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In 1845 the people of Glencalvie were evicted off the land their families
had lived on for generations. Eighteen families, 88 people, lived in
Glencalvie in turf cabins, growing barley and oats, herding cattle and
sheep on a total holding of no more than 20 acres. The most incredible
rent, almost four times what a farmer in England would pay for the same
land, was paid for this land for generations without arrears, except
for some weeks during the famine in 1836. Of the 400 to 500 inhabitants
cleared 90 or so people had nowhere to go and took shelter in the churchyard
of Croick Kirk
Their plight
was reported in the Times. |
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| Report
to The Times newspaper - 1845
Behind the
church, a long kind of booth was erected, the roof formed of tarpaulin
stretched over poles, the sides done in with horsecloths, rugs,
blankets and plaids... Their furniture, excepting their bedding,
they got distributed amongst the cottages of their neighbours;
and with their bedding and their children they all removed on
Saturday afternoon to this place. In my last letter I informed
you that they had been round to every heritor and factor in the
neighbourhood, and 12 of the 18 families had been unable to find
places of shelter........
A fire was
kindled in the churchyard, round which the poor children clustered.
Two cradles with infants in them, were placed dose to the fire,
and sheltered round by the dejected-looking mothers. Others busied
themselves into dividing the tent into compartments, by means
of blankets for the different families. Contrasted with the gloomy
dejection of the grown-up and the aged was the, perhaps, not less
melancholy picture of the poor children thoughtlessly playing
round the fire, pleased with the novelty of all around them. |
The most telling
window etching is "Glencalvie people the wicked generation Glencalvie."
- Generations of trust, obedience and faith in their church and their
chiefs had left the clansmen unable to believe that these were the very
people had betrayed and deserted them. Rather than blame their chiefs,
the system or the church, they felt that it must really be their faults.
They had sinned in someway and were now being punished.
Within a week of
the report to the Times the Churchyard was empty. Where the people went,
to factory towns, or to face the perils of emigration to Nova Scotia
or the like, is not known.
At lEast, unlike some, they left their story and a memorial of sorts
at Croick.
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