Urquhart castle......

[Blu (Ontario)]

Highlander Daz was kind enough to post this link to a commercial development behind this famous landmark. (I've started this new thread to avoid diverting Mike1's "Where does it end" thread.)

What is being done at Urquhart, and potentially other historic landmarks, is shameful. Are there no restrictions on commercial development at historic landmarks such as this? Is there just so much history that some of it can be sacrificed to the whims of big business and politicians? Does the architect have no moral difficulties with doing this. This smacks of backroom wheeling and dealing. What's worse, it would appear that this may be just the beginning. Development can be a positive thing when it's done right but this sort of project is what tarnishes the reputation of developers in general. Sad all around.

[bubba]

blu, the same kind of thing is happening in the US around Civil War battlefields. It's utterly disgraceful.

[cormacmacguardhe]

It all goes back to that "almighty dollar". The old saying goes "The love of money is the root of all evil." Greed is a driving force in the world today, and I am continually saddened by the wanton destruction of the beautiful places of the world just to line the pockets of some rich sob who already has more money then he/she will ever spend.

[Rab Gordon]

We visited Urquhart Castle yesterday as its practically on our doorstep. The recent development has actually turned out not nearly as bad as it could have been or had appeared to be heading during the construction. The landscaping and burying most of the building into the side of the hill a short walk from the actual castle has made it fairly low key. My one criticism is that the architectural style is a bit modern for the setting.
However, at least Historic Scotland have now removed the portacabin that was the gift shop right in the middle of the castle and the gift shop also now sells some locally made goods including our own. Of the people working there we knew a couple and recognised a couple of locals !

Rab

[macwilkin]

blu, the same kind of thing is happening in the US around Civil War battlefields. It's utterly disgraceful.

Welcome to my world. The CW battlefield where I worked is still under threat from a major housing development located to the southwest -- thankfully a buffer zone was created, but the growth of Springfield and Republic threatens to "sandwich" the battlefield someday.

Cheers,

Todd

[ByDand]

Talk about greed They now want to put a casino in Gettysburg, PA. Our Gov Rendell has figured he can profit from all the BS concerning the licensing of Casinos in PA and one of the most well known battlefields was chosen as a site. The locals are really up-in-arms about it but I am not sure if they will prevail!

[Colin]

We visited Urquhart Castle yesterday as its practically on our doorstep. The recent development has actually turned out not nearly as bad as it could have been or had appeared to be heading during the construction. The landscaping and burying most of the building into the side of the hill a short walk from the actual castle has made it fairly low key. My one criticism is that the architectural style is a bit modern for the setting.
However, at least Historic Scotland have now removed the portacabin that was the gift shop right in the middle of the castle and the gift shop also now sells some locally made goods including our own. Of the people working there we knew a couple and recognised a couple of locals !

Rab

I was at the castle in 1999, and was weary after hearing about the development. I am glad to hear someone say it isn't too bad. I will hopefully be back next spring (or 2008) and will make the trip up again.

[bjcustard]

I visited Urquhart last year. The castle itself seemed undeveloped to me - except for a few safety issues that were addressed. The visitor center up the hill was unobtrusive. I found the experience very pleasant.

Much worse off were Stirling and Edinburgh, where they have explicitly converted part of the castles to serve the tourist crowd.