Staying on the Land: the Search for Cultural and Economic Sustainability in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1996 Staying on the land: The search for cultural and economic sustainability in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland Mick Womersley The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Womersley, Mick, "Staying on the land: The search for cultural and economic sustainability in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland" (1996). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 5151. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5151 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. 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STAYING ON THE LAND: THE SEARCH FOR CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND by Mick Womersley B.A. The University of Montana, 1994 presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 1996 Approved by: Dean, Graduate School Date UMI Number: EP40615 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Dissertation UMI EP40615 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 -1 3 4 6 Mick Womersley, M.S., August 1996 Resource Conservation STAYING ON THE LAND: THE SEARCH FOR CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND Director: Alan McQuillan Recently much academic attention has been paid to the problem of sustainability. In the Highlands and Islands over recent decades a concerted government economic development program has attempted to solve a similar "Highland Problem." The goal of this effort was, in effect, to achieve aspects of cultural and economic sustainability. The need for this modem development program can be traced back to 1746, when the conquest, colonization, and privatization of the previously tribal Highland region began in earnest. Although originally concentrating on the goal of redudng rapid depopulation, this "Highland Development" program was soon adjusted (after population began to grow again in the 1970s) to concentrate on economic revitalization, in concert with a reinvogoration of the indigenous Gaelic culture. Highlanders' experience with this successful development program informs the issue of sustainability elsewhere. Economic sustainability was necessary to solve the Highland Problem's first symptom, depopulation, and both cultural and environmental sustainability was necessary in order to not violate the constraint imposed historically by the bulk of those who have chosen to live or remain in the Highland region: the desire to maintain traditional cultural values and those objects and lifestyles which represent such values. This study examines these attempts, made over many decades, to implement economic development programs to sustain the Highland culture and economy. The need for government intervention is traced back to 1746 and before. Both primary and secondary sources have been consulted and used as the basis for a critical exposition, primarily of the activities of the foremost institutional initiative launched by the UK Government in 1965, the Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB). In this history of Highland Development, three successive eras of economic development theory are argued for, a Privatization Era, a Progressive Era, and finally an Environmental Era Each is recognized by successive reformulations of the Highland Problem. In each era, both government agencies and private interests formulated a theoretical answer to the Highland Problem, designed a typical form of Highland Development, and created Highland Development institutions to implement that theory. It is argued that in the latest Environmental Era, the Highland experience with cultural renewal and small scale decentralized economic development most informs sustainability theory. It is also argued here that since the early 1980s development scheme money is now primarily made available as an adaptation to the decreasing need, throughout Britain, for people to actually make things in the economy when machines — or the denizens of poorer countries — now do most of the labor. Environmental Era Highland Development is, therefore, to be seen as an adjustment to structural unemployment. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS I) Introduction page 1 The Highland Problem page 3 Thesis #1: Three Eras of Highland Development page 11 Thesis #2: The Evolution of Mature Highland Development page 12 II) Two Young Men page 16 III) Gaelic Culture from Ancient Times page 26 Run-rig and the Clan System page 33 Communality page 42 IV) The Trail of the Survivor: The Privatization Era in Highland Development, 1746-1886 page 49 Culloden: The Beginning of Privatization page 50 After Culloden: Enclosure and Clearance page 59 Imposed Development, Imposed Religion: Factors of Decline page 63 Crofting Settlements, Cultural Refugia, and Wet Deserts page 75 V) The Turning Wheel: The Progressive Era in Highland Development, 1886-1977 page 78 The Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act of 1886 page 80 Resettlement page 85 New Deal and Philanthropic Development in the Highlands page 93 Arguments For and Against the 1965 Act page 104 The Passing of the Act page 114 Growth Pole Theory page 118 VI) Invergordon: a Disaster of Growth Pole Theory page 121 VII) Raasay and Skye: Geddesian Planning and Action in Parallel page 141 VIII) Convergence: The Rise of the Environmental Era In Highland Development 1965-1995 page 164 Increasing Cultural Confidence page 165 The HIDB and Environmentalist Development page 173 The Failure of Growth Pole Theory page 180 Immigration and Persistence page 185 Structural Unemployment and Highland Development page 193 Environmentalist Visions of the Highlands page 196 Conclusion page 206 Bibliography page 210 Appendices page 217 Table 1: HIDB area population, 1851-1991 page 217 Table 2: HIDB Jobs Created per Year, 1966-1993 page 218 Map 1: The Highlands and Islands page 219 Map 2: HIDB/HIE Administrative Areas page 220 Map 3: Proportion of Gaelic Speakers, 1891 page 221 Map 4: Proportion of Gaelic Speakers, 1981 page 222 Map 5: Incidence of Registered Crofters page 223 Glossary of Gaelic Terms Used Page 224 V LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Following page 75: #1 The mountains of Wester Ross. #2 Glendale in Skye, the site of a nineteenth century clearance, reveals the ruins of its run-rig community. The land is now an intensive sheep farm. Although there would normally be trees, overgrazing has removed all the seedlings, and all the existing trees have died. #3 The wet desert effect. Heavy red deer grazing will prevent this Scots pine seedling from reaching maturity. All aiound is now blanket bog, in the background a non-native plantation is protected by a six-foot fence. #4 Lands alienated from Gaelic communal use during the privatization era have been purchased from the landlord to create Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. The sign's construction reveals influence from the designers of American National Parks. In the background, trees regenerate following release from heavy grazing pressure as red deer are culled. #5, #6 Traditional crofting: Living Museum, or cultural necessity? A hand-worked, two- acre hayfield on the Isle of Raasay, and an early, Government-assisted "department plan" house does new duty as byre on the Isle of Skye. Following page 158: #7 The HIDB refurbished mansion, Raasay House, has been developed as an outdoor center, an example of small-scale economic development. #8 The old Raasay Manse, built after the Highland conversion to Presbyterianism, now rots slowly. Competing Presbyterian factions cannot agree who owns the Manse, preventing its development for Raasay's benefit as a health and day-care center. Following page 175: #9, #10 Signs announce who funded development schemes. Funding in this case came from the European Government as well as from HIE (through Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise Company). An improved harbor and marina for Lochinver, and a hatchery to supply smolt to smaller fish-farms in Wester Ross. I) Introduction THE HIGHLAND SETTING This study is a "report from the field," a case-study of an existing program attempting to ensure "environmental and cultural sustainability" in a "hinterland region" of a northern developed nation.1 That nation is Scotland, itself part of the United Kingdom, which these days is nominally part of the European Union. The hinterland region is the Scottish Highlands and Islands. A romantic idea of the Highlands and Highlanders has been made popular recently — not for the first time — by movies such as Braveheart and Rob Rov. The mistaken idea of the Highlander portrayed as noble savage dates at least to the eighteenth century, to the works of Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe, Sir Walter Scott and others.