FORTS AND MANSIONS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4874, 23 July 1936, Page 6

FORTS AND MANSIONS

IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS. Forts are no longer needed in the Highlands, but mansions are still in demand though there are signs that these evidences of a more luxurious age are passing. This brings us face to face with the fact that in the last two or three centuries Scotland at any rate has travelled a long distance in the direction of peace and left barbarism and mitilancy behind, writes a contributor from Edinburgh. Forts are emblematic of ruthlessness and unpleasant modes of living, whereas mansions represent comfort, happiness, and neighbourly felicity. Barred windows are indicative of danger from without, whereas open casements and half-open doors give token that the fear of the housebreaker is no longer before the countryman’s eyes. At one time the ramparts had to be manned on frequent occasions when attacks were apprehended, and weie, perhaps, quite imminent. Cannon were always in position, and every keep was surrounded by a moat which had a drawbridge and perhaps a portcullis. Y/hat brought about the beneficient change from all this in the life and tendencies of our people? Nothing that came to us from without, for centuries of Irish and Scandinavian dominance failed to rid us of truculence and unkindly aspirations. What effected the splendid transformation was the spread of education, not so

much among the people generally as among, the ruling classes—the lords of the castles and the chiefs of the clans. From these it percolated to vassals and peasants, but the time occupied in the process extended to centuries. We have no doubt that education will make its influence felt more and more auspiciously as time passes; but meantime our mansions are many and our fortalices few. We need elegance and roominess in our surroundings but we have no longer any occasion to pay hostage to fortune. “DEFENCELESS” GAELDOM ' In the Middle Ages, and for a long I time after, the Highlands were thickly studded with forts and so-called castles, which formed the headquarters of the several clans and residences of the chiefs or headmen. It is only a hundred years or so since mansion houses of a fine character first became common, and even as lately as fifty years ago they were being enhanced very considerably in design and size. Now they are replete with electric • lighting, central heating, and all the outward and visible signs of civilisation that the twentieth century has yet been able to produce. What mean these capital improvements in the life and habits of our wealthier classes ? They mean that we have emerged from social stagnation and capriciousness and assumed the saner meeds of a cultured and educated people. A new era is bringing us diverse amenities of which our early

ancestors were ignorant—amenities, never dreamt of by St Columba or the early prelates of whom he was the forerunner. We have entered in the Highlands upon an age when no olte need say to his neighbour, “I fear thee not for my castle will protect me.” In simpler terms, we are further advanced in commonsense and honesty than many leaders of great nations who hold the tranquility of continents in the hollow of their hands.