Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of Croick Church and Graveyard on ancestry visit to the Sutherland Highlands. One of the parliamentary churches designed by Thomas Telford, but better known for its connection with the Highland Clearances, the church shelters in a belt of trees in the empty strath or glen. Already in 1840 a number of families of crofters had emigrated from the district to Pictou, Canada, in a ship chartered by their minister, the Reverend R Williamson, so that the new minister found ruined homesteads and a depopulated parish. In May 1845 James Gillander, factor to Major Charles Robertson of Kindeace, evicted 18 families from Glencalvie, 92 people in all, to make way for a new sheep farm. Unlike those cleared in Sutherland, they were not given new crofts. Unable to find accommodation despite a desperate search, some 80 people of all ages took refuge in the graveyard at Croick, where they camped in a crude shelter covered with tarpaulins and blankets. Scratched on the glass of the east window are poignant references to this event: Glencalvie people was in the churchyard here May 24th 1845; Glencalvie is a wilderness below sheep, and the like. It seems unlikely that these were written by the evicted people themselves, who spoke only Gaelic. A possible candidate is John Ross, shepherd, Croick' whose name appears four times, twice with the date 1869.
Highland Clearances was the forced eviction of inhabitants of the Highlands and western islands of Scotland, beginning in the middle to late 18th century and continuing intermittently into the middle of the 19th century. The removals cleared the land of people primarily to allow for the introduction of sheep pastoralism. The Highland Clearances resulted in the destruction of the traditional clan society and began a pattern of rural depopulation and emigration from Scotland.
Alexander Sutherland, a Scottish convict was convicted in Glasgow, Scotland for 14 years, and transported aboard the ship Atlas on 16th January 1816, arriving in New South Wales, Australia; Robert Sutherland, a Scottish convict was convicted in Inverness, Scotland for 7 years, and transported aboard the ship Bussorah Merchant on 1st October 1829, arriving in Tasmania; James Sutherland, a Scottish convict was convicted in Edinburgh, Scotland for 7 years, and transported aboard the ship Camden on 21st September 1832, arriving in New South Wales, Australia; Alex Sutherland landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840 aboard the ship Oriental; Daniel Sutherland landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840; Doctor Sutherland landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840 aboard the ship Blenheim; John Sutherland landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840; Nathaniel Sutherland landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840; James Sutherland, who arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1750; Samuel Sutherland, who arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1750; John Sutherland arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1773; John Sutherland landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1773; Lily Sutherland landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1773; William, Sutherland arrived in Red River, Canada in 1812; John Sutherland, aged 50, landed in Red River, Canada in 1812; George Sutherland, aged 18, arrived in Red River, Canada in 1812; Alexander Sutherland, aged 24, arrived in Red River, Canada in 1812; Angus Sutherland, aged 20, landed in Red River, Canada in 1812; Joseph Sutherland arrived in Connecticut, America, in 1736; Anna Sutherland arrived in New York, America, in 1738; Elisbie Sutherland arrived in New York, America, in 1738; William Sutherland arrived in Virginia, America, in 1741; Patrick Sutherland landed in Georgia, America, in 1743
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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