Stornoway black pudding butcher left Â£3.3m in will

Charlie Macleod, the butcher behind Stornoway black pudding, left Â£3.3m in his will

Charlie “Barley” Macleod, 67, had fought ill health for many years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and died last September.

He ran the Charles Macleod family business with his brother Iain, working the same 365-acre hill farm that their father Charles had established in 1958 and selling their produce through their butcher’s shop in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.

He was responsible for the meteoric rise of the Stornoway black pudding and locals and tourists flocked to his shop to purchase the delicacy.

Mr Macleod was instrumental in getting European protection for the pudding, putting it on the same level as Parma ham and Cornish pasties.

The status – Protected Geographical Indication – means it can be described as Stornoway black pudding, or marag dubh in Gaelic, only if it is produced in the town or parish of Stornoway.

It has now emerged that Mr Macleod had an estate valued at £3,334,072 at the time of his death.

His wealth included his £2.4m share in the family butcher business, Charles Macleod Ltd.

Mr Macleod left his instructions that his entire estate should be passed to his widow Julia.

Born and brought up in the village of Steinish on the outskirts of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Mr Macleod went to school on the island before attending the Balmacara Agricultural School.

However, he only lasted one year and at the age of 14 gave up school to join the family business. As well as his passion for farming, Mr Macleod was an adrenaline junkie with interests in water skiing, free-fall sky diving, wind surfing and scuba diving.

He was also a keen judoka and it was through this sport that he met wife Julia, who he married in January 1975.

Together the couple had three daughters, Lorna, Shona and Ria, and eventually three grandchildren, Charlie junior, Ronnie and Eva, who was born four weeks before his death.

In 2013, after a five-year battle, Mr Macleod helped Stornoway black pudding gain Protected Geographical Indication status from the European Commission.

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