Conflict in the Highlands: The Archaeology of the Scottish Highland Clearances

One of the most controversial events in recent Scottish history has been the ‘Highland Clearances’. The eviction of Highlanders from their settlements by their landlords, accompanied occasionally by the destruction of their homes by fire in order to liberate the land for the grazing of sheep, gave rise to resentment among the people and at times led to conflict. The majority of clearances occurred between AD 1780 and 1850 and resulted in the emigration and relocation of thousands of people. Most attention has been focused on the estates of the Duchess of Sutherland and her husband the Marquis of Stafford (later the Duke of Sutherland). Clearances on their estates occurred in the first and second decades of the nineteenth century. In the more remote areas of the Highlands settlement sites of the Clearance period and their remnant field systems are still extant in contrast to the Lowlands where clearance and development at an earlier period obscured the remains of many old settlements. In Strathnaver, Sutherland, ruined evidence of the clearances can still be seen in many places. The area has been little altered since the early nineteenth century apart from some modern forestry plantations and the changes caused by crop and sheep farming. The aim of this paper is to examine the reasons for the conflict surrounding the clearance of people from Strathnaver and the settlement of Grumbeg in particular. These reasons were determined by the complex history of the region, by societal and economic changes which occurred in the preceding three centuries and by the changing climate immediately preceding the clearances.