Pentland Road - 2

I spent the afternoon mapping the villages of Pairc, which were cleared in 1821. Using an old map and modern satellite imagery, I could locate Brunigil, Stromos, Airigh Dhomhnuill Chaim, Rias, Scaladale Beag and Mor, Gilvicphaic, Ceannmore, Bagh Ciarach and Bagh Reimsabhaigh, Bunchorcabhig, Glenclaidh, Smosivig, Caolas an Eilean, Valamus and Valamus Beag, Ceann Chrionaig, Brollum, Hamascro, Mol Truisg, Molhagearraidh, Ailtenish, Buhanish, Gearraidh Righsaidh, Ceann Tigh Shealag, Gearraidh Reastail and Stiomrabhagh. These foreign sounding names once meant home to small groups of people, scattered on the periphery of an area of mountainous moorland, whose highest peak, Beinn Mor, crests 1,700 feet. You can access the map on this link to find out which village each marker represents. Looking at the linked map, you can switch over to satellite view and zoom right into the marker. It will show a ruined house, homestead or even farmhouse. Kinloch Shell (Ceann Tigh Shealag) u...

The district of Eishken in southeast Lewis was cleared in 1820. It is a large area, with some large mountains on it (by Hebridean standards). Beinn Mhor rears up to more than 1,700 feet. Eishken had 36 townships in it at the start of the 19th century. I've managed to trace 27: 1 Bhalamos Beag 2 Bhalamos Mor 3 Caolas an Eilean 4 Bagh Ciarach 5 Ceannamhor 6 Scaladale Beag 7 Scaladale Mor 8 Stromas 9 Brinigil 10 Bagh Reimsabhaigh 11 Smosivig 12 Glean Claidh 13 Brollum 14 Ceann Chrionaig 15 Mol Truis 16 Mol Chadha Ghearraidh 17 Ailtenish 18 Budhanais 19 Ceann Loch Shealg 20 Eilean Iubhard 21 Isginn [Eishken] 22 Steimreway 23 Cuiriseal 24 Gearraidh Riasaidh 25 Bun Chorcabhig 26 Gilmhicphaic 27 Ceann Sifiord

This statue, entitled Exiles, was unveiled by First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday, at Helmsdale on the east Sutherland coast. It shows a family, leaving their homes for a new life overseas. Helmsdale lies at the mouth of the Strath of Kildonan, one of many valleys in Sutherland cleared of their residents in the 19th century. The full background story can be read here . Whilst I applaud the efforts of Mr Macleod (who initiated the project) to keep the memory of the Clearances alive, I somehow find the positive gloss being cast on this appalling episode in Scotland’s history very, very difficult to stomach. Particularly, bearing in mind Mr Salmond’s political hue, I would have expected to hear rather stronger language than “deplorable”. Thousands of people were forced by means fair and foul to leave their homes - the practice of burning the thatch over people’s heads is well documented. The Isle of Skye, 35 miles south of here, has been the scene of some atrocious evi...

The monument to the Park Raiders stands just west of Balallan, along the road to Tarbert. The text below is taken from the explanatory plaques in and below the monument. This monument was erected in memory of the people of Lochs who challenged the authority of the state in order to focus public attention on the poverty and injustice they suffered under the oppression of heartless landlords who dispossessed their forebears from over thirty villages in Park. Their inspiration was Donald MacRae, schoolmaster at Balallan, who committed his life to the Higland Land Law Reform movement and to the emancipation of the oppressed crofters and landless cottars. Over a long period of time, Lady Matheson, the proprietrix of Lewis, ignored numerous pleas from landless families throughout Lochs for permission to return to some of the former villages in Park from which their forefathers had been evicted. Instead she converted the former 42,000 acre Park sheepfarm into a sportin...

In the 1960s, a boat left Stornoway bound for Marvig, 10 miles further south in the Lochs area of Lewis. It was carrying a large amount of timber. A young couple were going down to the village to build themselves a new home, and the young woman's uncle went along to steer the boat. Barely out of port, the engine failed and a storm blew up. It was some storm. They were unable to turn round, and gradually the boat was blown onto the reef of Sgeir Mhor, between Newton and Lower Sandwick. The uncle decided that he should jump overboard with a line, as this had been the way in which 75 people were saved on the Iolaire, in 1919. The other passengers thought the better of following him. Screams for help from the terrified woman could be heard in houses in Lower Sandwick. Finally, the lifeboat managed to come in and saved the couple by breecher's buoy. The storm blew itself out, and the next morning the sea blinked innocently in the sunlight. The boat was sitting high a...

In Lewis, there are at least 30 of them, most of those thirty being in the district of Eishken. Since the early 19th century, this large chunk of the island has lain derelict. It was the old story that sheep made more money than people. Incidentally, during the Napoleonic wars, the landowners were more than happy to have people on their land. They could nicely rake in all the kelp, which was the base material for gunpowder in those days. Because of the blockade of Britain by Napoleon's fleet, imports of guano (bird droppings) were halted. An alternative source of nitrate had to be found, and burning kelp was found to be yielding nice quantities of potassium nitrate. But when the war was over, and ships were able to bring in guano again, there was no more need for kelp in the huge quantities that the war required. As stated above, sheep were found to be more profitable than the dirt poor cottars, so the lairds employed all sort of tactics, fair, foul and anything in bet...