Читать книгу The Isle of Skye. Graded walks and scrambles throughout Skye, including the Cuillin онлайн

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The 1745 Rebellion raised in Parliament the determination to completely erase the culture that had inspired the rebellion, and outlawed weapons, the Gaelic language and the wearing of the kilt. They succeeded in their aims and peace subsequently came to the islands.

But it was not to last. Poor harvests in 1835 and 1836 and a complete failure of the potato crop in 1846 and 1847 impoverished both the local population and their landlords, and led to a widespread clearance of the land so that the small crofts might be combined to form more profitable areas for sheep grazing. Landlords saw crofters as a burden rather than a means of income, and had little compunction in turning to the more viable sheep farming.

Ruined croft, Erisco (Walk 6.1)

Most of these forced evictions took place between 1840 and 1885, when almost 7000 families were moved from their land and sent abroad, many dying en route. Throughout this book, tales of these clearances appear again and again, and a number of walks visit the sites of former villages. It is a very emotive subject, and I doubt that anyone is proud of what happened, not even those who catalogue it as economic necessity. Towards the end of the 19th century people started resisting the evictions and the tyranny that would often accompany them. Of key importance was a battle between crofters and police at Braes, not far from Portree, which led to a Commission of Inquiry and a succession of crofters’ laws, which enshrined a security of tenure and fair rents, the substance of which remains intact today.