Detail of petrol pump

Description Detail of petrol pump

Date 1982

Catalogue Number SU 826

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 772687

Scope and Content Petrol pump, Coach Stables, Skibo Castle, Highland This shows a mid-20th century petrol pump which would have been used to provide petrol for the cars and other petrol-driven machines and vehicles on the estate. The petrol dispensed was measured in gallons on the indicator on the front and the glass top was a light cover which would have helped illuminate the area around the pump at night. The tank to the right may have been used to store petrol. This petrol pump is located near the coach stables (garages) which were probably built by Ross & Macbeth in the early 20th century and were where many of the 17 cars used on the estate by Andrew Carnegie were kept. These cars were used by Carnegie and his family and also by his guests. Carnegie employed car washers, mechanics and chauffeurs to look after the fleet of vehicles. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and made a fortune in the steel industry in the United States of America. Once his daughter was born he decided that she should have a Scottish home, and at the end of the 19th century he bought a large Baronial house at Skibo built in 1880 by Clarke & Bell. In addition to the £85,000 purchase price, he spent a further £2 million in the creation of an even larger mansion, constructed between 1899 and 1903 to the designs of Ross & Macbeth. In 1981 his daughter Margaret decided to sell the estate, and the castle lay empty until 1990 when Peter de Savary paid £10 million for the castle and the 2,832-hectare estate. Some £30 million was then invested in its transformation into the Carnegie Club, a private residential golf and sporting club. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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