The Clearances

[JS Sanders]

This scenario has happened to me on countless occasions….

After a gig and usually at the reception afterwards, I’m approached by an attendee who has comments/questions regarding Highland dress, bagpipes, or something related. Half the time this person knows just enough to be dangerous. They ask what ‘plaid’ I’m wearing, or if that’s a ‘dirk’ in my sock, etc. Surely you’ve experienced it too.

The other 50% seems to have a reasonable grasp of Highland dress & lore and often a conversation ensues.

This is what’s somewhat peculiar to me….
Even the informed have almost no concept of the Highland Clearances. I presume Xmarkers are better informed and are aware enough of the subject to discuss it intelligently.

I’ve found it contradictory that so many take such button-busting pride in our tartans and garments, yet few have such little knowledge of the Clearances. When I studied it at depth, I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about donning my tartan as I was prior.

Is this just a peevish point of mine, or do yall come across the same? The history of Scotland is absolutely extraordinary, seemingly every square foot is soaked in it. It behooves us to have a grasp of this horrible portion as well.

Slainte yall,
steve

[Arlen]

Even in Scotland only about 50% of people have any decent grasp of Scottish history.
It seems enough for most people to watch Braveheart and be rabid-foaming-at-the-mouth-nationalists with no real idea of WHY they are nationalists.

My wife made a point of studying university level Scottish history while she was studying here and she was horrified when people would tell her that they knew better because they were Scottish.

It's, unfortunately, a fairly common thing. And the clearances and the Union tend to be the two things that people are most-often misinformed about.

[Ozman1944]

Yes, My forbears on my mother's side (Stewart) fled to South Australia as a result of the Clearances in the early 1800's.

[Jock Scot]

What an intelligent question,if I may say so.I am not at all sure that the myth laden,half truths when looked at through "rose tinted glasses"will ever allow the whole truth to come out,but one thing is for sure illusions will be shattered!As a resident of the Highlands I see those illusions melt away to almost despair, nearly every month, as visitors find out that their(THEN) clan chief was the one that was responsible for clearing people, often in a fairly brutal way,from the land to make way for sheep or later on to make way for the early sporting estates.Nearly every clan chief has a nasty skeleton in their cupboard and it was,has been and is, very easy to blame somebody else---the English.They are not totally blameless though. Potato blight was of course the fault of no one.

Prepare to put your tin hat on for this one!

[Bob C]

I think many of us have at least some understanding of the clearances. We don't talk about it much because politics is banned here and the clearances are a political topic.

I'm not saying you can't discuss the history without veering into politics, but it seems that people always do.

[Panache]

Steve,

Do you think it is only Scottish History that people are woefully ignorant of?

I find that sadly, a great number of people I bump into have little grasp of the history of the United States (let alone the rest of the world).

A great truth is that those who delve into history thinking that their ancestors were always "The Good Guys" are bound for disappointment.

Our modern concepts of human rights are going to be challenged by the cruel misdeeds done in the past.

The best we can do is our best to fully understand our history and realize that things are often not black and white.

Cheers

Jamie

[macwilkin]

Steve,

Do you think it is only Scottish History that people are woefully ignorant of?

I find that sadly, a great number of people I bump into have little grasp of the history of the United States (let alone the rest of the world).

A great truth is that those who delve into history thinking that their ancestors were always "The Good Guys" are bound for disappointment.

Our modern concepts of human rights are going to be challenged by the cruel misdeeds done in the past.

The best we can do is our best to fully understand our history and realize that things are often not black and white.

Cheers

Jamie

Spot on, Jamie. I dealt with this on a daily basis working at a Civil War battlefield. It was amazing (and very sad) how little Americans knew of their country's history, while tourists from other nations (especially the UK and Canada) were so well-versed in in it.

As for the "sins of the fathers", what Jamie says is also spot on.

T.

[JS Sanders]

I suppose politics can be injected into most subjects. I don't consider the Clearances political any more than the displacement of native peoples in the United States.

The Clearances almost exclusively were motivated by greed in its basest form.

And for those few who may be asking what the Clearances were:

Once the chiefs lost their authority following Culloden, many of them lost also any parental interest in their clansmen. During the next 100 years they continued the work of Cumberland's battalions. They leased their glens to sheep-farmers from the Lowlands and England and cleared the crofts of men, women, and children, using police, soldiers, and brute force.

The Highlanders were betrayed by their own chiefs’ pure self-interests. It is a story of how sheep were preferred to men, and force used to drive them from their generational homes.

The Clearances ended over 150 years ago - but the hills are still empty & silent. If you've ever walked thru their remains, you'll find them as haunting as any place in the whole of the country.

It is worth remembering, that while the rest of Scotland was permitting the expulsion of Highlanders, it was also forming the highly romanticized notion of kilts & tartan.

When the Crimean War erupted, there were only three participating Scottish regiments. Army recruiters found that there simply no men left in the Highlands. It was commonly said, "Since you prefer sheep to men, let sheep do your fighting."


Slainte,
steve

[JS Sanders]

<< Do you think it is only Scottish History that people are woefully ignorant of? >>

Panache,
Good grief no. History is woefully under-taught in the US and it is painfully obvious.

I've spent a lotta time at Shiloh National Military Park as re-enactor & living historian, and the ignorance of our nation's past is too often astounding.

Slainte,
steve

[beloitpiper]

Potato blight was of course the fault of no one.

I won't argue because of forum rules and getting off topic, but I somewhat disagree.