BRIEF HISTORY OF HIGHLAND CLEARANCES

The Clearances began in 1760 and ended over a century later. During this time tens of thousands of men, women and children were evicted, often with violence and cruelty, from their homes in order to make way for sheep farming. In some parts of the Highlands entire glens were cleared, homes were burned down (as were nearby trees to prevent rebuilding) and tenants were often forced to leave at sword or gun point, being allowed to take very little with them as they began a life of poverty and hunger.

There were 2 types of clearance, one following on from the other. The first kind was compulsory settlement on desolate and infertile land near the sea. The Highlanders who were moved to the coast were given a small piece of land - the croft. If this land was bad, the crofter was forced into kelping (collecting seaweed, the ashes of which were used to make soap and glass) to make a living. But if the land was good, then the crofter had to pay a high rent for it and so was still forced into kelping to pay for this. For the Highlanders who had been moved to the coast life was hard. They had to try to get used to a new lifestyle and to earn their living from fishing and kelping - which they had no experience of. Usually they tried to continue farming on their small plots of land. The second form of clearance was often provoked by the failure of the croft to provide the Highlanders with a living. The situation for many was hopeless - the numbers of people who were made to live on the coast along with huge increases in rent, over-fishing of coastal waters and over-kelping, resulted in starvation and poverty. When the kelp industry fell apart and the price of cattle decreased, this left a huge number of poor and needy people who were not able to pay their rent or to buy food.

By the 1850s the Clearances were effectively at an end for several reasons - first of all there were no people left to evict, secondly the population had decreased, thirdly the economy was starting to pick up and finally the fishing industry was improving. Also the crofters were beginning to act on their own behalf. It had taken them so long to act for a number of reasons. They were slow to organise themselves effectively and the protests that there had been against the Clearances had been unplanned and disorganised. The loss of the traditional leaders in the Highlands and the destruction of the clan system as well as the actual shock of the effects of the Clearances meant that it had taken some time to produce new leaders from amongst themselves. The Church also influenced events because it described the Clearances as God's retribution of their sins on earth and it actively discouraged the Highlanders from protesting. The final end to the Clearances was the Crofters Act in 1886 which was passed after a struggle lasting for four years.

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BRIEF HISTORY OF CEANNABEINNE

Before the clearances of the 1840s,  the area around modern Durness was made up of many small townships.  These included Durine, Lerin, Sangomore, Smoo, Sangobeg, Balnakeil, Keoldale, Hope, Eriboll and Ceannabeinne.  On the eastern outskirts of Durness, Ceannabeinne was a thriving township.  It was the biggest farm town on the Rispond Estate with fourteen houses and a school, and the census of June 1841 details ten families living there. Although owned by Lord Reay, from 1788, the leasehold of Rispond and Ceannabeinne was held by James Anderson, the tacksman. James Anderson held a lease on the land for 76 years and although the land became part of the Duke of Sutherland’s Estate in 1829, Anderson retained his legal rights over the land and his sub-tenants.  From the beginning of his lease Anderson had made money from fishing and fish processing, leasing tackle and fishing rights to his tenants and purchasing their catches.  But with changes in the economy after the Napoleonic wars, these industries became less profitable and he decided to become a sheep farmer.  To do this he needed to clear the tenants from his land.  There had been evictions on Lord Reay’s estate from the early 1800s and by the 1840s the nearby townships of Keoldale, Hope and Eriboll had all been turned into sheep farms and the ancient townships of Borralie and Croispol had disappeared.

The townsfolk had to adjust to these changes.  Some worked on the land and, by combining his with fishing and kelp-gathering, made a living; some found jobs as shepherds or labourers on the big sheep farms; some left Durness to work in city factories further south and some emigrated. Anderson started his evictions in 1839 and at first they were carried out in an orderly manner, but in September 1841, the people of Ceannabeinne were told they had to leave.  According to local stories and contemporary newspaper reports, a sheriff officer from Dornoch was to serve the eviction notice but in a series of events over several days he, and several other sheriff officers, were physically prevented from doing so.  The most serious riot occurred on Saturday 17th September 1841 when a sheriff substitute, the procurator fiscal, police superintendent and fourteen special constables arrived in Durness at the inn at Durine about nine in the evening. Forty-eight men of Durness tried to talk with the sheriff and ask that the eviction not be carried out on the Sabbath day but this was refused. At about ten o'clock the men who had gathered at the well on the Park Hill opposite the inn attacked. How much violence is unclear but the constables were removed and disarmed. The sheriff officer escaped and hid. The procurator fiscal and the superintendent stood their ground but were eventually removed from a room in the inn and escorted to the parish boundaries.   Shortly after the riots at the Durine Inn, the Sheriff arrived in Durness and threatened to call upon the 53rd Regiment from Edinburgh to enforce the eviction. The riot had attracted many newspaper reports, and an official investigation was ordered from government officials in Edinburgh. The call for the 53rd Regiment was cancelled and a investigation was initiated. As James Anderson had not broken any law, the people of Ceannabeinne had to leave their homes but an agreement was reached whereby Anderson withdrew the eviction order and the people agreed to remove themselves voluntarily by the following May.

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The map and information is from the DURNESS ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION PROJECT

carried out by  Rowan Tree Consulting

The Trail.

We will construct a trail to provide safe access and  education. The marked path will lead visitors around the site to seven display signs explaining the township.

Follow the Trail Map and signs

The preclearance township covers what is now recognised as two common grazing. The trail has had to be curtailed to accommodate what is on Durness Common grazing but this shows for interpretation a large part of the township.

Ceannabeinne township, was once a thriving township on the Rispond Estate.  Today it consists of several ruined structures situated by the side of the A838 Durness to Tongue road.  In many cases only the lowest courses of the foundation survive, as the substantial stone enclosure dykes built after the clearance of the settlement in 1842 have re-used much of the stone from the buildings.  Overall, the site is well preserved with the visible remains of 10 buildings and their associated enclosures.  Only one building from the township remains roofed - Ceannabeinne cottage which once served as a school but which is now a private residence.

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The Project

Consolidation, access and interpretation of heritage, to conserve and enhance the Environment of Ceannabeinne preclearance Township

This project is about enhancing and creating an experience for learning and interpreting the environment and heritage of a historical site. Biological diversity is also part of our cultural heritage. We are planning to involve a wide range of media to understand, deduce and display. We wish to identify with how the population of the township lived in this environment and the means they used to support their life style.

This project is about involvement of local people in thoughtful and appreciative ways with long lasting results. In essence there will be 2 conclusions bringing the cultural heritage and environment from the past - a DVD documentary and a site with explanation and analysis displayed on boards along a directional path. In this project we aim to highlight a very complicated complex emphasising the interactions between man and nature.Our community-focused project is aimed to consolidate or conserve, identify the visible and accessible archaeological features of Ceannabeinne township for promotion to the public and provide informative access and interpret the biggest well preserved pre clearance farm town in Sutherland with the visible remains of 10 buildings and their associated enclosures.

One of the first tasks was to restore parts of the dykes where we would be guiding visitors.

Before	After

The walkways installed

A census of the 16th June 1841 details ten families and their occupations living in fourteen houses and a school. We wish to make a trail with interpretation panels and recreate dramatically the story in a new and old documentary form using digital media. We have commissioned professional archaeologists to research, record and make available information to interpret local history.  We are working to identify the Biological diversity and heritage of the historical site. With information gathered we plan to, design, write and print information for interpretive panels, dramatize the story of the township and record this in documentary fashion with an approach of Past and present.

This section will link to slide shows of local areas

• Ceannabeinne Beach Slideshow
• The making of a Television programme  on the Highland Clearances to be screened on STV and the History Channel.

As an example of a pre-Clearance settlement, the township at Ceannabeinne has an interesting story about the way of life of the people who lived there until 1841 and the significance of this heritage, local cultures, traditions, languages and ways of life to the people who live in the area today. If this township had survived the locality would have been far removed from what is present today. We wish to understand this better by recreation in period with costumes of the era and recreation of the dwellings in stage format . There are historical records of events linked to this site, the Durness Riots, which give it a special meaning is an event worthy and able to be recreated. The story can be seen as an early example of resistance to the Clearances. Ceannabeinne residents were re-settled elsewhere in the Durness area, there is an opportunity to look at the theme of the effects on the people who were displaced, using archival material.

Archaeology

The archaeology on the site is well preserved and includes what was thought to be a monastic settlement, possibly dating from early medieval times.

Since the reports charcoal remains have been dated by radiocarbon to 370-100 BC. This suggests an Iron Age promontory fort. Further work to clarify this and explore the site remains a very exciting prospect

• Site 11 Monastic site Slide show of Archaeology
• Audio of Discussion about the Monastic Site 11 with Dr. Olivia Lelong GUARD and Mr. Graham Bruce (20 minutes)
• Audio of Discussion about the township Part 1 (12 minutes)
• Audio of Discussion About the township Part 2 (5 minutes)
• Archaeology of the monastic site video (23 minutes)
• Introduction to Ceannabeinne video ( 4.5 minutes)
• Site 3 Fireplace Archaeology (27 minutes)
• Site 7 Drain Archaeology  (6 minutes)
• Site 10 Longhouse archaeology (12 minutes)

• Slide show of Archaeology  Site 3
• Slide Show of Archaeology Site
• Slide show of Archaeology Site 10

• Summary of Trial Trenching Results

• Ceannabeinne & traigh na h’uamhag, data structure report

Three sites in the township were explored with 4 trial trenches Site 3 - a fireplace in a gable wall site 7 a drain in a barn attached to a long house Site 10 2 trenches, a doorway with a paved entrance and a "room" showing signs of a long standing central hearth

The locality of the township is compelling, but in today’s understanding and the vision perceived takes a little understanding. It is easy to see why people lived there on a clear day this site is a wonderful place but can be wild. Its not until the area is explored, viewed from several angles that the rocky hillsides begin to become more than piles of stone and hillside lumps. It must be thought of more than a static place in one time cleared as it was for sheep. Most of the walls are post clearance but there are obvious signs of preclearance walls, areas enclosed for one reason or another maybe penned animals garden or similar. Small sheltered areas in the lee of the hill, a patch of more fertile land, a cleared area of stones suggest that this was a cultivated patch, ridges; terracing signs of runrigs all demonstrate that every possible part that was suitable for agriculture was exploited. The times and dynamics are a mystery, some were of long standing some may have been more recent to the period of clearance.

Ceannabeinne was used for settlement for displaced people from previously cleared areas and for some this could have been their second removal. This goes someway to explain the pressures being placed on the land as there are signs of what could be intensive small parcel agriculture. The undulating hills and large rocky outcrop does not easily suggest this at first scrutiny as in today's approach would require flat fields with size and assess ability. The agriculture used for the township must be imagined in the context of the evolved and dynamic living that was involved. The rocky outcrops provided shelter form prevailing winds.

Ceannabeinne Names 1841 Census Account

At the time of the Census in April 1841 there were 10 occupied and 4 unoccupied houses in Ceannabeinne.