The Clearance of Strath Naver, Rosal Township; An Account by Donald Macleod

Further to my earlier blog on the clearances at Rosal, here I have reproduced a widely available extract from the event by Donald Macleod, a stonemason from Rosal who suffered eviction himself and witnessed the clearances and burnings of 1819. His account of the evictions was published (some 20 years later) in the book 'Gloomy Memories' which became the accepted first hand account of the Rosal clearances. (copies still widely available ebay, amazon etc) 

"  I was an eye-witness at the scene. This calamity came on the people quite unexpectedly. Strong parties, for each district, furnished with faggots and other combustables, rushed on the dwellings of this devoted people, and immediately commenced setting fire to them, proceeding in their work with the greatest rapidity till about three hundred houses were in flames!
The consternation and confusion were extreme; little or no time was given for the removal of persons or property - the people striving to remove the sick and the helpless before the fire should reach them - next, struggling to save the most valuable of their effects. The cries of the women and children - the roaring of the affrighted cattle hunted at the same time by the yelling dogs of the shepherds amid the smoke and fire - altogether presented a scene that completely baffles description: it required to be seen to be believed.

A dense cloud of smoke enveloped the whole country by day and even extended far on the sea; at night an awfully grand and terrific scene presented itself - all the houses in an extensive district were in flames at once! I myself ascended a hight about eleven o'clock in the evening, and counted two hundred and fifty blazing houses, many of the owners of which were my relations, and all of whom I personally knew; but whose present condition, whether in or out of the flames, I could not tell. The conflagration lasted six days, till the whole of the dwellings were reduced to ashes or smoking ruins."


"To these scenes," continues MacLeod  "I was an eye-witness, and am ready to substantiate the truth of my statements, not only by my own testimony, but by that of many others who were present at the time. In such a scene of general devastation, it is almost useless to particularize the cases of individuals; the suffering was great and universal. I shall, however, notice a few of the extreme cases of which I was myself eye-witness.

Donald Macleod
Gloomy Memories, 1892

Further such accounts of  clearances in Sutherland can be read in the excellent book, 'On the Crofters Trail' by David Craig.

The Cultural Impact of the Highland Clearances

In this article, by Ross Noble, and published by the BBC History unit, Ross Noble assesses what really went on during the Clearances. The Clearances have been seen as an act of greed and betrayal, an attempt by the ruling class to preserve their wealth by sacrificing their people. Now that the gloomy shadows of these forced expulsions are passing.

About Ross Noble

Ross Noble has been the curator of the Highland Folk Museum, Kingussie and Newtonmore, since 1976. He is currently chairman of the Scottish Country Life Museums Trust. His publications include: 'Creel Houses of the Scottish Highlands' in From Corrib to Cultra edited by Trefor M Owen (Belfast, 2000) and 'On the Trail of Folk Furniture: A Highland Heritage shared across the seas' in Sharing the Earth edited by JM Fladmark (London, 1995).

c. Ross Noble / BBC

History of Scotland

 

This series of video's provides an insight into the Highland Clearances and starts its story in 1792 'Bliadhna nan caorach' the 'Year of the Sheep'. A good production by the BBC in association with the Open University (OU)

Rosal: Deserted Township. Sutherland. (NC 689417)

Rosal Township is probably the most informing of the heritage sites kept so well by the Forestry Commission. The site includes display boards that help visitors find their way around the site, understanding quite a lot about how people lived back then- before the clearances.

The township sits on the side of hill at one end of strathnaver glen which runs north east to south west across northern Scotland. Strathnaver has its own place in the history of the Highland Clearances. It was a popular area and there were numerous townships, all of which were cleared by Factors, on behalf of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland.

The remains of the township of Rosal, whose lands are first on record in 1269, and which was cleared 1814-18. It remained relatively undisturbed, until in 1962, an excavation and survey,directed by Horace Fairhurst, made it a type-site for clearance depopulation.

This area is littered with cleared townships and probably total around 16. There is a trail, known as the Strathnaver Trail, that follows the north shore of Loch Naver that takes in quite alot of these areas.



The enclosed video is shot by Steven S Reeves

IThe original discussion paper by Horace Fairhurst can be accessed here:
Rosal; Deserted Township

There are plenty of walks and information around this area. The area is managed by the Forestry Commission and they have plenty of walks and trails that can be accessed here:
Rosal Trail

Websites of note.

c. David Paterson photography

Where possible I will create links to other sites that will provide further information to the Highland Clearances. One such site is that created by the community in Helmsdale, Sutherland. An area synonymous with the clearances and provided some of the most crucial and devestating stories of the period.

Helmsdale Website

Lawer Village

Lawer Village Cemetery along the shores of Loch Tay

A return visit to Lawer village to document some more buildings and collect some more data. A great day.

Some of the buildings are crumbling more now and the landscape is reclaiming the village area.

Strath Naver Clearances

Here, I have a  link to an extract from The Scotsman newspaper for Saturday 25th December 1819 which reports on the Strath Naver clearances

The article can be accessed here: The Scotsman

The web link address, in full, is:
http://archive.scotsman.com/article.cfm?id=TSC/1819/12/25/Ar00701

Highland Clearances on TV

There is an interesting reference on BBC2 TV to the Highland Clearances in the programme 'Great Railway Journeys'.

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains, as he journeys up the west coast of Scotland from Ayr to Skye.

Michael discovers how the railways helped train the first generation of commandos at Lochailort in World War II, finds out why langoustines have replaced herrings as the top catch in the fishing port of Mallaig, and sails across the sea to Skye to explore the history of the highland crofters and the period  known as the Highland Clearances.

 Link to Programme

Lawer Village Manse House

Have the Displaced become the Displacer?

There is alot of evidence to suggest that crofters evicted from their lands in both the Highlands and the Lowlands not only emigrated to Canada, Nova Scotia and Australia (forced or otherwise) but also migrated south into England to take up poor farm lands and small holdings that would otherwise not be farmed.

The abilities and skills of crofters to farm on the poorest of soils and climatic challenging areas of the highlands would stand them in good sted when farming on better arable conditions on the plains of Cumbria, Cheshire and Derbyshire. Census records show the increased development of Scots families appearing in Cheshire around 1840 onwards.

Scots names also frequently appear in the more industrialised areas of the Northwest of England, Manchester, Liverpool where industrial development and employment would attract migration towards these areas in the search of work.

Migration within Scotland would have taken crofters towards the new Conurbations of Glasgow and New Lanark where Robert Owen (1771-1858) were cultivating Mills and industrial areas that would have provided both employment and social housing.

Lawer Village