Lotto funding to help save infamous Loch Ness house

A project is restoring Boleskine House after it was damaged by two fires

A charity rebuilding a historic property overlooking Loch Ness has secured £250,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Over its 260-year history Boleskine House has been home to Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat - son of a Jacobite dubbed The Old Fox - occultist Aleister Crowley and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.

A fire in 2015 destroyed 70% of the former lodge before a suspicious blaze in 2019 caused further damage.

Boleskine House Foundation said the lottery grant would go towards the cost of restoring the interior and support its work with the local community.

The foundation bought Boleskine House, along with about 35 acres of grounds, after the second of the fires.

Over the last three years the charity has been restoring the category B listed property near Foyers, south of Inverness.

The restoration could cost about £1.5m to complete and the foundation hopes to open the property to the public in 2025.

The foundation's chairman Keith Readdy said the house would be preserved for future generations

Chairman Keith Readdy said the lottery award was a "monumental step".

He said: “It allows us to complete the interior restoration of this treasured site, preserving its legacy for future generations to experience and learn from.

"We are profoundly grateful for this support and look forward to bringing this vision to life.”

The charity has lodged an application with Highland Council for the interior work.

The plans include recreations of an 18th Century Georgian-style kitchen, dining room and wood panelled drawing room.

A library and research room have also been proposed.

The restoration work started about three years

Boleskine House dates to the 18th Century and was first owned by Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat, the second son of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat.

Nicknamed "The Old Fox", Lord Lovat was a Jacobite sympathiser who also did deals with the cause's enemies in the British government.

He was executed in London after supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie.

One of Boleskine's best-known and controversial residents was poet, mountaineer and magician Crowley, known as "the wickedest man in the world".

Born in Royal Lemington Spa and educated at Cambridge University, Crowley was fascinated with the occult - believing in supernatural and mystical powers.

But he was also interested in Scottish history and mythology and bought Boleskine House in 1899, owning it until 1913.

He left a physical mark on the property after having a window facing Loch Ness converted into a door so he could better perform his ancient magical rituals.

The blaze in December 2015 destroyed much of the building

Jimmy Page bought Boleskine in the 1970s because of its link to Crowley.

Page was guitarist with the band Led Zeppelin, whose hits included Whole Lotta Love and Stairway to Heaven.

Even after the musician sold the house in the early 1990s, interest in the Crowley connection has not faded.

There are stories of the house's more recent private owners being spooked by the sight of tourists peering at them through windows.