 Glen Urquhart Public Hall | sitemap | log in
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HistoryThe Hall  Donors of the Hall to the community:Bradley Martin and his wife Cornelia Sherman Martin (dressed as Mary Queen of Scots, and wearing pearls which had belonged to Napoleon's Empress Josephine; the outfit she wore to the Ball in Feb 1897 which cost over $400,000 and indirectly led to the Martins self imposed exile from the USA) Financier and industrialist Bradley Martin (1841-1913) of New York, rented the Balmacaan House and its estate from the Earl of Seafield for many years, starting in the 1880s. He and his wife Cornelia (1845-1920), loved to entertain. People came from far and wide to Balmacaan to enjoy their hospitality; but they were also considerate and generous employers to the many local folk who worked on the estate.  At that time the village had no Hall, and the Bradley Martins very generously decided to provide one. The Hall has been used by the local community ever since. It is hard to imagine how the village ever managed without it.(Left) The newly built hall in 1906  When Bradley Martin died, the community subscribed the money to erect an obelisk in his memory which still stands near the Hall, on the corner of Blairbeg and the A82. The family of Bradley and Cornelia Martin Bradley Martin's brother, Frederick Townsend Martin, was a celebrated New Yorker, prominent in society both in America and Europe. Author of "The Passing of the Idle Rich" and "Things I Remember" he is also remembered for saying, "We are rich. We own America. We got it, God knows how, but we intend to keep it." The hall has a framed photograph of the author of this astonishingly frank statement, clad in tweeds, leading a procession from the Hall to Blairbeg Park. Cornelia Sherman Martin was the daughter of Isaac Watts Sherman, banker and financier, and a member of one of the oldest families in the state of New York. Her niece Mildred Sherman married the 5th Baron Camoys.  Balmacaan House, left It was at Balmacaan that Bradley and Cornelia Martin's daughter Cornelia met the 4th Earl of Craven; they were married in New York, April 1893. Until her death in 1961 at the age of 84, the Countess of Craven was as generous to the people of her new Berkshire home as her parents had been to the people of Glen Urquhart.Her brother Bradley Martin Junior married Helen Phipps whose father, Harry Phipps, was the Pittsburgh steel magnate and partner of millionaire philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The Phipps family rented Beaufort Castle, about 15 miles from Drumnadrochit, and donated the Phipps Institute to the nearby town of Beauly.  Bradley and Helen Martin had four sons, including twins Alistair and Esmond. That they had fond memories of the estate is shown by their Alfa Romeo car (pictured, left) which Eugen Bjornstad drove in the Vanderbilt Cup Race of 1936, painted in the estate colours with Balmacaan inscribed on the door. Esmond Bradley Martin died in 2002; his NY Times obituary said "He had an astonishing mind, alive with dynamism and originality that knew no horizons." An alumnus of Princeton, he was, among other things, a brilliant chess player, a discerning philatelist, a well-known orchid cultivator, a collector of fine watches, books, and English antique furniture, a talented amateur tennis player who once bested Pancho Gonzales, a world fly-fishing record holder for Atlantic salmon and excelled in his financial affairs, successfully wildcatting in gas, oil, and other investments. His son, Dr Esmond Bradley Martin is a noted ecologist and a world expert on rhinos. Local History
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John Rhodes Cobb grew up near Brooklands and won his first race there in 1925. During the Thirties, John Cobb held all the speed records for time and distance, up to 24 hours. He was the first man ever to reach 400mph on land, and held many trophies. In 1952 he came to Loch Ness to make an attempt at the world water speed record. After many successful trials, on 29th September, his boat 'Crusader' crashed at the end of the first run, having passed 206 mph (which would have been a new record, had there been a second run). Cobb was killed instantly. 
The Community Association raised funds for a memorial overlooking the Loch where he died. It was designed by