Private Ownership
Quite a few people have said to me "If only I had the money I would buy Fatlips and live up there". While it may be a dream and it would be wonderful to see Fatlips saved, there are issues with Private Ownership.
Turning a listed building into a private residence is generally seen as a last resort, as once it has been adapted, it is very difficult to return back or adapt to anything else, not just because of changes to the interior but also because a property's value changes when it turns into a private residence. A building risks losing some or all of its interpretive significance (by this I mean the details of character that make it historically interesting). However if there is no other viable use for a building then other than letting it fall into ruin, converting to residence sees the prevention of this.
The current landowner of Fatlips allows the public access to the hill and up to the castle (Though it is strongly advised you do not enter the castle because it might fall on your head). If a private sale was made of the castle with and it was turned into a private house, the castle would benefit...but would people still be allowed to visit it? Would the hill and/or the castle be closed off completely to the public?
In the case of Fatlips, what would be the comprimise between Minto Estates, who own the hill and the resident of Fatlips- how much of the hill would the resident own and how happy would they be to have people on their land?
Access
Visitors. Something any owner of Fatlips has to worry about. This castle has been visited for centuries and I think will be for years to come. The most popular way up is by foot, people who find climbing up rocky crags a tad on the strenuous side are stuck at the bottom. The track that used to be the dirt-road access is tremendously overgrown so any renovation would need permission of the current landowner for road access.
Also if people are allowed to visit after renovation, the renovator would be liable - for the people visiting. So, being set at the top of a 700ft hill with some sheer drops has its dangerous disadvantages!
Renovation, Conservation orPreservation (R/C/P)
Any R/C/P must be sensitive to the Category B listing of Fatlips Castle, as well as picky people (like me, only they would be in important offices somewhere) who already have ideas about what would be respectable for the tower and would create a backlash about inappropriate designs for the building.
What is plausibly the best idea right now for Fatlips could be simply to enable future generations to enjoy this tower - mainly keeping it standing in the least altered or least damaging way possible.
For example, inside the castle, fake walls would be criticised unless they did not damage the already existing walls, so they would have to be self-standing units (and seeing as the rooms were designed with no segmentation in mind, fake walls are a dubious addition to the tower), double glazing would be good because it can get really windy up there, but they couldn't use white plastic pvc frames, not only because the windows are so small the white chunky frames would block out all light, but because it wouldn't be in keeping with the aesthetics (by this I mean the pretty way the castle looks, with its stone walls and current thin iron window frames).
Sustainability and Maintenance
Some major things to think about:
Water supply - there used to be landscaped grounds up there complete with pond, which could be adapted to create a water supply, but for how many people? Is it viable? Looking towards fully self-efficient houses and the amount of rain fall that could be chanelled, I would like to hazard a guess as to yes. In this current age of sustainable energy we are entering people have encountered far more difficult challenges.
Electricity - there is no electricity up there, but with the wonders of modern technology there could be. Solar panels, wind turbines, storage batteries, underground heat channels (can't remember the right terminology but it works like your fridge seemingly).
Maintenance - okay so you have renovated the castle, but then what happens when it needs to be repaired? How much money will its long-term upkeep cost, and are you able to afford it? How much maintenance is required depends on the quality of the renovation, but there are also unexpected costs that will be unable to be foreseen. If the castle is renovated through grants that will be paid back through visitor income, can you get enough visitors a year to maintain staff, repairs and bills? If it is bought by a private owner will their repairs be adequate and to the high standard required of the listed building?
What of the surrounding land and grounds? The trees were planted by (on the instruction of) the First Earl of Minto (the date currently escapes me but it was sometime in the late 18th/early 19th century) and are mature woodlands. The hill itself is teeming with wildlife, and any changes to the landscape would require ecological surveys (those are for incase there's endangered species living there and you want to destroy their only habitat in the world). Not to mention considering that the people of the area perhaps like the hill as it is and if you want to go cutting down half the woods to create a nice big road, a swimming pool or maybe a helicopter landing pad, they would have something to say about it.
"A Just Cause" - The Earl of Minto's Response
The Earl of Minto has responded to a letter I wrote to him asking for his opinion of the plight of the tower. Below are some excerpts from this, which establishes that the Minto family are concerned about the condition of the tower and are looking into the situation:
"In the 1970s my father held the key (to the iron gate on the entrance to the tower), he would allow anyone who asked to take the key and visit the castle, unescorted. It was at that time a family museum. At that time there were 2 other buildings on the Craigs, one was kept locked (the Canadian log cabin) and the other - a mosshouse was there to be visited. Both these buildings have been destroyed by vandalism with little evidence of their existence remaining."
"Around the middle of the 1970s the serious vandalism started on the Craigs. The castle was continuously broken into, items were stolen, damaged or destroyed and despite various attempts to keep vandals and theives out, it proved an impossible task. It was also around this time that the first damage to the building started taking place - the roof tiles were thrown off the parapet, windows destroyed, even removed and ultimately the parapet itself was pushed over stone-by-stone."
"My father took the decision to remove all remaining items from the castle after a fire had been started and attempted to seal the building. Since then we have tried on many occasions to protect the building from further vandalism but without much success, as you can see."
"There will always be access to the site. It is a great shame that, even now, certain people do not respect that right - continuing to damage the Castle and leave large amounts of litter around."
"The family are as keen as anyone to see the castle protected but equally at a loss as everyone else as to how to stop continuous damage occurring."
The Burning Beacon
The Burning Beacon's primary aims are:
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To promote Fatlips, to raise awareness of its existence, and of its predicament.
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To gain support to see it either preserved or restored for the benefit of future generations
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To present the Landowner with a letter requesting his endorsement to create an official charity for fundraising for Fatlips
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To help oversee the preservation or restoration of Fatlips castle.
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To do this in an environmentally friendly manner, using original and sensitive materials.
Current ideas for a sustainable use for the castle are:
To use the main hall and one of the upper floors as museum/display space. As far as I am aware there is not a museum in this area of the Borders that focuses on the Border Reivers, though there is one in Hexham. Also, the history of the Turnbulls and the Elliots can be displayed here. This is in keeping with Fatlips being used as a Museum from the 1890's to (I think) the 1970's.
To use one of the upper rooms as residency space, allowing the renovation to display what the castle would have been like to live in (no mannequins!) as well as a way of allowing people to stay there, increasing long-term revenue. While I am aware that holiday accommodation would be an important source of revenue to support the castle in the long-term, I think it should not be the sole use for the castle, and having a multi-usable space that can be used both for holiday accommodation and something else will solve both the issue of income and community use.
The vaulted ground-floor chamber to be used as the kitchen space and reception area. This would be a space where people can rest after climbing up the hill, and get a cup of tea and a scone (preferably home-made baked in the stove on the premises!), not in the vein of a profit-driven cafe (even though in a sense, it would be), but trying to give a homely feel. This would mean that any interfering with the structure by installing a water-system would be kept on the ground floor.
It might be a requirement to construct a log cabin of sorts as a reception area with toilet facilities, as space is limited in the tower. There used to be a log cabin up there for picnics, but this was located further from the tower than a reception cabin would require to be positioned.
Maintain the current main path up there and make it a romantic feature of the castle and hill. maybe even throw in some hidden solar powered low beam lights for dusk evening walks, a wee thick-rope guider at calf height, occassional features tucked away in the undergrowth, that you have to keep your eyes peeled to spot .... (yes, I have spent a long time thinking of ideas for the place, I know.)
There are other paths up there that are tremendously overgrown. I believe these were used in the Victorian times, near when Fatlips was renovated in 1897 as walks, as Victorians were keen walkers (in the 'strolling pleasantly round pretty grounds' sense). It would be a long-term goal to reinstate these paths as part of the overall renovation, allowing people to explore the hill as others used to, returning it to an older use.
Other long term ideas are:
To construct log cabins hidden from overall view of the hill, with a number of possibilities for use, for example an artist's studio, holiday accommodation, community projects. These could even be installed before the renovation of the main tower, to help create revenue to fund the restoration, and be a place to house volunteers*, workers and those on working-holidays (where you pay to stay and help out) who have come to help restore the tower and the hill.
To considerately landscape the overgrown hill, to make it beneficial for visitors - in mind that the paths would be reinstated there could be small picnic areas created, gardens, trimming overgrown hedges and trees, planting of beautiful flowers etc.
* We have already have one star of a volunteer! A cob-horse who is willing to work in the place of a tractor/jcb, who would be less damaging to the hill, have less noise and environmental pollution in the process and be able to get where jcb's cannot reach working on the awkward angles of the hill. For instance the parapet wall bricks that are lying strewn down a banking would eaily be dragged up by the cob, where a jcb would struggle and have to flatten the landscape to do the same.
Personally, I think Fatlips would look amazing with a (reinforced) clear glass (or equivalent) roof on it that would be seen through the supporting attic beams in the upper most room that leads onto the parapet walk. This would heat the upper room to some extent (dont forget too much sunlight would have to be prevented by sunlight sensitive glass) as well as enabling the room to have a marketing niche that no other tower in the area has to offer, a glorious view of the sky, day and night. Not only that, but this idea ties in with the Burning Beacon theme: Fatlips used to be used as a communications base when everything was done through fire (have you seen the 3rd Lord of the Rings film when they send a message through burning fires? The old tower of Fatlips, before the renovation in the 1800's was part of a Borders version of them, in Border Reiving times.) and the glass roof would illuminate the tower sending a message to the valley that there is a light shining for all of them on their journey - think in terms of the Angel of the North for the people of the North East and you'll have caught the 'icon' idea I'm trying to find the right words to promote here. And the light would be environmentally acceptable of course, because it would be lit using alternative energy sources. (And the solar panels would have to go somewhere, I know, this is just a nice idea at this stage, so we could have the solar panels going round the edge of the glass and not make the entire roof glass, or something)
Rather than creating a pristine recreation of a slice in time the tower could be given this modern slant to add an edge of awe to it, more so than the tower in all its ruinous glory hasn't already got by just merely exisiting on the crag top.
The big retaliation there, apart from the usual such as people not actually liking the idea, is that the listing of the building would deem the glass roof inappropriate. I'm a stickler for doing as I'm told by people who I trust know more than me so if someone can argue the case for slate tiles more than I can for a glass roof, I'd relent, as Im the first to admit that this is a personal idea and it isnt sticking to formal ideas of restoration - however currently Fatlips is almost missing its roof so it is in keeping with the way the castle looks just now!
Above all I would love if the Fatlips restoration was a community project, involving all the people who want to help in some way. Not a rushed project but one that is dedicated to restoring the castle in a way that benefits the community. The local college and schools, the local community groups, as well as the people worldwide who wish to help in some way could all get involved. For example the local college students could help the landscaping of the grounds as part of their course or work experience. The local community groups could take part in fund-raising events. And generally: if anyone can lift just one slate and take one slate to the top of the hill, they have made a difference!
If you would like to support the campaign to see Fatlips preserved or restored, visit the 'Friends of Fatlips' page. Feel free to add any comments in the Guestbook, or contact me at the address found on the "Contact Me" page.
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