Clan's mountains sold to American millionaire

A Scottish mountain range is to be sold for more than £6m to an American tycoon described as a "landscape collector". The Black Cuillins on Skye, which provide some of the most challenging climbing and beautiful views in the world, were put on sale two years ago by the owner, John MacLeod, in an attempt to raise the money needed to save his family's 800-year-old ancestral home.

John MacLeod of MacLeod, the 29th chief of the clan, had hoped to raise £10m from the sale of the 23,300-acre range, which is said to have been named after the Celtic hero Cu Chulainn.

Although the deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, is understood not to have raised the asking price, it involves more than the estimated £6m needed to repair Dunvegan Castle, the historic stronghold of the clan and home to its chief.

"The last thing I wanted to do was sell the Cuillins," Mr MacLeod said yesterday. "It was definitely the hardest decision I have ever made in my life. Soul-searching is too light an adjective. They are part of my birthright – it is like selling part of myself."

The sale includes 14 miles of coastline, two salmon rivers, a camp site, a sheep farm, farmhouse, cottage and agricultural buildings. The new owner, an unidentified American millionaire who is said to own vast areas of natural beauty in his own country, has plans to "develop the land, not exploit it".

The decision to sell the mountain range, which includes Skye's highest mountain, Sgurr Alasdair (3,258ft), and 11 Munros – peaks of more than 3,000ft – caused controversy when it was first announced in March 2000.

Conservationists, land reformers, walkers and mountaineers voiced concerns that the 35 square miles of jagged peaks, which are home to wildlife, including golden eagles, the recently reintroduced white-tailed sea eagle and red deer, would be abused by an absentee landlord. Many people had hopes the mountains could be bought by the nation or a conservation group.

Dunvegan Castle is Britain's oldest continuously inhabited home. Mr MacLeod said: "I believe Dunvegan is worth keeping going. I have always had a strong feeling of responsibility towards this place." Mr MacLeod lives at the top of the castle amid tin buckets and baths to catch water dripping from the roof.

Speaking on Grampian Television's The People Show, Mr MacLeod said he was confident the buyer would take care of the land. "There is very serious interest in the Cuillins and there is the serious possibility of my financial problems being resolved and I remain optimistic about that."

The castle has survived famine, wars with neighbouring clans and the monumental changes in the island way of life. Mr MacLeod hopes to go down in clan history as the man who saved the ancestral home rather than let it go to "rack and ruin".