Pinkie Maclure
Self-Portrait Dreaming of Portavadie (National Museum of Scotland) Stained Glass in Light Box 45cm x 60cm, 2018
We used to spend our summers at my grandad’s cottage in Portavadie, a little-known, idyllic and remote corner of the west coast of Scotland. There was no electricity or running water, but I remember those days as the best of my childhood.
In the mid-1970s, the government sold the surrounding land to a company for the building of oil rig platforms.. Portavadie was completely destroyed.
The company was heavily subsidised, but their designs were outdated and no orders came. The company went bankrupt, leaving the taxpayer to pick up the repair bill of many millions of pounds.
Portavadie was left derelict for decades, described in the press as "the most expensive man-made hole in Europe".