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| A price of £2.5m was quoted when the property came on the market in 2007 |
Ayrshire is graced by some beautiful manor houses and impressive stately homes, but more often than not few people actually know who owns them or lives there. To correct this "information blind spot," this series will endeavour to identify who the "Lords and Ladies of the Manor" are, and tell you a little bit about them.
Second on our list is Skelmorlie Castle, set high above the shore of the Firth of Clyde between Skelmorlie and Largs.
The Castle has a long and distinguished history, dating from 1502 and constantly added to and refurbished ever since. From 1852 to 1886 the tenant was John Graham of Glasgow, the famous Port wine merchant (W. & J. Graham & Co. of Oporto established 1820). He rebuilt the castle in 1856, restoring the old tower at his own expense, and adding the mansion house which joined two old buildings, with the permission of the owner the Earl of Eglinton.
In the mid-1920s, the 16th Earl of Eglington moved in for a time, but in 1956 it was leased to the Wilson family, and then sold to them in the mid-1970s. The Wilsons were the owners of the meat canning factory that once operated on the grounds of the abandoned and ruined Eglinton Castle.
In 2009 Skelmorlie Castle was sold to its present owner, who is perhaps one of the most interesting people to have owned it or lived there.
Again, a little detective work was necessary to track him down, but the story is a fascinating one. The present owner is Dr. Cameron Marshall, a successful executive and businessman, who initially owned the castle with a homosexual Civil Partner, Graham Stephen Stock (born 1964). In 2015, Stock was tragically killed in a horse-riding accident on Halloween in 2015, as reported in an obituary notice:
STOCK Graham Graham Stock, M.A., of Skelmorlie Castle and Shrewsbury, as a result of a tragic horse riding accident at Kelburn Castle on Saturday, 31st October 2015, died at Inverclyde Royal Hospital on Wednesday, 4th November 2015, donating major body organs so that others might live. Beloved Civil Partner of Doctor Cameron Marshall, only son of Brian and Doris Stock, Shrewsbury. A Memorial Service of Thanksgiving for Graham’s life will be held at Skelmorlie Parish Church, Shore Road, Skelmorlie, on Saturday, 12th December at 11.30am, to which family, friends and well-wishers are warmly invited. Donations, if desired, for Greenock Foodbank.
As for Dr. Marshall, his name is well known in various academic and business circles. Here is photo of him that was taken in 2019:
He appears to have been born in 1958. A biog at Glasgow University paints quite a vivid picture:
He appears to have been born in 1958. A biog at Glasgow University paints quite a vivid picture:
Dr Cameron Marshall - General Council Business Committee
Elected Member University of Glasgow General Council
Cameron graduated B.Sc. with first class honours in Physiology in 1979, was an active member of the University Royal Naval Unit, and Chief Purser of PS Waverley during the summers of 1976 and 1977. With a focus on cellular electrophysiology, he obtained a Ph.D. from Brown University in the USA in 1984, continuing research and teaching at the MRC receptor mechanisms unit at UCL, in the areas of single ion-channel recording and receptor kinetics.
Forsaking academia in 1989, he studied business administration at INSEAD, Fontanebleau, with special interests in strategy and in organisational behaviour. Thereafter Cameron pursued a commercially-focussed international career in the research-based pharmaceutical industry. During a varied career, positions held included : Commercial Director for Lilly France in Paris; Executive VP Marketing for Lilly Europe in London and Indianapolis; Commercial Director for Glaxo Wellcome UK ; Managing Director of GlaxoSmithKline Poland in Warsaw, and latterly, Chairman and Chief Executive of GlaxoSmithKline Germany in Munich, from 2008 to 2013. Cameron returned to live on the Clyde coast in 2014 after 35 years outside Scotland. He speaks French fluently, German tolerably, and can read a speech in mostly comprehensible Polish. A Clyde Steamer enthusiast, he is a board member of the operating company of the paddle steamer Waverley. Cameron enjoys classical music, some opera, sailing on the Clyde, and has a growing interest in aesthetics.
However, there have been complaints from locals that he is not too welcoming of people walking through the extensive grounds that surround the castle, as this 2014 story from the Largs and Millport News highlights:
The public have been assured they are still welcome to walk in the grounds of Skelmorlie Castle.
The confirmation has come from North Ayrshire Council after a Skelmorlie woman who walks her dog in the area told the “News” she got the distinct impression the owners of the castle were trying to discourage walkers.
Anne Murdoch, 70, who has visited the grounds for 20 years, says a network of paths identified as being open to the public were now in a poor condition and some had become “muddy, overgrown and dangerous”.
She said: “I have stopped going up there now. Elderly ladies like me have difficulty walking up there and I have abandoned the idea. If I fell when I was on my own, there would be no one there to help me.” The “News” contacted one of the castle’s owners, Dr Cameron Marshall, to ask what the situation was but he refused to speak to us. Instead he referred us to North Ayrshire Council’s access officer.
We sincerely hope that the situation has improved since then for local walkers, and we may personally investigate at some date in the future.
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