" My people have been set wandering
many are the places to which they have been scattered...
"When the strife begins
the poor man will be needed
the gentry will be calling for him
over the face of the hills.
Echo will answer
'Do not be afraid in this day of stress,
when you have an abundance of hornless sheep.' "The 'ethnic cleansing' of the Highlands of Scotland
The Highland Clearances
"We have no country to fight for! You robbed us of our country and gave it to the sheep.
Therefore, since you have preferred sheep to men, let sheep defend you!"
"The Lowlander has inherited the hills, the tartan is a shroud."
The Highland Clearances Chronology - a timeline of events.
" I saw the townships set on fire. Grummore with 16 houses and Archmilidh with four. All the houses were burnt with the exception of one. A barn. Few if any of the families knew where to turn their heads or from whom to get their next meal. It was sad, the driving away of these people. The terrible rememberance of the "Burnings" of Strathnaver will live as long as a root of the people remains in this country."
One of those burned out of Grummore was ninety year old William MacKay. He remembered the Jacobite days and had already been evicted once. His wife, Janet, died as a result. When he was evicted again from Grummore he went to the churchyard and stood over her grave and said "Well, Janet, the Countess will never filt (evict) you again." He turned and walked, alone, to Wick where he died alone and unmourned.
There were bright, shining stars as well during this terrible time of dark greed.
The best example, and also the most noteable exception to the rule, were the chiefs of the MacLeods, who went to enormous lengths to improve the lives of their clanspeople in Skye by opening up the chiefs private coffers and rationing out the money.
Some clansmen and women were even allowed to take shelter in Dunvegan Castle until suitable crofts could be built.
Throughout the history of the MacLeods there runs a thread of tenacity that worthily fulfils their motto, 'Hold Fast'. In nothing is this staunchness better shown than in the maintainance of the bonds uniting the chief and his clansmen.
After the collapse of the second Jacobite rising and the general break-up of Highland society,
. . . doctors were maintained . . . education was fostered, and heavy expenditure incurred in road-making. MacI.eod's private post to Edinburgh was for long a boon to the community Grain was imported in times of scarcity . . . the MacLeod estates were never sullied by the blot of ‘clearing’ the people from their holdings.
Dunvegan Castle
