The Highland Clearances

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2018

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how and why Highlanders and Islanders were cleared from their homes in waves in C18th and C19th, following the break up of the Clans after the Battle of Culloden. Initially, landlords tried to keep people on their estates for money-making schemes, but the end of the Napoleonic Wars brought convulsive changes. Some of the evictions were notorious, with the sudden and fatal burning of townships, to make way for sheep and deer farming. For many, migration brought a new start elsewhere in Britain or in the British colonies, while for some it meant death from disease while in transit. After more than a century of upheaval, the Clearances left an indelible mark on the people and landscape of the Highlands and Western Isles. The image above is a detail from a print of 'Lochaber No More' by John Watson Nicol 1856-1926 With Sir Tom Devine Professor Emeritus of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh Marjory Harper Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen and Visiting Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands And Murray Pittock Bradley Professor of English Literature and Pro Vice Principal at the University of Glasgow Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website.
0:07.0	And you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:14.0	Hello, the Highland clearances were an notorious episode in British history
0:17.0	that followed the failed Jacobine Rebellion of 1745 and lasted for ever a century.
0:22.0	In the Highlands and West Narners of Scotland, landlords cleared their estates
0:26.0	to make room for sheep farming, demolishing the old inland townships
0:30.0	and moving the people to the coast to fish, to weave, or to farm,
0:34.0	kelp for the estate.
0:36.0	When those businesses failed, there were more forced evictions or very hard choices
0:39.0	where landlords would cancel renters only if their tenants then migrated
0:43.0	to Canada, Australia or New Zealand.
0:46.0	A great part of the population was left with no land and a deep sense of betrayal.
0:50.0	We'd been to discuss the Highland clearances are Marjorie Harper,
0:53.0	Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen, and Visiting Professor
0:57.0	at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
0:59.0	Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of English Literature,
1:02.0	and Pro Vice-Pensable at the University of Glasgow,
1:04.0	and Sir Tom DeBine, Professor and Ministers of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh.
1:09.0	Tom DeBine, what were the first signs of what became known as the Highland clearances?
	...

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