Dalmore, Farmstead. Glen Almond

The second visit of the day was on the way back to Craig navar. The site is Dalmore Farmstead. This site, along with Craig Navar and Tomenbowie, can be visited on the same day, with the walk to and from them, parking at Newton Bridge, being roughly a 6 mile round trip. The more adventerous amongst you can carry on along the path and cover the 17 miles to Loch Tay!

The site is located at NN862 317

(Copyright: Crown)

(Copyright: Crown)

The site is a single homestead site with the remains of two buildings with an outline of the field system.

Approaching from the West

Remains of first building

Remains of the second building

Tomenbowie Burial Ground

My visit today continued the exploration and documentation on the Glen Almond area continuing on the path past the Craig Naver township. Continuing west along the path will bring you to two sites, Dalmore and Tomenbowie. thips post will concentrate on Tomenbowie.


Towenbowie sits on the northside of the river almond at  NN 8363 3248.

Copyright: Crown copyright

1865 Map of Towenbowie. (crown)

It was reported in 1845 that a small chapel formerly stood at Tomenbowie, stating that ".. It is now in ruins but the burial ground is in occasional use". (New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845). New evidence now suggests that there is no knowledge of this chapel and no evidence of it on the ground. The burial ground at NN 8363 3248, which is too small to contain the chapel and is no longer in use. There are a few grave stones standing and visible with the last known burial being that of Donald Stalker in November, 1880 and that of his son, Duncan in October, 1876.

Although the site is no longer used, this does suggest that, although the glen was cleared in the 1830's, there were some inhabitants left, probably new sheep farming tennants who would have been buried here. Further investigation, will help to establish details.

Approaching from the East

Looking  west across the site

Looking East towards the site

The History of the Highland Clearances

I am very pleased to be able to provide a link to a pdf copy of the 'The History of the Highland Clearances' by Alexander Mackenzie. This book, first published in in 1883,is a key volume and provides a detailed account of the clearances in the Highlands and Sutherland. the book has long been out of copyright.

Clicking HERE will open a link to a pdf version

Clicking HERE will take you to the UNI of California, Internet Archive, where other formats of the book can be downloaded, including a Kindle version.

Glen Quaich and Her Townships ~ Wester Turrerich

My visit today was to the Glenquaich area to start to document and record the villages in this area. This is quite an interesting area as there is quite alot of detailed evidence and testimonies from people removed from the area and their eventual new locations.

Location of Wester Turrerich

The visit today concentrated at the western end of Loch Freuchie and the township(s) around Wester Turrerich. There is an ordnance survey map of Scotland from 1843 to 1882,showing the location of this,and other townships, that I will be visiting over the coming months. This can be accessed here

A modern day location map, I have included on the left. The grid reference for the site is NN858 389



The clearances in Breadalbane, did not occur until the 1830’s, under the command of the Second Marquis of Breadalbane. In 1835, the factor, James Wyllie, had cleared the entire population of Glenquaich, with many (and most) taking flight by sea and populating lands in the new world, including the Huron settlement in Western Ontario and North Easthope, County of Perth, Ontario. There, they settled with other families from Amulree, Auchnafauld, Aberfeldy and Kenmore. All areas covered by the events of the 1830 clearances.

Further information regarding ships passage to Canada can be accessed here The information on these pages has been extracted from various government records, as well as the odd shipping record (mostly from the Allan Line). It contains, voyage accounts, emigration information, lists of ships sailing to Canada, information on the ports, and on the people.

After a decade, the land was striking in its desertion. Of the 3500 inhabitants once living along the Loch Tay and within the Glenquaich valley, only one hundred were left by 1850. That year the Second Marquis tried to raise a Fencible Regiment, as had his father so successfully in the eighteenth century. He found no recruits. An old man of Loch Tayside growled at him to “Put your red coats on the backs of the sheep that have replaced the men!”

Here are some photographs recording my visit today. (copyright Author)

Approaching from the west

A prominant gable of around 8ft.

Outline dwelling 2

Dwelling 4 looking south

Outline of dwelling 3

looking across dwelling 2 and 4

Altogether there are around 9 dwellings with evidence of more on the east side of the township, further down towards the burn. These are almost gone now and form grazing areas for cattle and sheep.

Craig Navar Township, Perthshire

The Craig Navar township is an excellent site to visit and one that I visited today. Access to the site is very easy with parking available on the A822 at Newton Bridge, which in itself is a pleasant place to picnic.Crossing the road and walking for a round half a mile on an easy flat path, that takes you all the way to Loch Tay, you come across the remains of the township.

Position of Township

The Township, as detailed in 1863

The township is situated at NN 877 317.

The Ordance Survey Map from 1863 can be viewed here showing a detailed outline of the township, at this time recorded as in ruins

The site is on the right of the path on a hill and is cosnstructed of the remains of around 11 dwellings, each in varous states of decay, with the majority of walls no higher that 1.5mtrs, although there were some 2 or 3 fine examples of gables standing at a little over 2 mtrs. The remains of each designated 'plot' can still be traced, which gives a good outline of both the village and the size of each site.


Although the majority of the clearances are associated with the Highlands, there were extensive clearing exercises taking place in the lower highland areas, such as Perthshire. The 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane carried out an act of clearing parts of his huge estates and replacing people with sheep. The areas making up Glenquaich, which runs north-west from Amulree towards Loch Tay. From the furthest point the River Quaich runs South East from the hills into Loch Freuchie. Along the shore line of Loch Freuchie there are a further several sites of former townships and communities.

 I have added some pictures as a guide to the township. (copyright:Author)

East Approach to Township

Looking West across township

Looking West across Township

A Gable example

Corner stones on south facing gable

The remains of a dwelling

Lower dwelling remains

Middle positioned dwelling

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands

The commission was a response to crofter and cottar demonstrations against excessively high rents, lack of security of tenure on land that had been in families for generations and the forced evictions of crofters.

Lord Francis Napier

The commission was appointed in 1883, with Francis Napier,

10th Lord Napier, as its chairman,
under William Gladstone's Liberal Government of the United Kingdom. TheCommission had five other members and published its report, the Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry Into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, in 1884. The other members were:

• Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Inverness-shire
• Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch
• Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, MP for Inverness Burghs
• Alexander Nicolson, Sheriff of Kirkcudbright
• Professor Donald MacKinnon, first occupant of the Chair of Celtic, Edinburgh University.

The commission began its work in Braes on the Island of Skye and travelled the length and breadth of the Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and Shetland) gathering evidence from crofters, landlords and others who were familiar with the plight of the indigenous population. The final report was hastily published in 1884 and led obliquely to the 1886 Crofters’ Holding Act.

The Napier’s Report is a valuable piece of documentary evidence from the Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and Shetland) in 1883, presenting facts and information on the population, as well as the political, historical and social climate of the time.

The report can be downloaded here

The Clearance of Vuia Mhor / Bhuidha Mhor

Vuia Mor is an island between Uig and Great Bernera, east of Reef, covering an area of 84 hectares. The highest point is Mullach na Beinne (67m) which falls away to the sea at Creag na h-Iolaire (Eagle Cliff). Much of the island is rough hilly ground but there is a slope suitable for cultivation on the south side (with lazybeds still evident), and houses were built at an isthmus between two beaches on the east side.

Vuia was occupied during the first half of the 19th century; records give four families living there in 1807, those of Murdo Maclean, Neil Macleod (ex Mangersta), Norman Nicolson and Roderick Stewart, each paying a rent of £4.0.9d annually. By 1841 there were seven families and some 46 people living there, but it was cleared shortly afterwards and has not been occupied since then.


The following was written by Maggie Smith for Hebridean Connections.  

Life on the island of Vuia Mòr was hard, with little fertile land and no safe anchorage. The peats were cut and harvested in Drovinish and taken home by rowing boat or sail. Boats had to be beached after each fishing trip.
Amongst the inhabitants were the family of Neil Macleod, who had found refuge in Vuia Mhor after being cleared from the old village of Mangersta. Neil was married to Catherine Mackenzie of Kirkibost, Bernera and they had twelve children, ten of whom emigrated to Cape Breton between 1821-1826. Kenneth, one of the sons, emigrated in 1826 with his wife Ann Macleod from Balallan, and their child died on the long sea voyage across the Atlantic. They managed to keep the child’s death a secret so that the child would not be buried at sea.
A grandson of Neil Macleod, ‘An Og (John, son of John), lived on Vuia and was courting Ann Maclennan from Reef. It is said he swam across to Reef regularly with his dry clothing strapped to his head.
The islanders fished to sustain the families and paid their rent by harvesting the sea-kelp with the substantial profit from the sales going to the landowner. When the landlord’s greedy eye focused on sheep rearing the community was sacrificed and scattered to the four winds.
The land officer evicted the inhabitants from the seven homes and forty-six souls young and old came ashore in the village of Geshader.  The strong swimmer John Macleod married his Ann in 1847 and lived in Geshader, having been cleared from the island along with his mother and sister. They lived there as cottars and the ruins of the house can be seen to this day at No 2. The Martin and the Smith family became cottars on No 10 Geshader and later emigrated. The Mathesons went to Ungeshader, then some emigrated and others went to Brue. The MacArthurs settled south of Enaclete at a place still known as Buaile Mhic Artair.
Tales of the eviction were repeated in oral tradition and are expressed in the poetry:

‘S iomadh athair agus màthair
Bha gu làr a ’sileadh dheòir
Mar chaidh a fuadach as an àite
Far an deach an àrach òg.
Chuala sinn e bho ar cairdean
Mu’s do dh’fhag iad tìr nam beò
Gu’n ghabh mallachdan an àite
Air na dh’fhàsaich Bhuidha Mhòr
À Amhran Lord Lever
le Domhnall Donn, Donald Maciver Cnip

The land officer responsible for the evictions, Kenneth Stewart, tacksman of Hacklete, went to Canada and fell on hard times. According to tradition, he was a tramp and went to the door of a house and knocked. The girl who opened the door gave him a piece of bread and after he had eaten she enquired if he had enjoyed this morsel. He replied that he truly had and was very grateful. She then proceeded to tell him that he had been responsible for the eviction of herself and her family from Vuia Mhor!

Cha robh dùil agad fhads a bha thu gam fhuadach à Bhuidha
Gum biodh tu lorg aoigheach orm ann an Canada.

Though she had only been a very young girl at the time of the eviction, she recognised the man at her door. She then urged him to leave before her husband came home. She believed he would murder, either he who carried out the evictions, or her for showing compassion to the man who had evicted the families so brutally years before.

(Copyright: Hebridean Connections)

Emigration to New Lands.

A significant part of the clearances was the movement of people from their crofts and the estates of the the landowners to new sites along the coast, south to developing conurbations and even overseas to start a new life in a new land (often enforced).

One such place was Canada, which became the new home, enforced or otherwise of many crofters. In his book, 'On the Crofters Trail' Craig David, explores the lives of many, and their descendants in Canada. An excellent website to support this area of the clearances, and one that contains a lot of information on passenger lists, dates and  supporting information, can be accessed here 

This site is particularly useful to those tracing a particular family as the site does not concentrate on the clearances, indeed it is a very small part of it.

The 'Exiles' Statue, Helmsdale, Scotland

One estimate for Cape breton, Nova Scotia has 25,000 Gaelic-speaking Scots arriving as immigrants between 1775 and 1850. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were an estimated 100,000 Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton, but because of economic migration to English-speaking areas and the lack of Gaelic education in the Nova Scotian school system, the numbers of Gaelic speakers fell dramatically. By the beginning of the 21st century, the number of
 native Gaelic speakers had fallen to well below 1,000


The Emigrants Statue 'Exiles', pictured here, commemorates the flight of Highlanders during the clearances, but is also a testament to their accomplishments in the places they settled. It is located at the foot of the Highland Mountains in Helmsdale, Scotland. An identical 10 ft-high bronze "Exiles" statue has also been set up on the banks of the Red river, the modern city of Winnipeg was founded by those who left Scotland for Canada

Strathnaver Clearances

25th December, 1819

A newspaper article dated 25th December 1819. A copy of the Transactions of the Sutherland and Trans-Atlantic Association, at a meeting held Oct. 27, 1819. At it's most populus, Strathnaver contained around a dozen settlements. Over the five years from 1814 to 1819 the valley was cleared of its inhabitants to make way for sheep. The Duke of Sutherland employed his estate factor, Patrick Sellar, to persuade the inhabitants to leave by burning settlements to the ground. (courtesy: Happyhaggis.com)

Sellars Stone

Sellars Stone. A Significant landmark on the Ardtornish Estate in Morven. The Estate was aquired by Patrick Sellar ( 1781-1851) The original House is no more but the Stone provided Sellar with a viewing platform over the estate.

NM 757 533 GB GridNM 757 533 GB GridVery close to the road and worthy of a visit if passing

Scotlands Rural Past Website

The Scotlands Rural Past project aimed to work with local communities to record, research and promote the slowly disappearing rural settlements, clearances and landscapes of Scotland. The project was set up in 2006 and is now coming to an end but there's plenty of information and pictures on what's been found already plus practical information about how to get involved and discover the rural heritage around the country for yourself.

There are some great resources for those of you who are interested in visiting and recording clearance sites and the field recording forms should be adopted as a standard to be used whenever possible. I have added a link to the recording form, and also the guidance notes when using them, on the website.

Field Recording Form

FRF Guidance Notes

Milton Township, Newtonmore, Inverness-shire,

In 1841 there were eight townships in Glen Banchor, the ruins of which can still be seen marked on OS maps - Easterton, Westerton, Dalvalloch, Dalchurn, Lurgan, Milton, Croft Couneach, and Luib.

Milton I visited today. There is now nothing left of the site, although the site is marked by a plaque, providing a basic outline of the township and its people.

Plaque denoting site of Milton Township

Close up of Plaque inscription

Further information below about the villages and townships within this area, is provided.

 "..The estate records of 1841 showed 21 houses in the townships with 85 inhabitants. This fell, mainly due to clearances, till in 1891 there were just three houses occupied, with 12 inhabitants. Though the bulk of the clearances occurred between 1851 and 1891, the first clearances to make way for sheep were from Baillidbeg as early as 1760. The ruins of the houses can still be seen opposite the Biallid Beag Cemetery, just under a mile down the Laggan Road.
Up in the hills to the north of the River Calder, the summer sheilings can be seen (marked on OS maps). From May 1st to November 11th, the sheep and cattle were moved up the hill to summer grazing, returning in the winter to graze on the common land of the crofts (leading to the common township name to be found in many areas of the highlands of 'Winterton'). The families moved with the livestock and the ruins of the buildings can still be seen near the Red Bothy..." (Anon, www.newtonmore.com)

The site of Milton Township

Site of Former Milton Township.