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Home , Arnisdale, Bracadale, Crofting, Drynoch, Napier Commission, Northwest Highlands

Chapter 18

Written on the Surface of the Soil: West HighlandC rofting Landscapes of during the Twentieth Century

Richard F. Rohde

landscapes of the northwest highlands and The history of the economical transformation which a great portionofthe Highlands andIslands islands.Typically, townships consist of has duringt he last century undergone does not a scattering of simple whitewashed houses set reposeon t he loose andle gendaryta les thatp ass amongst smalla rable fields, within a larger frommouth to mouth; it rests onthe solidbasis of pastoral landscape of common grazing for contemporary records, andi f these were wanting, sheep and cattle.In most instances, these it is written in indelible characters on the surface of the soil. (Parliamentary Papers 1884: 2; townships are located within, or are surrounded emphasis added) by, large privately owned sporting estates.The wet and windy climate and geography “Crofts” are uniquely Scottish land units in the dominated by acidic rock, shallows oils, and Highlands.The“ crofting way of life” and its treelessh eath make this an unpromisingand associated landscapes are iconic points of uncompromising placeto ex tract aliving f rom reference to the historical and contemporary the land. Many of the mainland glens that were identity of Scotlandtod ay (Smout 1994). cleared to make way for southern sheep farmers th Indeed, the past injustices of the and sporting estates in the 19 century remain Clearances andth e Crofters Holdings empty to this day. However, the crofting th (Scotland) Act of 1886, which gaves ecurity of legislationenac ted at the end ofthe 19 century tenure to the peasant population of the area, are effectively “fossilized”th e pattern of land deeply embedded in the Scottish collective occupancy and resulted in a diverse rural memory (Hunter 1976). There are many economy with a high population density detailed accounts of this period and the (Brown and Slee 2004). subsequent history of land and agrarian reform Ther epeat photographs presented here are that evolved during the last 120 years. Rather concentrated within the Skye and thanr e-visit this well-worn historical narrative, District of Scotland, which might be this chapter will explore the socio-economic characterized as typical of the core crofting and agrarian transformation which has come areas (Fig. 18.1). As such, these images are about overthe last75years or sobytracing the typical of northwest coast township landscapes. evidencef or these changes in the landscape Apart from one photo by ErskineBe veridge itself, as seen in repeat photographs. taken in 1898, all the original photographs used Today, some 17,000 crofts occupy an area in this study were made by Robert Moyes of 8000 km2, mainly within the rugged Adam (1885-1967; see also Moore, this volume), during the 1930s. West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

are of a qualityand consistencyth at make it a pleasure tof ollow his footsteps into the past. My chapter focuses on an analysis of change evident in five case studys ites drawn from 36 photographs depicting 19 crofting townships (Fig. 18.2).Theys how not only the environmental effects of changing agricultural practice, but also hint at the underlyings ocio- economic and political forces that accompanied agrarian change.The processes of deagrarianisation manifest differentlyac ross the developed and developing world (Bryceson 1996),and the crofting landscapes of the Northwest Highlands and Islands are one particular manifestation of this process. Population decline, which reached its nadir in the 1970s (Bryden and Houston 1976), has beenr eversed partly due to the influx of southerners over thel ast 30 years (Short and Stockdale 1999). Tourism is now the largest sector of the local economy, but inr elation to Figure 18.1. Map of crofting areas of Northwest national standards, the area remains marginal Scotland showing Skye and Lochalsh District. with high levels of poverty and unemployment (afterwww.croftingfoundation.co.uk/ accessed 14 (Chapman and Shucksmith 1996, Pacione October 2006) 1996).The eight matched photos presented here illustrate three distinct processes that His photographic record of the rural were “written in indelible characters” across landscapes of Scotland during thefir st half of th the landscape of crofting townships throughout the 20 century is perhaps the most the 20th century: human population change, comprehensive of its kind, consisting of agrarian change, and parallel socio-economic around 15,000 negatives now held in the transformation. library of St. Andrews University. His photographs of crofting townships depict a cultural landscape on the cusp of transition from the deep rural peasant subsistence ofthe late 19th century to a version of modern agriculture based on subsidies and economies of scale. He made at least ten trips to the Skye andL ochalsh area between 1926 and 1943, most often in the late summer or early fall when crofting activities were clearly visible in the form of hays tacks, corn stooks, and patches of un-harvested potatoes. Typically during each visit to the area, he Figure 18.2. Map of the NorthwestH ighlands and would expose more than 50 glasshalf -plates Islands depicting the locations of all repeat depicting the area’s landscapes, although only photographs used in this study. White stars indicate a small fraction of these were of human the location of sites that are illustrated in this settlements. His images of crofting landscapes chapter, black stars indicate all other sites used in this study.

248 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

Northwest Highlandl andscapes.In common Background with all other parts of theB ritish Isles, the Northwest Highlands have beens ignificantly The Northwest Highlands have been transformed by human intervention over the continuously occupied since around 8500 yrs last several thousand years (Blundell and BP when the first small bands of Mesolithic Barber 2005).However, the landscapes of the hunter-gatherers arrived. Arable farming has Northwest Highland crofting areas have been practiced for at least 5000 years andthe attained their mythical status of “wilderness” Neolithic, Bronze Age, andIr on Age cultures onlyr ecently as a result of 19th century that preceded the Roman occupation of clearances, sportinge states, tourism, and southern Scotland can bet raced in numerous conservation propaganda (MacDonald 1998, standing stones, brochs, hut circles, and Mackenzie 2006). souterrains scattered across the Northwest The period preceding the Highland Highland landscape (Simmons 2001).During Clearances ofthe early 19th centuries probably the last two millennia, a succession of cultures, left the most lasting impact on the including Pictish and Viking, have left their environment. Population reached a peak in the traces in place names and archaeological sites. early 19th century as landlords moved people Latermedieval castles and Christian cathedrals out ofinland glens into miserable overcrowded such as Iona and are testament to the townships that became the defining organization of the regional polity connected characteristic of the croftings ystem until it by the waterways of the west coast. was reformed in the 1880s. Townships were Climate change too has left its mark on laid out, often superimposed on more ancient the landscape.Ther elatively benign conditions field systems, across old , and ofthe Holocene climatic optimum( 8000-4500 disregarding head-dykes (Dodgshon 1994). As yrs BP), when temperatures were upto 2 .5 °C populations expanded, every scrap of land higher than today, gave way to the cooler, capable of cultivation was put tou se, and wetter peat-forming conditions around 4000 mixed herds of cattle, goats, and sheep were yrs BP, coinciding with a regional decline in shepherded betweens ummer and winter tree cover eventually resulting in a treeless grazing land. Migrant labor, seasonal herring landscapein the by around 2500 yrs fishing, shellfish gathering, and kelping BP(Hirons andE dwards 1990, Fossitt 1996, became essential livelihoodac tivities in the Seppä et al. 2003,T ipping et al. 2006). At the subsistence economy (Hunter 1976). onset of the Iron Age( ca. 3000 yrs BP), After decades of struggle, reform anthropogenic and natural processes had finally came with the passage of the Crofter’s already resulted in a reduction in woodland Holding Act of 1886, which gaves ecurity of cover in the Northwest Highlands (Armit and tenure, rights toco mpensation for permanent Ralston 2003). Untangling the combined improvements, the righttoafair rent arbitrated effects of climate change and anthropogenic by an independent Crofters Commission, and disturbancei s complex, but theirco mbined the right to bequeath tenancy to a family impact on vegetation ands oils over the last member. Typically, new crofting townships two millennia has been deleterious (Tipping were planned on a grid or strip pattern, 2003).Climatic oscillations during this period depending on topography, giving each (e.g., the Romano-British warm period, household a roughly equalp ortion of arable deterioration during the Dark Ages, the land( between 0.5 and 2.0 ha) andr ights to a Medieval Warm Period, and the Little Ice limited number of grazingan imals on common Age) have undoubtedly resulted in phases of land as well as rights to defined areas to dig agrarian abandonment and re-colonizationof peatf orfuel.

249 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

Crofting Township Case Studies direction,” where there was excessive depopulation on the northwestmainlandto the At the time of Adam’s visits to the Northwest extentofendangering normal social life, and Highlands, the croftings ociety he where the land and common grazing photographed was on the cusp of change. It were deteriorating andu sed well below their was a time whenth e “crofting way of life” agricultural potential (Darling 1955: 12).This came close to its apotheosis as anint egrated is the cusp of change, between overpopulation and unique cultural expression. A number of and depopulation, that Adam capturedin his folklorists, ethnographers, musicologists, township images. photographers and writers from the outside world were attractedto the Northwest Highlands andth e Hebrides at this time and Arnisdaleand Corran several stayed and helpedl ay the foundations ofthe .It also coincided with the Twos mall villages of Arnisdale and Corran lie economic hardships of the depression which within two kilometers of each other,c lustered forced many urban migrants back onto the around the bay on the north shore of Loch resources ofthe family crofts (Cameron 1998). Hourn and on either sideo f the Arnisdale Although the region’s demographic nadir River ands urrounded on alls ides by Arnisdale would not ber eached for another 40 years, Estate.The photographs I present here depict poverty and poor living conditions were Arnisdale itself, but the historical narrative widespread and there were few economic includes Corran as these twos ettlements are in opportunities apart from crofting.The reality one community that developed around th “Highland problem,” as it became known to the herring industry in the late 18 century.A developers in the following decades, was a census from 1836 puts the population of result of the complex history of socio- Corran and Arnisdale at 600, but even then it economic change: the demise of the clan was in decline due toemigration (Miers 2006). system of communal land ownership, the I include two repeat photos of Arnisdale Clearances, the introduction ofs heep, the in order to give an indication of the processes , andth e Crofting Acts of social and material change preceding the that followed. FrankF raser Darling, one ofthe time when Adam visited the area. Within 10 most influential writers on Highland affairs years of the passing of the Crofters Holdings during the 1940s and 1950s, defined the Act in 1886, improvements of living problem as a lack of resources and capital, as conditions proceeded throughout the crofting well as widespread depopulation.There was areas. Erskine Beveridge’s photo taken in not enough arable landin the crofting areas to 1898(Fi g. 18.3A) is a good example of how enable economic-sized holdingsfor each croft, this change came about and contextualizes a lack of capital meant that crofters could not Adam’s photo taken 33 years later (Fig. improve their land, and “in order to gain 18.4A). Like many other west coast crofting th capital crofters migrated to urban centers settlements of the 19 century, the land making it impossible tocu ltivate their land” provided for small crops of potatoes and (Darling 1955: 10). fodder for a fewliv estock, but in the main, The overpopulation, famines, destitution, livelihoods were wonfr om the sea. During this squatting, rack-renting, andin security of period, was renowned for its tenure of the early and mid 19th century had annual herringfi shing betweenJ uly and been overcome by the time of Adam’s visits. October when up to “a couple of thousand But by the 1950s, Darlingf ound the problem fishermen would come from all parts of to be moving “in the other Scotland”(P arliamentary Papers 1884: 2044).

250 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

A. B. Figure 18.3. Beveridge photograph of Arnisdale, Scotland, UK. A. (ca. 1898). Erskine Beveridge’s photo shows the beginnings of the new, improved Arnisdale village, financed by the landlord, and is included here as historical background to an era of improvements in housing and social conditions thatis often evidentinRobert Adam’s other township photos taken 30 yearslater. Note the numerous fishing boats on the shore and the small fields behind the houses. The wooded area and buildings from center righta re partof the Arnisdale farm, soon to become a sporting estate with its signature “big house”. (©RCAHMS[Erskine BeveridgeCollection] Licensor www.rcahms.gov.uk). B. (28Se ptember2006 ). The new row of houses was completed and the old “blackhouses” closerto the shore were demolished shortly afterB everidge’s photograph was taken. The most noteworthy change in these repeatimages is the increase of woodland, duealmoste ntirelytocessation offirewood cutting and the effects of reduced grazing pressure on the in-byefields. (R. F. Rohde, Sco 53b).

At the time of the Napier Commission, the Beveridge’s 1898 photo are forerunners of croftingf amilies of Arnisdale had no more the improved “white houses,” subsidized by than halfa hectare of arable land apiece and no the Congested Districts Board, the access to hill grazing. Only one family kept a Department of Agriculture, and the Crofters cow by permission of the proprietor of Commission, that became ubiquitous Arnisdale Farm. Testimony of the poor living throughout the croftingr egion during the conditions was given to the Commissioners firsthalf of the 20th century. In the 1890s, 45 regarding theso -called turf andr ush thatched houses were occupied in Arnisdale and “black houses,” so named due to the fact that Corran by a population approaching 200 they had internalfir es but no chimneys and people (Parliamentary Papers 1895, English often no windows (see Fig. 18.6). Typically 2000).By the time Adam took his photo in they housed both humans and animals and 1939, this number had nearly halved; many their interiors were notoriously damp, dark, of these houses would have been occupied and dirty: by elderly men and women, although the We built them ourselves, for the proprietor gave school remained open with a handful of us no assistance. [. ..] We spoke to the pupils until 1954; today, only 16 houses are about a change of site for the houses and as an permanently inhabited by 32 people. These answer he askeduswhetherth e seaw as coming include 10 households occupied by the over the floors of them. We said it sometimes retired descendants of the original crofting did;a nd he told us then that we should put back families andf our by young couples with doors upon them, andw hen the sea came in that we could run away” (Parliamentary Papers eight school-aged children. However, this is 1884: 2027). a welcome improvement from the period between 1990 and 2000 when there were no The dwellings under construction in school-aged childrenin the village.

251 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

A. B. Figure 18.4. Adam’s photograph of Arnisdale,Scotland, UK. A. (20 August 1939). Adam’s photograph of Arnisdale, taken from a position left of Beveridge’s camera station in Fig. 18.3A, showshow extensivelyitwas cultivated in 1939. (R. M.A dam, RMA-H7115, courtesy of the University of St. Andrews Library). B. (28 August 2006). The most noticeable changes evident in 2006are the amenity trees near the row of houses, while the trees in the arable croft land have grown more as a result of agricultural abandonment in the last 30 or 40 years. Other signs of agricultural neglect are evident in the Pteridium aquilinum (bracken) andJ uncus effusus (rushes) that have invaded the arable grounda ndU lex europaeus (gorse) on the steeper slopes. Comparison of Figs. 18.3 and 18.4 underscores that these changes are recent. (R. F. Rohde,Sco 10b).

During the last 20 years, several derelict today none; the last of the livestock were sold houses have been bought andr estored as in 2006.This is not untypical of marginal and holiday homes, and most of the year-round remote townships where agrarian decline has residents of the village have also modernized been inexorable during the whole of the 20th and extendedth eiroriginal crofthouses. century.Today, a slow renewal of the local At the time of Adam’s photo, economy by diverse enterprises such as fish- employment in the village would have farming, wind-farms, tourism, ands ervice- revolved aroundth e Arnisdale and adjacent related self-employment mean that the estates, involvings talkers, stockmen, boatmen, marginal agriculture underlying the “crofting housekeepers, two school teachers, a way oflife”is lessr elevant than ever before. shopkeeper, postman, andl aborers for the recentlye stablished ForestryC ommission. Employment today consists of one estate The village of Tarskavaig was created as a worker,one contract worker in the oil result of forced removals from other parts of industry, one construction worker and one Skye during the early 19th century.The arable supportstaff for a local wind-farmcompany,a land was divided into 31 lots, and by 1883, 45 part-time post mistress, a nurse, oneb ed and families subsisted on remittances from migrant breakfast business during thes ummer months, labor andth e producefr om mixed agricultural a seasonal tearoom, a school bus driver, and smallholdings varying ins ize from 0.6 to 1.4 ones elf-employed seasonal boatman ferrying ha(P arliamentary Papers 1884: Q5535). In hill-walkers to more remote parts of Loch 1931, the village was still agriculturallyac tive Hourn. ands everal new “white houses” indicate a During the period between ther epeat degree of improvement in living conditions at photographs, crofts have gone fallow and that time (see Fig. 18.5A). unused as crofters haver etiredo r died. By the 1970s, there were only 10 active crofters, and

252 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

A. B. Figure 18.5. Lower Tarskavaig village, Scotland, UK. A. (24Se ptember 1931). This view of LowerT arskavaig village, from just outside the head dyke of this crofting township, shows extensively cultivated fields duringt he late harvest. (R. M. Adam, RMA-H2769, courtesy of the University ofSt. Andrews Library). B. (23September 2006). The effects of changing agriculturaltechnology and improved housinga reevident. Within the frame of the repeat photograph, there are now five occupied modern houses and one new house under construction while severalof the old thatched or corrugated roofed houses areeitherd erelict or used as barns and sheds. Today there areno hay stacks, corn stooks, and strips of potatoes;ear lierh arvesting of the grassf or big-bale silage has left a lush green sward for early winterg razing. Underlying these changes is a remarkable stability in the social fabric of the crofting communityref lected in the persistenceo f basic settlementandfield patterns. (R. F. Rohde, Sco 6b).

Adam’s photo of Tarskavaig(Fi g. walls with thatched roofs are evident in this 18.5A)found its way into various publications partof the township. in the following decades (e.g.,Barnett 1933). Thisw ould be goode arly potato ground, and Fraser Darling used several of Adam’s photos seaweed would not be hard to get. The crofts depicting the townships of in his seminal look trim andw ell kept. The oat cropa lso books Crofting Agriculture (1945) andThe looksa good one. The brackenisevidently West Highland Survey( 1955), where he creeping in, from the appearance of the commented that, unlike many other parts of foreground. Manycrofters in such a district as Skye, Tarskavaig had good grazingand well- West would think themselves drained arable land of light loam and fortunate with stretches of arable as good as represented “an idyllic picture of a crofting this. Small mechanized agricultureis possible township” (Darling 1955: 39).Adam’s image here, and vegetables for theSkye tourist trade would do well(Darling 1945: 74). does indeed seem idyllic: it depicts one of those relatively rare dry clear days of autumn The most obvious contrast with 2006 is the with the hay, oats, and barley harvest neatly absence of stooks andh ayricks or potato stacked to dry before being moved into larger fields.The precarious and labor intensive stooks or indoors for the winter.Even the businesso f drying fodder and grain has been smallest fields and most marginal arable land superseded with the aid ofa large tractor and were worked and the adjacent hill grazing kept big-balerto make silage for cattle. free of bracken. Seven houses, two of which Ther ecollections of Flora MacLean, were new government subsidized “white who was borninTarskavaig in 1949, confirm houses,” two partially modernized black that little changed during the 20 years houses with corrugated ironr oofs, and three following Adam’s visit. Flora recalled that traditional “black houses” of dry-stone-rubble whens he was a child, all the crofts were 253 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century ploughed with horses and cut with scythes, the Calligarry and oats were made into stooks, and hay was dried Before 1803 there wereonly 7 families in the just as in Adam’s photo. Most crofters kept a Calligarry township—in that year it was cow andf ollower, and the village population divided into 18 lots—everyone thatsenta son worked the sheep and planted potatoes to his lordship’s regimentw ould get one . . . together. Change came during the 1950s and five entire lotsa re held by as many tenants, 1960s as the old people died, crofts became the remaining thirteen being subdivided into disused, andm any of the houses stood empty. as many as six divisions. Therea ret wo She herself went away to work in the south cottars in the township that have nolandat all after leaving school, but came back in the andca nnot even keep a hen. (Parliamentary 1970s. Papers 1884: 274) The decline in the village continued until From testimony to the Napier about 15 years ago whenp eople started Commission in 1883 it is clear that no one in coming back. Four or five houses are now either Calligarry or Ardvasar had kept sheep occupied by people who do not croft or have since about 1800.The tacksman of Ord (whose a plot of land. Some of these work at the farm extendedto 2400 ha with 9 ha of it nearby Gaelic college and have family ties to arable) employed a few crofters as ploughmen. the area. Young people have come back and About 10 or 12 people were employed at almosta ll the houses are still in possession of (theC lan Donald seat) each the original crofting families. Those that are summer in the gardens,and others went south complete incomers have integrated well. (F. MacLean, personal communication, 26 to seek employment. “They go to theIri sh October 2006) coast fishing—the younger ones; and a number of girls go to be house servants in the towns; Today, only one farmer makes a andtho se that don’t do that go to work with substantial parto f his income from the land. farmers in the Lothians and onth e east coast He has a tractorand r ound baler,and cuts of Scotland”(P arliamentary Papers 1884: grassf or four or five other crofters who still 313). keep a few cattle. Deagrarianisation has The establishment of larger croft followed contemporary economies of scale holdings ands ubstantial common grazings relying oncap ital-intensive big-bale silage after theC rofters Holdings Act of 1886 meant technology by one farmer where previously that a higher standardof living based on small- there were over 30.The more marginal lands scale agriculture was possible. Fraser have been left fallow, and only the larger Darling’s comments on the crofting landscape fields are cut (Fig. 18.6B). About 10 ofthe 30 depicted in Adam’s 1931 image of Calligarry houses in the village are used intermittently (Fig. 18.6A) show some insight into the during holidays by ther elatives of original agrarian change taking place at the time: croftingfamilies or are holiday houses used by outsiders.The other houses are occupied Some of the hay is in large quoils, some in more-or-lessa ll year round by locals.The small quoils, some lying in the swathe and some uncut. Tripods in the middle distance village is a healthy thriving community indicate that the big quoils are beingma de today—back from the brink of depopulation. with air spaceinsid e them. They would dry The land is no longer the mainstay of the even better if they were lifted clear of the economy since people nolong er accept that ground. This township has obviously shrunk level of hardship and poverty. A diversity of sinceth e days when much of the ground employment opportunities,m any of them behind the crofts was cultivated. The lazy- related to the seasonal tourist trade in the area, bedse vidently supported a large population, sustain many similar communities in Skye and for all those acres of feannagan [so-called Lochalsh. ‘lazy-beds’]in the photograph represent hard labor (Darling 1945: 44).

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Figure 18.6. Calligarry Township, Scotland, UK A. (21 September 1931). This image of Calligarry Township depicts one of the few “blackhouses” described in the text and still inhabited at the time. Within 20 years, none wereinh abited in the parish and only a handfulinSkye itself (Barron 1985). (R. M. Adam, RMA-H2752, courtesy of the University ofSt. Andrews Library). B. (29 August 2006). The “blackhouse” and thatched byre are today barelyrec ognizable ruins. The more marginal fields have been abandoned and natural woodlandre generation ise vident as a result. The open spaces between the wooded areas and in the drier sections of the fallow fields are now overrunw ith Pteridium aquilinum while Juncuse ffusush ave invaded the rougher and damper ground. Today, the croft landisfarmed in the same way as described for Tarskavaig—afew crofters with tractors and big bale silage machines crop the grassear ly in the summer. The bales are wrapped in plastic and stacked at the sides of fields close to where cattle will be fed in the winter months. Anyone who has tried toma ke hay during the wet west Highland summers will agree that this modern technique is a great advanceon the hay cutters, turners, and balers of the more recent past, to say nothing of hand scything, raking and stooking of the 19th and early 20th century. Forestry Commission plantations of Picea sitchensis and Pinus contorta that have transformed the open moorlands of the Highlands during the 20th century are visible in the distance. (R. F. Rohde, Sco 40b). water andmod ernized bathrooms. The trendth at Darling noted in the 1931 The photo of Ardvasar township(Fi g. photograph has continuedinto the present(see 18.7) shows similar trends in agricultural Fig. 18.6B). Figure 18.6A depicts one of the practice: only the larger fields are used for few black houses still inhabited at the time. grazing ors ilage productionr esulting in Within 20 years, none were inhabitedin the increased woodland, invasion of Pteridium parish and only a handful in Skye itself aquilinum (bracken) andJuncu s effusus (Barron 1985).Ther elatively large andf ertile (rushes),as well as the development of new crofts of the Sleat peninsula provided partial modern bungalows close to the main road livelihoods for crofters at the time of Adam’s linking Skye to the mainlandf erry. photos, but similar to previous eras, in the The change in cattle numbers in the 1960s a family needed another source of Sleat Parish over the last two centuries is income apart from the croft. But given a large indicative ofthe change in agricultural practice enough landholding, “a youngm an wouldbe from intensive mixed farming centered on justifiedin working welland m aking crofting cattle to extensive sheep farming( Dodgshon his full-time occupation, because present day 1993).In 1795, there were about 2600 cattle Government subsidies and good proceeds for and almostnosheep: in 1963, there were only stock and wool bring in more income nowth an 749 beef cattle and 15,010s heep( Barron ever before” (Barron 1985: 513).During the 1985),and by 2005th ese numbers hadf allen 1960s electrificationand r ural water supplies to 607and 10,437,r espectively (SEERAD were completed, andmo st houses had piped 2007). 255 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

A. B. Figure 18.7. Ardvasar Township, Scotland, UK. A. (21 September 1931).T his view of Ardvasar Township shows enclosed grazed fields in the foreground andcr ofts in the midground, overlooking the Sound of Sleat andK noydart. (R. M. Adam, RMA-H2751, courtesy of the University ofSt. Andrews Library). B. (29 August 2006).N ote the heavily grazed sward in the foreground, the increase in Juncuse ffusus and Pteridium aquilinum in the mid-ground and woodland incursionsar ound arable fields in the distance. These are combined symptomsof extensification of land-useassociated with sheep farming anda decline inarable production. The monoculture forestry plantation in the left distanceis nearingma turity whenitwill be clear- cutand exported primarily for pulp. (R. F. Rohde,Sco 41b).

Drynoch 1923 when Farm came into the hands In common with the townships described of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland and above, the crofters of the parish of was put under crofting tenure (Cameron 1996). were confined to pitifully small patches of By the time of the third Statistical Report land while the bulk of the area was divided up th compiled during the 1950s, the crofts of into six enormous sheep farms in the mid 19 Drynoch were described as being century, of which Drynoch was one( Hunter … in the main of such a size astoafford their 1976). At the time of the Napier Commission, occupants a very fair standardof living. There only 11f amilies remained in Drynoch “very is no great poverty in the parish. The much decreased,” all being cottars with no smallholders, who form the greater bulk of land of their own and not allowed to keep the population, are now ina comparatively livestock, “apartfromfivef amilies allowed to prosperous condition, andmany of them own keep 1 cow and 2 or 3 sheep—all tethered” motor cars, tractors and other farm (Parliamentary Papers 1884: 336).Most of the implements. Ploughing by horses is becoming evictions had taken place in the early 19th rarer and rarer... (Barron 1985). century, andth e remaining hill ground was taken awayfr om the crofters in the 1840s. Overall, the majorchange s suggest that this is Those tenants who were not removed were a highly productive and valued agricultural requiredto labor forthef amily of the lowland landscape.Large crofts that were created with some consideration for economic viability in proprietor ofthes heep farm. th Unlike the townships in Arnisdale and Sleat, the 20 century have survived with little land-tenure reformdid not reach Drynoch until change(Fi g. 18.8).

256 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

A. B. Figure 18.8. Drynoch Township, Scotland, UK. A. (24Se ptember 1936). Drynoch township is an ancient cultural landscape with extensive pre-clearance dykes, which are apparenta gainst hillslopes in the midgrounda nd distance. Sheep are grazing in the foreground near the footstones ofapre-clearanced welling that are hidden within a patch of Juncuse ffusus. To the leftof frame inGlen Drynoch, abandonedhomesteadsand pre-croftingf ield systems are widespread. (R.M. Adam, RMA-H5226, courtesy of the University ofSt. Andrews Library). B. (23S eptember 2006). Large fields on the lower flood plain, where there are now six new large agricultural sheds corresponding to six large croft holdings, arein use for big-bale silage and sucklerb eef production. Only two of the six crofts on the opposite slopearenow cropped for silage; the others are either abandoned or used only for grazing. Other changes include the extension of arable fields into the lower floodplain, the planting of conifersh elter belts, and several new housesonwhat appears to beasubdivided croft to the left. Forestry Commission plantationsare visible on the skyline betweenDrynoch and the Hills in the distance. (R. F. Rohde,Sco 44b).

Kilmuir District an unscrupulous landlord (Cameron 1996). In In 1847, the 18,600 ha Kilmuir estate the wake oftheC rofters Holdings Act in 1886, had been sold by Lord MacDonaldand turn ed Kilmuir crofters and cotters petitioned their over to several larges heep farms andthe landlord for the restoration of their former crofting tenantry confined tos mallc oastal grazings at Monkstadt and farms settlements (Barron 1985).During the land which “were in the hands of strangers while .. wars of the 1880s, Kilmuir was known to be .the rightful owners were huddledtog ether on one of the most fertile areas of the island and rocks andmo ssnot fito f r cultivation” (Hunter at the same time one of the most afflicted by 1976: 176, quoting Crofting Files AF67, clearances and the practice ofrack-renting by Scottish Record Office).

257 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

A. B. Figure 18.9. TotescoreTownship, Scotland, UK. A. (27 September 1936). Totscore Townshipw ith Monkstadt House (now derelict) visible in the distance. Adam’s photo shows haymaking inv arious stages and unharvested potatoeslate in the season. Evidence for more extensivecultivation and drainage of surrounding fields isclearly visible in 1936. (R. M. Adam, RMA- H5268, courtesy of the University ofSt. Andrews Library). B. (1 September2006 ). Aerial photographs show that every scrap of land on the coastal plain has been turnedbycas-krom (hand-plough) or horse-drawn plough at one time or another. Today, these fields have been abandoned for so long that little trace remains of this intensive land-use apart from the ancient head- dykeand the single croft in the right midground. (R. F. Rohde, Sco 45b).

The estate, consisting of seven formed in 1914a long with the creation of new townships, was bought byC ongested Districts croft holdings in (Fig. 18.11). All Board in 1904.The lands of Monkstadt farm the townships in this parish were enlarged at were givento the adjoiningtown ships of the expense of sheepf arms by theC ongested Totscore (Fig. 18.9) and Bornesketaig(Fi g. Districts Board and later the Department of 18.10), anda news ettlementof Linicro was Agriculture.

A. B. Figure 18.10. Bornesketaig Township, Scotland, UK. A. (27 September 1936). This view of Bornesketaig township showspartially harvestedhayfields andsmall patchesof potatoes with “blackhouses” behind. (R. M. Adam, RMA-H5269, courtesy of the University of St. Andrews Library). B. (1 September 2006). Surrounded by new modernbungalows, the“blackhouses” inhabited in 1936 but abandoned soon afterwards, have now been restored - oneas a heritage museum. Thefields inAdam’s photo aren ow fallow and used solelyfor grazing sheep. (R. F. Rohde, Sco 46b).

258 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

Over the next 25 years, the area of arable At the same time, a massive reduction in landin creased from 990 to 1345 ha and the population occurred, from a peak of 3625 in total area of crofting tenure from 9847 to 1841 to a quarter this amount in 1961. In 18,049 ha. Tenl arges heepf arms were contrast to the District as a whole, this locality incorporatedinto the crofting landscape, and has seen a further fall ofa lmost 40% in the 85 new crofts and 268 existing holdings were populations ince 1971( SL local plan 1999). enlarged. “Landlessness hadb een eliminated Accompanying these socio-economic and andth e number of thatched houses hadf allen demographic trends, arable cultivation from 336 to 137 while the number of modern (including temporary grass) fell by one half. stone-built houses with slated roofs had Since 1963, cattle numbers have halved from increasedfr om 20 to 304” (Hunter 1976: 206). 2349 to 1176 while sheep numbers have When the Smallholders Actb ecame law in almost doubled from 16,974 to 30,220, 1912, the estate was registered in the name of reflecting the wider trend of extensification. the Board of Agriculture for Scotland andis In 1949, the number of part-time jobs now aC rofting Estate under the Secretary of (apart from crofting) in the nine townships of State for Scotland. Kilmuir Parish was 16, half of which were Fifty years afterK ilmuir was taken into state fishingf or exportan d the others either estate ownership there were ...great changes in the work, public services andr oad maintenance, material conditions of the people, with a and textile manufacturing (Darling 1955). consequentc hange in their outlook. Black Today crofting continues to provide house to white house; lorry for the creel and supplementary income to tourism ands ervice cart; tractor and plough for the caschrom; bus based employment, much ofitdependent on or carinst ead of walking or riding; daily post officev an instead of thricew eekly delivery; commuting to the nearby town of free medical services; frees chool transport; (Skye andL ochalsh Local Plan 1999). etc. (Barron 1985: 477).

A. B. Figure 18.11. Flodigarry Township, Scotland, UK. A. (27Se ptember 1936). This view of Flodigarry township shows a recently built “white house”w ith large stacks of peat to the righta nd winter fodder stacked in the yard behind. All the arable land in the township has been cropped for oats and hay. (R. M. Adam, RMA-H5276, courtesy of the University of St. Andrews Library). B. (1 September 2006). Modern bungalows have replaced the improved “white houses.” Over half of the fields are now fallow and invadedbyPteridium aquilinum and Juncus effusus, and native woodlands are on the increase. (R. F. Rohde, Sco 47b).

259 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

Discussion inter-related trends that constitute nothing short of an “ecological revolution” between Deagrarianisation in the Northwest the 1930s andth e present (Merchant 1997, Highlands has muchin common with trends Rohde and Hoffman 2008). This has been throughout the more marginal agricultural accompanied by an economic transformation areas of Europe, which are characterized by a in the local economy due in part to the recent diversity of cultural landscapes shaped by creation of employment in fish-farming, traditionalland-use practices (Plieninger et al. tourism, services, and a boom in house 2006).These landscapes supporthigh levels building related to the national surge in of biodiversity and ecological services, both property values.Ther easons for these of which are being lost due to changes are complex and revolve around deagrarianisation, extensification andl and European agricultural and development policy abandonment (Birnie and Mather 2005, as well as global changes in commodity Plantureux et al. 2005). The repeat production, transport, and tourism. However, photographs of crofting townships illustrate agriculture now plays a minor role in an the links betweens ocio-economic, agrarian, environment that was once almost wholly and ecological systems, and byimpli cation dependent on it to sustain the local economy. the relationship between cultural and Two very different perceptions of the biological diversity (O’Rourke 2006).The crofting landscape were espoused during the species-rich hay meadows that were decades following Adam’s trips to the developed on crofts over more than a century Northwest Highlands that echo into the of stable agricultural tenancy were the result present. One portrayed it as devastated and of longr otations of late cutting with after- degraded “and that is the plain primary reason grazing by cattle interspersed withs hort why there are nowf ew people and whyth ere periods of cropping.Ther epeat photographs is a constant economic problem” (Darling show that all but the largest andmo st 1955: 192); the other identifies the landscape productive fields haves uffered deterioration “as a wildernesso f mountainfl anked glens evidenced by the invasion of Juncus effusus andmi st shrouded islands, inhabited by a andP teridium aquilinumand the loss of quaint, noble and once warliker ace”(L orimer conservation value based onfl oristic 1999: 518).Darling(1945: 192-193) sums up composition (Tiley andJ ones 2005).Land the first viewpoint throughout his influential abandonment andimpov erishment of book on crofting agriculture: marginal fields has also resulted in scrub woodlandr egeneration, which might It is possible that the wilderness value of the otherwise be welcome from a biodiversity WestH ighlands for the jaded townsman will perspective, were it not that scarce hard-won still be sufficient to justify a large subsidy to agricultural land is being lost. Furthermore, maintaina sufficient population of people the larger fields that are now cropped for following practices of misuse to preventa ny silage are likely to be less floristically diverse natural healing of the devastation... . Man due tor eseedingand application of nitrogen in numbers, combative and political man, fertilizer. Both trends are consistent with the who has no placein nature, has entered this complex organism likeaprotozoan parasite changefr om “traditional” croft management in its blood-stream and had brought the to more modern capital-intensive fodder organism to a state of debilitation....The production dependent on economies of scale, greatest value the mass of Highland land extensification of sheep farming, and could give to the nation would be as a complete abandonment due to continuing productive wild land in which deagrarianisation and de-crofting (Dodgshon perhaps twice as many people could live 2006). than are there at present.... A period of a Ther epeat photographs from all 19 century is probably needed together with townships ofthis study clearly illustrate these skilfulmanagement, torepair the damage . . . 260 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century

Thirty years later, Bryden and Conservation, Areas of Great Landscape Houston (1976), commenting on the ability of Value,Listed Wildlife Sites, Sites of the recently formed Highlands and Islands Importancef or Nature Conservation, and Development Board (HIDB) to effect socio- Biodiversity Action Plans),aimed at reviving economic improvements in the crofting areas, the area’s “natural heritage,”are an diagnosedth e “problem” in somewhat increasingly important factor in the local different terms but reiterated Darling’s economy, although these are rarely directly sentiment: related to the economics of “traditional” crofting. Furthermore, if Europe’s new carbon [In] the 1960s the central problem was management agendai s not carefully widelyc onsidered to be depopulation .... integrated into existing agricultural policy and Unless special measures were taken, it was support schemes, this is likely to have an argued, many areas would soon reach a adverse effectoncrofting in the Northwest critically low levelof population density, the Highlands, leading to further stock reductions continuation of basic public services would and a spiral of decline inc rofting activities be threatened and, at best, only a semi- derelict economy would survive. [And] since (Quill and Cook 2007). the main cause of the Highland problem in Crofting and its association with agriculture appeared to be the main cause of cultural heritage is central to the popular the Highland problem in the 1960s, it currency of modern tourism, the mainstay of seemed absurd to look on the development the economy in the Northwest Highlands of that industry as helping towards its today (Rohde 2004). At the same time and for solution (Bryden andHouston 1976: 132). similar reasons, the myth of the area as “wilderness” is given increased symbolic Development planners within the HIDB importance in the promotion of tourism, as analyzed the socio-economic “problem” as well as by conservation NGOs and the stemming from subsistence agricultural defenders of deer-stalking ons porting estates practices, protected from market forces, (MacDonald 1998).These contradictory ways largely as a result of crofting —“as tultifying of seeing the environment have become form of landt enure”( Highlands andI slands “naturalized” in the landscape, corresponding Development Board 1967: 4, quoted in Carter closely with Darling’s prescient vision. It 1974: 293). However, without crofting woulds eem that the contradictory ideological agricultural activityand th e securityoftenure discourse on nature and society that places associated with the institution of crofting, it is traditional crofting society in a wilderness doubtful that a population large enough to arises out oftoday’s neo-liberal economy and engender a local economy would exist in the the globalization of the conservation lobby. Northwest Highlands today (Hunter 1991). From an ecological perspective, the Furthermore, the modernization ideology of lack of agricultural activity nowev ident in the the 1960s has been replacedtod ay by nature crofting areas, especially the more marginal conservation as the driver of landscape townships, represents a distinct hiatus in the change. Production subsidies are in the area’s long history of intense anthropogenic processo f beingr eplaced by anassortment of disturbance.The changes evident in the brief area-based andm anagement activitys ubsidies period of 75 years depicted in the repeat that act as incentives for crofters to pursue photographs is but the latestofa long series environmental and conservation objectives as of transformations, stretching back several well as social and economic development. An millennia, brought about by the impact of equally diverse array of government humans within this evolving landscape. landscape designations (which includeSit es Although recent, the detail and clarity ofthese of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature images are a valuable source of evidence Reserves, National Scenic Areas, Special towards understanding the environmental Protection Areas, Special Areas of history of the Northwest Highlands.They also 261 West HighlandCroftingLandscapes ofScotland duringthe Twentieth Century help to put into perspective the discourse of chapter is dedicated, made manyin sightful political ecologyr elated to the relative values comments on an earlier draft. I am also of cultural landscapes, wildernessa reas, and grateful to Diane Boyer for her attention to natural heritage, all of which have been detail and help in editing, as well as to Peter “written onth e surface of the soil” and Griffiths for his generous contribution off ine continue to influence the way wes ee and maps to this paper.All of theR . M.Adam respond to this landscapetod ay. photographs are reproduced courtesy of St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, UK. Acknowledgments ErskineBe veridge’s photo of Arnisdale (Fig. 18.3A) is reproduced with the permission of Many Highlanders contributed the Royal Commission on the Ancient and indirectly to this paper, but William and Historic Monuments of Scotland.Ther epeat Christine MacKenzie and Flora MacLean photographs are courtesyof the author. deserves pecial mention for their generosity andint erest. ChuckJ edrej, to whom this

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