure 8: Orbost House, as depicted in the 1937 edition of 'The Treasure of the Isle of Mist' by W. W: Tarn |
In 1902 Isabella Robertson died and her husband soon after. Their children continued to visit during the summer, including Flora, her husband and daughter.
In the 1930s Orbost House was run as a hotel (figure 9) by Beatrice
Robertson, sister to Kenneth, but not with great success and a couple by
the name of Porteous took over the business from 'Beata'. However, when
Skye at the outbreak of the second World War, like many other places in
the west of Scotland, was declared a prohibited military zone, the
hotel more or less was forced to shut down.
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| Figure 9: Advertisement of Orbost Hotel from the thirties; from the book 'Skye: A Postcard Tour' by Bob Charnley & Roger Miket, 1992 |
THE SWIRES, THE ROBERTS & THE KOZIKOWSKIS
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| Figure 10: Otta Swire, depicted as 'Fiona`in the 1937 edition of W. W. Tarns 'The Treasure of the Isle of Mist' |
Kenneth, still the actual owner of the house, in the
meantime had married, too, and fathered a
son named Roderick, who in 1945 after Kenneth´s death sold some of his
father´s estates, including Orbost. Buyers of the estate were his cousin Otta and her husband, the freshly retired Capt. Roger Swire, moving
into the house in 1946. The year 1951 marks an important change, because
at this time for the first time in history the farmland was separated
from the house and sold to two brothers by the name of MacDonald.
Although the weather on Skye´s west coast did not encourage it, over a period of ten years the Swires grew flowers in the walled garden. In what even nowadays would be a logistic challenge, the flowers were cut, despatched via bus to Kyleakin, then went onto the ferry to Kyle and loaded onto the train to London to be sold at Covent Garden in London the next morning. Also, Otta Swire wrote her three books about the history and folklore of Skye and the Highlands. In 'Skye - The Island and its Legends' she remarks about Orbost that it offers '...from its windows, one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful view in Skye', thereby contradicting Alexander Smith. Also, she remarks that 'Orbost must have been one of the last places where peafowl were regarded as a normal part of the poultry yard and roast peacock, or better still peahen, was an ordinary dish' (the current peacock-in-residence would disapprove vehemently - if he knew). She is fondly remembered as one of the 'last Victorians' of Skye, with people still recalling how she used to drive around in her extraordinary pink Bentley.
After Otta´s death in 1973 and the death of her husband two years later, their heirs retained but a small portion of their land where Jim Swire and his family built a new house, called Leobost, whereas the big house and gardens were sold to David and Marion Roberts, both being artists, who moved to Skye to concentrate on their painting. David was born in 1934, trained as a painter, but with a degree in the architecture of old buildings, a topic on which he lectured for 20 years. Marion used to be head of the Art Department at Gainsborough High School, and then at Newark. Before they came to Orbost House they had purchased and restored the Old West Hall, Westborough in Lincolnshire. The hall had last been restored in 1411, so that David and Marion experienced Orbost House as a somewhat 'new' building.
With their combined expertise, they were able to restore the house to some of its former glory, removing later additions, repairing plasterwork and redecorating. Also, they converted the old west wing into two self-contained holiday apartments and ran a picture gallery, where they sold their own and other Skye artists´ paintings. By the end of the 80´s though, the Roberts decided to down-size. They purchased and remodelled 'Half Bolvean', originally a simple croft house, not too far away from Orbost House. The transformation of the new house resulted in a comfortable residence cum art gallery with a courtyard layout and an understated elegance reminiscent of old Skye gentry houses, thus mirroring the style of their former home.
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| Figure 11: The Kozikowski family; from the book 'Skye' by Ann McSween, 1991 |
George and Sandy continued the self-catering business that was introduced by the Roberts. The Kozikowskis became active members of the local community and on the present day still own Orbost House and its surrounding gardens.
The aerial view given in figure 12 shows Orbost house as it is today. From right to left, one can see the Regency wing, joined to the old tackhouse, being the oldest part of the house. To the left follows the old west wing that now is used for self-catering apartments. The west wing is joined to a structure that most probably was built to house the farm-manager. On the far left are the detached laundry and an old 'necessary house'
Figure 12: Aerial view of Orbost House
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