House And Gardens On Island Of Colonsay On Visit To The Inner Hebrides Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of house and gardens on Island of Colonsay on visit to the Inner Hebrides. The islands of Colonsay and Oronsay have a rich ecclesiastical history. Columba and his colleague Oran are said to have settled here after leaving Ireland in 563. In the 17th century, the islands passed from the McDuffs to the Duke of Argyll, and in 1701 the Duke of Argyll sold them to Malcolm McNeill. He built Colonsay House in 1722 on the site of the old cemetery which belonged to the ruins of Kiloran Abbey. The McNeills owned and improved the house and grounds for more than 200 years. Sir John McNeill bought the islands in 1870 and began an extensive tree planting programme. He led a distinguished military career. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra stayed at Colonsay House in 1902 and planted commemorative rhododendrons. In 1904, the first Lord Strathcona bought the islands from Sir John McNeill. Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, born 6 August 1820, died 21 January 1914, was a Scottish born Canadian businessman who became one of the British Empire's foremost builders and philanthropists. He became commissioner, governor and principal shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was president of the Bank of Montreal and with his first cousin, Lord Mount Stephen, co-founded the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and afterwards represented Montreal in the House of Commons of Canada. He was Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1896 to 1914. He was chairman of Burmah Oil and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. He was chancellor of McGill University and the University of Aberdeen.

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