Scottish Clearances

[BBNC]

I'm confused. Was it highlanders, lowlanders, or both who were sent packing in the "clearances?" I seem to have read somewhere it was lowland Scots, and then somewhere else it was highland Scots. What's the straight scoop?

[Grizzly]

This excerpt below gives a basic understanding but if you google highland clearances there is a plethora of information. -

In the late 18th century well into the 19th century, Highland estates moved from arable and mixed farming, which supported a large tenant population, to the more profitable sheep-farming. Surplus tenants were ‘cleared’ off the estates from about 1780; and the Clearances were ongoing nearly 70 years later at the time of the potato famine in 1846.

Not all clearances were brutal, but some were. Nor were they confined to the Highlands. But the Highland experience was the most traumatic. The Highland Clearances devastated Gaelic culture and clan society, driving people from the land their families had called home for centuries.

Planned towns sprang up and took some of the cleared populations: places like Dufftown, Fochabers, Grantown-on-Spey, Hopeman, Inveraray, Kingussie, Kyleakin, Plockton, Tomintoul and Ullapool, but the vast majority of Highlanders were forced to emigrate to the cities or overseas.

The first mass emigration was in 1792; known as the ‘Year of the Sheep’, when most of the cleared clansmen went to Canada and the Carolinas. Scots left their native soil to live out their lives in America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

[bdkilted]

Many lowlanders moved to America for opportunities, but I am not award of large group of lowlanders cleared from the land by their lords.

[Chas]

It turned out to be a two edged sword. The vast profits from sheep rearing just did not materialise. The imported Sussex Downs sheep were not hardy enough and died in their hundreds.

[Dale Seago]

BBNC, you might find this video overview interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7aXt...F02C0B53D5CC01

[BBNC]

BBNC, you might find this video overview interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7aXt...F02C0B53D5CC01

Wonderful program. Thanks for the link Dale. I'm trying to find out where my mother's paternal ancestors (Muirheads from the region of Lanarkshire) fit in the overall picture, and try to determine when and why they went to Ireland, before coming to the US in the 1870's. While our tartan was registered quite recently, it was taken from a complete formal kilt outfit brought here in 1858, which is now on display at the Scottish Tartans Museum in Franklin, NC. My avatar, and my kilt is in the hunting version, woven and made by DC Dalgiesh.

[Aussie_Don]

Thank you for a link to a series of incredibly
interesting videos. I'be always suspected that
my ancesters may not have been directly involvedi
In "the clearances". There's nothing there to
suggest otherwise, but the story, as presented,
is definitely interesting.

The most intertesting thread in story is the
rationale for why persons of Scottish decent
might be a bit "left wing", shall we say. One of
the early experiences that I had here in Australia
was as a member of the Electrical Trades Union --
I attended a meeting, addressed by a bloke with a
Scottish accent, who prefaced his remarks with,
"Comrades!!"

As somone who grew up in the USofA, I first wondered
how I'd wandered into Soviet land (this was the 80s
after all) And later I recognised it as a statement
of militancy and solidarity.

-Don (who may be sailing close to the wind on alowed
communication here at X-Marks) But the historical
question of the politics of "ordinary" Scotts seems
to be an interesting question.)

[A Hay]

BBNC, you might find this video overview interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7aXt...F02C0B53D5CC01

Dale, thanks for posting the link. I looked at it today and found it was very interesting. Particularly enjoyed the additional info on Sir Walter Scott.

[creagdhubh]

BBNC, you might find this video overview interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7aXt...F02C0B53D5CC01

Love that series!

[English Bloke]

... The imported Sussex Downs sheep were not hardy enough and died in their hundreds...

Thufferin' Thuccotash... Those darned pesky English. Even their sheep can't be trusted!!