Craigdarroch Castle Victoria, BC, Perched atop a gentle hill in the Rockland neighbourhood

History and Origins The castle was commissioned by Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish-born coal baron who had amassed extraordinary wealth from the coal mines of Vancouver Island — particularly the mines at Nanaimo and Cumberland. Dunsmuir arrived in British Columbia in 1851 as a contracted miner and through relentless drive and shrewd business ...