National Trust for Scotland in further controversy

Important Leith Hall collection under threat

By Gareth Harris | Web only
Published online 22 Sep 09 (News)

Future of Scotland's Leith Hall uncertain

london. Questions have been raised over the future of the collection of Leith Hall in Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, which was recently closed by the troubled conservation organisation National Trust for Scotland (NTS) as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

The NTS has had a turbulent 12 months, reporting a deficit of £800,000 in September 2008 and slashing 65 staff posts. Its chairwoman Shonaig Macpherson has announced she will step down by September 2010 following a no-confidence motion tabled by 21 NTS members, set to be debated at the NTS general meeting in late September.

An NTS spokeswoman said, however, that “the Trust is actually not in deficit. The latest accounts show that for the General Fund (the main indicator of our financial health), there were incoming resources of £2m for the last financial year”.

But four NTS properties have since closed, including Hill of Tarvit near St Andrews, prompting fears that the collection there may be dispersed. James Grant, a member of the Tap O' Noth Community Council, also questions the fate of the Leith Hall holdings following the NTS proposal to convert the 17th-centry building into flats: “The contents are unique and valuable including, I understand, the only Culloden pardon [given by King George in 1780 to Andrew Hay after the Battle of Culloden] still in private hands and on public display.

“NTS has been asked for an inventory (1945-2009) but appears unwilling to provide one. I am personally interested in several items, including items bequeathed to them in 1965 that had to remain at Leith Hall. They appear not to be there and I await a reply from the NTS Registrar regarding their whereabouts.”

The BBC also reported that a “campaign is under way to try to stop the historic stately home from being sold off”. The NTS declined to comment.