Achanlochy Clearance Village With Music On History Visit To Strathnaver Highlands Scotland

Tour Scotland short 4K travel video clip, with Scottish music, of Achanlochy Clearance village on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Strathnaver Highlands, Britain, United Kingdom. Achanlochy was one of the last villages to be cleared of people on the Sutherland estates. In the early 19th century a small community of Scottish crofting families lived on low ground beside Lochan Duinte, at the north end of Strathnaver. In 1819 there were 7 families living at Achanlochy, sharing the fields in a communal system and growing oats and potatoes. They kept cattle, chickens, goats, and sheep, and fished from the nearby lochan. The Strathnaver region was part of the vast Sutherland Estates, and like so many crofting communities in the estate, it suffered from the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland's decision to clear existing farmers from the land in favour of more lucrative sheep. The man responsible for the earlier clearances was the Sutherland's factor, Patrick Sellar. Sellar had been forced to resign his post in part due to adverse publicity generated by his harsh methods of evicting families from crofting villages. But Sellar did not leave the region, instead, he became a sheep farmer himself. Sellar, and others like him, wanted even more land cleared for sheep. It fell to his successor, Francis Suther, to carry out the clearances. Though it seems Suther was himself a generous man, he gave his constables free rein to enforce evictions of families from the glen. This including burning cottages so they could not be reused. Though the methods of the constables drew more adverse publicity, it did not stop the evictions. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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