KELLIE'S CASTLE

MYSTERIOUS KELLIE'S CASTLE

I have been many times to Kellie's Castle, as it is located only 30 minutes driving from Ipoh.

Normally, my visit to the castle was to bring outstation friends to view the place or for reporting purposes.

Personally, I feel strange whenever I visit the castle – it is so hollow and incomplete and there are tales of ghostly presence, here.

KELLIE'S CASTLE

I had encountered once the ghostly present when I failed to snap a photograph of a room downstairs – as I learn from the tour operator that this particular room is pretty 'frightening'.

Kellie's Castle (Kellie's Folly) is a castle located in Batu Gajah, Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia.

It is situated beside the Raya River, which is a small creek to the Kinta River.

KELLIE'S CASTLE VIEW  FROM ATOP

The unfinished, ruined mansion, was built by a Scottish planter named William Kellie-Smith.

According to legend, it was either a gift for his wife or a home for his son.

HISTORY

William Kellie Smith (1870-1926) was born in 1870 in Kellas, Moray Firth, Scotland. In 1890, at the age of 20, he arrived in Malaya as a civil engineer. He joined Charles Alma Baker's survey firm, who had won concessions from the state government to clear 9000 ha of forests in Batu Gajah, Perak.

With the substantial profits made from his business venture, Smith bouthg 405 ha of jungle land in the District of Kinta and started planting rubber trees and dabbled in the tin mining industry.

POSING WITH THE CASTLE'S COLUMN

With his fortune, Smith returned home to marry his Scottish sweetheart, Agnes, and brought her over to Malaya in 1903. They had a daughter named Helen the following year.

In 1909, Smith built his first mansion 'Kellas House', which was so unique that it was even mentioned in the London Financier newspaper on Sept 15, 1911.

THE RUINED WALL IN KELLIE'S CASTLE

William Kellie Smith died at the age of 56 of pneumonia during a short trip to Lisbon, Portugal in 1926, William's wife was devastated and decided to move back to Scotland, construction on the castle was never competed by Tamilvanan workers.

Kellas House later known as Kellie's Castle was sold to a British company called Harrisons and Crosfield.