Sheep – Scotland's dirty secret!
If you have ever visited the far north and west of Scotland, you certainly will have noticed the abundance of sheep wandering freely on the heather clad hills and across the one-track roads.
The history of the sheep in Scotland is a sad one, though. Throughout the eighteenth century and for about a hundred years into the nineteenth century, wealthy landowners discovered that it would be more profitable to have sheep than people on the land. This created a dark period in Scotland's history – a period known as The Highland Clearances.
The crofters, as they were known, were forcibly removed from their leased crofts (small farmhouses), sometimes by having their homes burned down in front of them. You may have noticed some of these ruined stone crofts on the hillsides and glens during your travels.
Many of the evicted (like my ancestors) were forced to live on the coast where some again tried to make a living from the land, while others became fishermen. My family became fishermen. Others emigrated in droves to countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Perhaps your ancestors were among those evicted!
The Highland Clearances dramatically changed the way of life for the Scottish Highlander. In such a relatively short period of time, a way of life was all but gone!
This image of two sheep wandering on a road on The Isle Of Skye on Scotland's west coast was originally photographed with my old Canon 5D and then recreated as a digital painting in Corel Painter®.
I have included it today in the Color challenge - Sunday Purple, because of the purple heather.
Image © Diane Macdonald. All Rights Reserved.
A version of this can be found for sale in my Fineartamerica portfolio.
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When I went to school in England I was told this partly due to the fact that a Landowner was taxed by the number of people living on his land.
There's always another side to history. LOL! Greed was definitely involved in a lot of it. There were less taxes (maybe none) to pay for sheep, and more money to be made! Some of the landowners were kinder than others to their tenants, but there is no doubt that some tenants suffered terribly. Some had no choice but to leave Scotland, but some also chose that route.
They did have a per sheep tax, but it was much lower than the tax on people.
But of course 😂
This is a wonderful shot! I love the whimsy involved with the sheep aimlessly wandering into the sunset.
Love it!
Upvoted
Thanks! It's such a typical scene!
Sad story but the photo is pretty cool, thanks for sharing this information.
Thank you.
Very interesting piece of history. I had never heard of this. Beautiful photo!
Thanks! Yes, most people don't know about those emigrations from the 18th and 19th centuries. When you grow up in Scotland, you are not allowed to forget the history. At least that was true in my day. Goodness knows what they learn now. They are probably taught it was all a hoax and the crofters burned down their own homes! LOL!