The Highland Clearances is a story every visitor should learn something about. Amongst Highland people this episode of injustice forced on their ancestors is still cause for anger and resentment. It’s a story this part of the world will never forget.
Luckily the heritage centres in every town cover their own versions what happened in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries so we have a wealth of accessible knowledge to help us understand why. The Forestry Commission does an awesome job of preserving some of the sites they were cleared from and the ones they moved to.
But there are some contradictory reports suggesting the reasons people left their communities in the hills aren’t quite as simple as those story boards suggest. And some even suggest the Clearances actually benefited the refugees they created.
It’s not our job to research and report the truth, or even chronicle the events. There resources already doing a great job of that, including the excellent The Highland Clearances and The Clearances
It is our job to point visitors in the right direction, to sites they can visit and experience the land and what’s left of the cottages. We aren’t any sort of authority on the history. Merely a tourist guide explaining the backdrop and it’s impact on local culture.
Sutherland has been described as the only remaining wilderness in Europe. A land area of approximately 5,000 square miles with a population less than 10,000. Apparently in 1900 that figure was less than 1,000. That partly explains the magic of the area but why should such a glorious country have nobody living in it.
It seems there’d always been a conflict between the wealthy landowners – either English or with close affiliations to the English – and the ordinary people. That conflict came to a head in the Jacobite rebellion, when Bonnie Prince Charlie was invited back from France to help Scots regain their own country.
After the fateful battle at Culloden in 1746 the victorious Duke of Cumberland sent his troops to scour Sutherland, rooting out the remnants of the Jacobite forces. They may not have heard of the term “scorched earth” but thats exactly what they did -killing every thing they came across.
Only 50 years later the landed gentry decided farming sheep would be more profitable than renting land to peasants. That’s when the Clearances started – robbing the land of what little population was left.
Communities who, for centuries had lived a meagre existence on poor land in a worse climate were robbed of the opportunity to do even that. They were ejected, by force sometimes, and sent to fend for themselves elsewhere.
Many moved to the coasts and started fishing but that was only a staging post. From there they emigrated to the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Obviously the Highlands’ loss became the New World‘s gain.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Sutherland, Scotland: the perfect break (telegraph.co.uk)
Do you have Highlands experiences you can share with our readers? Please add your comments, suggestions and memories in the Comments box. The more news and views the better!
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }