page_title: Glas-allt-Shiel
section_title: Background to Victoria's rebuilding of Glassalt
hierarchical_section_title: Glas-allt-Shiel / Background to Victoria's rebuilding of Glassalt
caption_attribution_description: English: Balmoral - The Old Castle Identifier: leavesfromjourn00vict (find matches) Title: Leaves from the journal of our life in the Highlands, from 1848 to 1861. To which are prefixed and added extracts from the same journal giving an account of earlier visits to Scotland, and tours in England and Ireland, and yachting excursions Year: 1868 (1860s) Authors: Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901 Helps, Arthur, Sir, 1813-1875, ed Subjects: Highlands (Scotland) -- Description and travel Publisher: London, Smith, Elder and co. Contributing Library: Columbia University Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: anchored at seven in Fleehiwod Harbour; theentrance was extremely narrow and difficult. We werelashed close to the pier, to prevent our being turned bythe tide&#160;; and when I went on deck there was a greatcommotion, such running and calling, and pulling ofropes, &amp;c. It was a cheerless evening, blowing hard. Tuesday, September 21.At ten oclock we landed, and proceeded by rail toLondon. LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS, 1848 TO 1861. Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood, Land of my sires&#160;! what mortal hand Can eer untie the fihal band That knits me to thy rugged strand&#160;! Still, as I view each well-known scene, Think what is now, and what hath been, Seems as, to me, of all bereft, Sole friends thy woods and streams arc left; And thus I love them better still, Even in extremity of ill. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. ■&gt; ^ •&gt; •&gt; 13 5 1 1 1 1 ■&gt;■&gt;■&gt;■&gt;•&gt; ■&gt; ■&gt; ■&gt;■&gt;•&gt;■&gt; 11113l 1 •&gt; ^ c c c f r f Text Appearing After Image: Q T C ^^ X \ i ^ ( 65 ) First Impressions of Balmoral. Balmoral^ Friday, September 8, 1848. We arrived at Balmoral at a quarter to three. It is apretty little castle in the old Scottish style. There is apicturesque tower and garden in front, with a high woodedhill; at the back there is wood do^\Tl to the Dee; andthe hills rise all around. There is a nice little hall, with a billiard-room; next toit is the dining-room. Upstairs (ascending by a goodbroad staircase) immediately to the right, and above thedining-room, is our sitting-room (formerly the drawing-room), a fine large room—next to which is our bed-room,opening into a little dressing-room which is Alberts.Opposite, down a few steps, are the childrens and MissHildyards three rooms. The ladies live below, and thegentlemen upstairs. We lunched almost immediately, and at half-past fourwe walked out, and went up to the top of the woodedhill opposite our windows, where there is a cairn, and upwhich there is a pretty winding path. Th Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Glas-allt-Shiel is a lodge on the Balmoral Estate by the shore of Loch Muick in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In its present form it was built in 1868 by Queen Victoria, who called it Glassalt, to be what she called her "widow's house" where she could escape from the world following the death of her husband Albert. It is now a category B listed building owned personally by Elizabeth II. Adam Watson considers that "Glas-allt-Shiel has undoubtedly one of the most spectacular situations of any lodge in the Highlands."
context_section_description: Queen Victoria, only twenty-one years old and newly married to Prince Albert, visited Scotland in 1842. Except for a brief visit by George IV in 1822 this was the first royal visit since the reign of Charles I. She sailed to Edinburgh and then visited Perth, Taymouth and Stirling. Both Victoria and Albert rather quickly came to love the country and the people living there. When she departed she wrote in her diary that it had been a holiday she would never forget.
  Held back by the births of their children, they next visited in 1844 when they stayed at Blair Castle and then again in 1847 when they cruised along the Scottish west coast and spent three weeks at Ardverikie where the weather was exceptionally wet. The couple decided to buy a property in Scotland so they could visit regularly and, on account of Albert's rheumatism, were advised by the royal doctor, Sir James Clark to consider Deeside where the climate is drier. Lord Aberdeen suggested Balmoral Castle, near Ballater where an unexpired lease was available. After only seeing sketches of the estate they agreed to take over the lease.
  In September 1848 they travelled by sea to Aberdeen and when they arrived at Balmoral they immediately knew they had taken the right decision. Victoria wrote in her diary "All seemed to breath freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils". Victoria could visit the local tenants and crofters who she found were not overawed by royalty. Back in England the couple planned to purchase the estate and build a larger castle adjacent to the existing one. Albert, with deer stalking in mind, started negotiating to purchase the neighbouring estates of Abergeldie, to the east and Ballochbuie to the west. He was immediately successful in purchasing Birkhall up into the hills around Loch Muick and by 1849 was able to obtain a long-term lease on Abergeldie which has been continually renewed up to the present.
  It was only in 1852 that the purchase of Balmoral was agreed – 30,000 guineas for the 17,400 acres (equivalent to £3,000,000 in 2019 for 7,000 hectares) and the plans for the new castle could commence.
  In this Victoria was helped by a bequest of £250,000 from an eccentric barrister, John Camden Neild, who himself had been living in poverty. The purchase of the estate was made in Albert's name, however, to establish clearly that it was personal property and not that of the Crown.
  Albert had been introduced to deer stalking at Taymouth back in 1840 when he was rather fortunate in successfully shooting a stag and he took up this new pastime finding that the area around Loch Muick on the estate was a good location. They had rebuilt the shooting lodge of Allt-na-giubhsaich at the foot of Loch Muick and, although Victoria did not go hunting, she liked visiting there to relax away from visiting dignitaries and to do painting.
  Albert died of typhoid in 1861 and this was a bitter blow for Victoria. She visited Balmoral for solace but all the time she was reminded of Albert. She could escape the world at Allt-na-guibhsaich but could not bear living there because of its earlier happy associations. However, there was another lodge at the head of the loch, a smaller one, and she decided to get this extended to convert it into a "widow's house".
caption: Old Balmoral Castle
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