Shieldaig On Visit To Wester Ross North West Highlands Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of Shieldaig on the edge of Loch Shieldaig, an offshoot of Loch Torridon, on visit to Wester Ross in the North West Highlands. The village is a string of largely whitewashed cottages and other buildings laid out along the shore of the loch with others scattered up the rising ground behind it. The name of the village is a Viking word meaning loch of the herring which still populate the bay in some profusion. The village was founded in 1800 with a view to training up seamen for war against Napoleon. After his initial defeat and exile to Elba, the community found itself a new role as a fishing village. The small island just offshore never had its tall pines harvested to rig warships, and has now become a nature sanctuary. Shieldaig did not escape the effects of the Highland Clearances. The village was part of the vast Applecross Estate and the community’s problems began when the estate changed hands from the MacKenzies of Applecross to the Duke of Leeds, whose wife was one of the family who had been responsible for the cruel Sutherland Clearances. The Duchess entrusted local matters to her gamekeeper, who, it soon became obvious, preferred sheep herds and sheep to mariners and sailors. Shieldaig fared badly in the next 30 years. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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