Fire rips through historic Boleskine House at Loch Ness
FIRE has gutted historic Boleskine House on the hills above Loch Ness.
The 18th century Foyers home, which boasts infamous occultist Aleister Crowley and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page among its former owners, went up in flames at 1.40pm.
At the fire’s height smoke and flames could be seen from the other side of the loch.
Firefighters confirmed that nearly two-thirds of the building was destroyed by the blaze, which was tackled by crews from Foyers, Inverness, Beauly and Dingwall.
This evening the fire service said it was concentrating its efforts on the remaining west wing of the building.
Boleskine House was built in the 1760s as a hunting lodge. Over the years it has developed a reputation for being haunted.
It was bought by the occultist Aleister Crowley in 1899 as a base for conducting black magic.
In 1965 its then owner, Major Edward Grant, committed suicide in the property.
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page later brought the property, which had been left to decay, and restored it to its former glory.
However, he barely spent any time in it before selling it on in 1992.
Since then it has been run either as a private home or guest house.
