KELLIE'S CASTLE - A MYSTERY CASTLE IN MALAYSIA

         William Kellie Smith was from a village in Scotland known as Kellas. In 1890, at the age of 20, he arrived in the then undeveloped Malaya. Here, he met an estate owner called Alma Baker, who had won concessions from the state government to clear 360 hectares of forests in Perak. With the substantial profits made from his business venture with Alma Baker, Smith started planting rubber trees and dabbled in the tin mining industry. In time, he became the owner of Kinta Kellas Estate and the Kinta Kellas Tin Dredging Company.

Now with his fortune made, he returned home to marry his Scottish sweetheart, Agnes, and brought her over to Malaysia in 1903. The following year, the couple was blessed with a daughter whom they named Helen. For many years after that, Agnes tried to conceive, but to no avail. William Smith desperately wanted a son and heir to take over his empire in the Malay Isles. After many years, Agnes finally gave birth to a son, Anthony, in 1915. The birth of his child was the start of even greater success for William Smith. To celebrate Anthony's birth, William Smith decided to expand on his mansion. Smith started planning for a huge castle which he planned to call Kellas House, after his hometown in Scotland.

[edit]Planning and early construction

As stated earlier, Kellie wanted a son very badly. One of the Madras laborers told him that by praying to Amman (a Hindu Goddess), whom they believe will grant their wish. So Smith prayed to her and Agnes conceived and delivered a baby boy. As a token of appreciation, Kellie built a Hindu Temple for the Goddess.

As he was so fond of the Goddess that he wanted to have built a statue of him beside her. Therefore a statue of a white man can be seen on the roof of temple today, alongside statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. It is believed that a tunnel was built for his family to visit the temple from the castle.

Because of his fascination with the Hindu religion and Indian culture, Smith's plan was for this house to share similar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. He even employed a big group of Indian labourers to build his dream house, to keep the Kellas House authentically Indian. The mansion is accessible from the main road through a bridge running across a stream.

But it was not only the cost of importing material and labourers from abroad that made the house so fascinating to locals and travelers alike. Among the many amazing things about Kellie's Castle are an elevator (it was the first in Malaya) which connects right up to the top floor, and the existence of two tunnels that run under the river nearby. One of these tunnels connects to the Hindu temple some distance away from the main house. On the second floor, Smith planned to build an indoor tennis court — an ambitious project even by today's standards. On the highest floor, there is a rooftop courtyard for parties. This castle was to be the hub for entertaining wealthy colonial planters who had settled in Malaya. His house was so unique that it was even mentioned in the London Financier newspaper on 15 September 1911.

[edit]Construction difficulties and Smith's death

Unfortunately for Smith, tragedies struck soon after the construction of the Kellas House began. A virulent strain of the Spanish flu spread from Europe to Asia soon after World War Iended in Europe, killing many of the workers in the Kellas Estate. Another seventy workers constructing Smith's dream castle also became victims of the flu. Smith, who had already spent a fortune on his house, lost a lot of money because of this.

In the end, Kellas House, later known as Kellie's Castle or even Kellie's Folly to some, was never completed. William Kellie Smith himself died of pneumonia during a short trip toPortugal in 1926. His heartbroken wife decided to pack up and return home to Scotland selling the estate and Kellie's Castle to a British company called Harrisons and Crosfield.

[edit]Kellie's Castle today

Descendants of the Tamil labourers brought over to Malaya to work on the mansion still live nearby even now. Kellie's Castle is now a popular local tourist attraction and was used as a setting in the 1999 film Anna and the King.^[1]


log on to 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellie's_Castle for more information.
And according to: http://www.peraktourism.com/ 

Kellie's Castle was meant to be a home away from home for Scottish Planter, William Kellie Smith in the 19th century in Perak. Being far from his home country, Kellie desired his new residence to be reminiscent of his residence back in Scotland. The castle is perched on top of a hill. William Kellie Smith was an interesting man who was popular with his South Indian workers. Kind at heart, he erected a Hindu shrine for his workers on the castle premise. As a token of appreciation, his workers in return erected a statue of Kellie complete in a white suit and hat. Construction of this unique castle begun in 1915. However, work came to an abrupt halt with Kellie's sudden death in 1926. The ruins of the uncompleted orange-coloured castle stand in isolation and was overgrown with plants and creepers. In the pale moonlight it takes on an aura of a castle caught in the timelessness of a fairy tale. Recently, efforts have been made by the Perak State Government to rescue this magnificent structure from falling into ruins. Besides being  claimed to be haunted, the castle is believed to have hidden rooms and secret underground tunnels. The road that leads to Kellie's Castle follows the contours of the land in a dizzying, maze-like fashion, adding to the mystery and romance of the place.

Getting There The castle is situated on the way to Batu Gajah town at the Kinta Kellas Rubber Estate, about 30-minute drive and 14 km south of Ipoh City, in Perak, a state in Malaysia.

log on to : http://www.peraktourism.com/ for  more information.

collection of http://jauhari-englishhomework.blogspot.com/