![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In the 1700s and early 1800s, the Baillies of Dochfour were ‘West Indian Merchants’, active in the slave trade and in the ownership of plantations in the Caribbean. It’s a house that speaks of a lifestyle and income level that are aeons above my league, and it’s just one of many splendid houses in the north.īut where did the money come from to build these wonderful houses in sprawling estates? In some cases, land and titles were handed over by grateful noblemen and monarchs for services during war indeed, the Barony of Dochfour, among other lands, was gifted by the Earl of Huntly to Alexander Baillie in the 1440s after the Battle of Brechin.īut there is a more sinister side to the history of the Baillie fortunes – if there is anything more sinister than war. ![]() It’s a while since I’ve swum in Loch Dochfour, but when I do, I always pause mid-stroke and take in the beauty of Dochfour House, that orange-ochre coloured Italianate mansion sitting amid formal gardens on the north shore of the loch. The Highlands’ dark secrets, plus theatre, and ounces? The sobering History of the Highlands and Slavery ![]()
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