Letter: Rescuing remains of the day was priority

Skelbo Castle was collapsing in March this year when we carried out the emergency stabilisation.

The work was carried out under the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Contrary to your claim, this Act does not allow us to recover the costs.

Skelbo Castle is one of the most important medieval castles in northern Scotland. Dating from the 12th century, it has played an important role in the Wars of Independence and in the 1715 and 1745 Uprisings. It is scheduled as it is of national importance.

We have been extremely concerned about the condition of the castle since 2006. We made frequent attempts to contact its owner, Mikhail de Buar through his lawyer up until June this year and made it clear we would be happy to provide a grant to cover the cost of vital repairs. At no time did his lawyer inform us that he had died in September, although this would have been unlikely to have affected our course of action due to the extreme fragility of the castle.

We are in the process of writing to the court to find out if Skelbo Castle is one of the assets included in Mr de Buar's Estate. We will be happy to work with any future owner in order to secure the conservation of this historically important monument.

Barbara Cummins, Deputy Chief Inspector, Historic Scotland