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Kellie's Castle is located in Batu Gajah and was built by a Scottish planter, William Kellie Smith, who arrived in Malaya in 1890 and made his fortune in tin and rubber.
With cash in his pocket he returned home to marry his sweetheart Agnes and brought her over to Malaya in 1903. They had a daughter called Helen the following year.
William Smith really wanted an heir to take over his empire and Agnes finally gave birth to a son called Anthony in 1915. To celebrate the birth, Smith started planning for a huge castle which he wanted to call Kellas House, after his hometown in Scotland.
Several tragedies struck after the construction of the Kellas House and it was never completed. William Kellie Smith himself died of pneumonia during a short trip to Portugal in 1926. His wife decided to pack up and return home to Scotland and sold the estate and Kellie's Castle.
Despite more than eighty years of neglect the house was refurbished in 2000 and it is now a tourist attraction. It was even used as a setting in the 1999 film, 'Anna and the King'.
Our visit here was a brief one tacked at the end of our white water rafting tour on the Kampar River. We managed to gain a bit of time courtesy of a hasty exit from Tempurung Cave which was rapidly filling with water during our caving expedition.
Updated Aug 6, 2008
Website: http://mmadventure.com/caving/tempurung_and_kandu/wwr-perak.htm
Below is an article taken from local newspaper, I was here at Kellie’s Castle about a week earlier but did not enter, just standing outside looking, beautiful surroundings and architecture.
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BY KULDEEP S. JESSY
Ng: 'The framed notice board on the castle's history has been vandalised three times'
BATU GAJAH: Kellie’s Castle, one of Perak's top tourist attractions, has been vandalised and some artefacts there have been stolen.
On top of that, animals like ostriches, deer, peacocks and rabbits in an enclosure beside the castle had been killed, said Steven Ng, director of Trans-Clarity Resort Sdn Bhd which had been hired by the state government to manage the site.
Of the 10 deer and 10 rabbits, he said, only one of each survived after stray dogs killed nine deer recently and nine rabbits died of food poisoning.
Thieves had also stolen ostrich eggs meant to be hatched to complement the present pair of ostriches, he said, adding that last month alone there were four break-ins at the castle.
Responding to complaints that the entrance fees of RM5 for adults and RM2 for children were too high, Ng said they were barely sufficient to meet the maintenance cost.
He said the tin-ore gallery on the first floor and an artefacts gallery on the third floor were locked on weekdays due to a shortage of manpower.
Ng said it was not possible to place information material at every nook and corner of the castle because of vandalism.
“Even the framed notice board on the castle’s history, costing over RM1,500, has been vandalised three times,” he said.
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Written Jun 29, 2005
Entrance fees to Kellie's Castle is shown in photo, Adults RM5, Children RM2 only.
Written Jun 29, 2005
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Entrance fees to Kellie's Castle is shown in photo, Adults RM5, Children RM2 only.
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1
Batu Gajah is a small town located about 24km's from Ipoh which is the capital of Perak state. The attractions here include two golf courses and Kellie's Castle which was built by a Scottish rubber...
2
Batu Gajah is where I went to immediately after checking in at Excelsior Hotel, Ipoh. Part of Kinta District, not more than 30 minutes drive from Ipoh; it provides a perfect excursion during my stay...
3
I've got some interesting experiences in Batu Gajah. I'd love to share with you the 4 tips I've written, the 7 photos uploaded, and 0 travelogues I've created.
4
Batu is stone and Gajah is elephant. The name was linked to a stone which resembled the shape of an elephant. It was said to be located in the Kinta river, near Kampung Pisang, and now gine most...
5
So there we were driving along the North South highway when we got lost. We persevered, driving pass small towns that were off the highway. Stopped by the Shell station and asked for directions....
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