Lionel was born in 1900, the youngest of four brothers, all sons of Sir John Leslie and Lady Leonie Leslie. An avenue of oak trees was planted to commemorate his birth as well as the new century.
An incredibly tough child, Lionel’s elder brothers used him as a kind of football. At Eton, he was sent down from Eton for being ‘unteachable’. He still got into Trinity College in Dublin where he cut his heating bills by cutting up his floorboards for fuel. As a young man, Lionel became an avid explorer especially in African and wrote several interesting books such as ‘Wilderness Trails’. Later he published several books of verse.
A cheerful character and a great individualist, Lionel took up sculpture and learned to carve in wood and stone. You’ll see his animals and Red Indians about the Castle. He married Barbara Enever and moved to the Isle of Mull. They had a daughter Leonie. An acknowledged expert on Loch New and Loch Fadder monsters, he was also appointed ‘Arch Druid of the Western Isles’.