The Harris
Area
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Post Clearances
- Harris Cairns
All images
and information are courtesy of Steve Dilworth, one of the artists who
contributed to the MacTotem Exhibition.
Burial Cairns or 'Walking the dead'
These burial cairns
are contemporary with the clearances, some before and some as recent
as the turn of the last century. In those days, before the road was
built, the coffin was carried from the East side of the island to the
West for burial in the sandy machair. These were built by the pall bearers
more or less in the middle of Harris, when they rested, and each cairn
represented the person they were burying. Apart from being beautiful
structures, what makes them interesting is that when the land was cleared
on the West side, the factor had the graveyard ploughed to erase any
rights and history of the people. So all that remains are these stones
- a monument (although not as grand as the Duke's statue) to the people
and a poignant reminder in some respect, to the clearances.
Harris Cairns
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Harris Cairns
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Harris Cairns
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Steve's description on first coming upon the Cairns'.Descending
down among them was like entering an abandoned village, only instead
of empty houses remaining to remind you of life, the stones remained
to remind you of the dead. Some in groups, maybe a family. Some
beautifully made, perfect and still standing. Others, a collapsed
pile of stone. Some a simple stone - but all resonant with a poignancy
speaking of a time beyond memory. Maybe we were looking at a history
spanning two hundred years'.
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