Historic baronial mansion gutted by blaze

A HISTORIC Scots baronial mansion has been gutted after a fire tore through the four-storey building yesterday afternoon.

More than 55 firefighters were involved in tackling the blaze at Argaty House in Doune, Perthshire, after the fire took hold of the B-listed building around 3.45pm.

The occupants - a family of four - managed to escape before the fire spread causing extensive damage to the centre of the building.

The efforts of the fire crews, who had 12 appliances at the scene, were hampered by strong winds, and crews were still tackling the blaze well into the evening.

The fire started in the roof of the 15-bedroom mansion, which was built in the 19th-century and sits in 28 acres of land. It is believed that 80 per cent of the property was severely damaged.

Niall Bowser, who owns the surrounding land and runs Argaty Red Kites, a red kite feeding station close to Argaty House, said: "It's a pretty hopeless situation from what I can make out.

The family were all out of the house in time, but are absolutely distraught."

The owner of the property was described locally as the head of a demolition firm.

Argaty House, which was sold for 1.75m in 2002, is steeped in history. The estate stretches back to 1497, when it was gifted by James IV to Sir Patrick Home of Polworth and his family, in whose hands the house remained until 1916.

Incident commander Kenny Rodgers said the house had been "extensively damaged" and that an investigation into the cause of the fire would begin today.