A Short History of Crofting in Skye

by Jonathan MacDonald (curator, Skye Museum of Island Life)

The Island of Skye is among the most remarkable islands in the world. There is probably no other island in Britain about which so much has been written and spoken and which has captured the attention and the love of so many people from every corner of the world. Now, let us give you some facts and background information about our island.

Skye is the largest island in the Inner Hebrides and is about 50 miles long and from 7 to 25 miles broad with a coastline of around 350 miles. Its area is roughly 350,000 acres. The name Skye may be derived from the Norse word Ski - meaning 'cloud', and Ey - meaning 'island'. Many refer to Skye as The Misty Island, and here may lie the origin of the name. From around 8OOAD, the island was under the rule of the Norsemen and to this day many of the villages and townships bear Norse names. Before the era of Scandinavian occupation, the island was in the hands of the Celts whose language and culture outlived the Norse influence and which is still alive throughout the Island. About half of the population of Skye can speak the Gaelic language and the native islanders are very proud of their Celtic heritage. They speak the language every day and there is at present a keen desire among islanders to preserve and strengthen this unique and very precious language.

The population of Skye is presently between 8,500 and 10,000, and this number is significantly higher than we had some 20 years ago. This is due to the fact that in recent years there has been and continues to be a strong demand for properties by incomers from elsewhere. Also it is noticeable that more of our young people wish to remain in the island despite the fact that employment opportunities are not at all encouraging.

Skye is principally an agricultural island, and the largest slice of its income is derived from the sale of sheep, cattle and wool. We have no industries as such, although a certain number of people are engaged in fishing, forestry, distilling and one or two other small industrial projects. Skye, of course, has a very prolific tourist industry which started as far back as the visit of Johnson and Boswell in 1773. Ever since, it has been one of the most successful Scottish islands in pulling people in, to share its beauty and its peace. Today, tourism contributes very largely to the stability of the island's economy as visitor numbers increase year by year.

The agricultural system of Skye is crofting, and for the benefit of those to whom 'croft' is a new word let us explain. It is not a building or a house as is often implied, but a smallholding or a stretch of land ranging in size from 1 acre to 50 acres or upwards. The tenant or owner of a croft is called a 'crofter'. A crofter's son once defined a croft as a small area of land surrounded by regulations. There are roughly 2,000 crofts on Skye but of these only 100 or so are large enough to allow a crofter to earn his entire livelihood from the land. The crofts, once laid out to provide homes together with a home food supply are, as one can see, a survival of past economic conditions. Today, their role is to provide a family home and a side-line to whatever other job the crofter can obtain. The majority of our working age population have to search elsewhere for employment. Some find seasonal work in the building or service industries while others serve in the oilfields of the North Sea.

There are about a dozen landlords on Skye, the largest being the Government, which through its Department of Agriculture owns most of the northern part of the island. Although most crofts are held on a tenancy basis, the croft house and outbuildings are invariably the property of the tenant. Since 1976 the crofter is entitled by law to purchase his croft land if he so desires. For almost a century, grants and loans were given to encourage crofters to build themselves better houses and, as is so apparent in this island, a very high proportion of crofters have taken advantage of the improvement schemes and have built for themselves very good and comfortable houses. The idea of providing grants and loans to crofters to build their own houses has proved a much cheaper method of providing houses than having them built by the local authorities. Since the turn of the century, far reaching and much needed changes in crofting have been wrought and successive Crofters Acts have helped to make the crofter's life a more secure and a happier one. For over a century, social and economic conditions in the Highlands made the life of crofters a very hard and unsettled one. Not until 1886 did they have any form of legal protection.

After the wars of independence which Scotland fought against England between 1296 and 1314, much of the land held by the pro-English was made forfeit and later given to Scottish patriots. Land thus passed to a King's favourite was handed down to the next and successive generations.

The word 'clan' - meaning children (in Gaelic, Clann), was coined and in the future each member of a clan claimed kinship with his chief, who was looked upon as a land-owning aristocrat. Clansmen worked for their Chief and fought for him in battle and in return he administered justice and in his own way provided for the dependants of those who had given him good and faithful service. Those who were good to their Chief were even allowed to assume their Chief's surname if they so desired. The clansmen were 'tenants at will' and could be moved from place to place depending on the requirement of the chief. The clansmen or tenants worked on the land on a system known as run-rig. This meant that the in-by land was allocated on a yearly basis so that every tenant had to share in the bad land as well as the better land.

By the seventeenth century, Chiefs with sizeable estates often gave 'tacks' of land to a relative or a friend and these 'tacksmen' in turn sub-let the land to the local people, while they farmed the best and most fertile areas themselves. In the course of the eighteenth century, as communications were improving, many Highland Chiefs began to spend more of their time in the South where a new life of opportunity was presenting itself. This new aspect of life was often a demanding one financially and so the Chiefs were forced to look for a better return from their Highland estates. One new way of making money was through the kelp industry which, however, was very short lived. In kelp-making, seaweed was burned to produce alginate which was used in the manufacture of glass and soap. Twenty tons of seaweed was burnt in peat-fired kilns in order to obtain one ton of ash. People were offered a small area of land and a souming or share in the common grazings plus a small wage if they were willing to gather the seaweed. Many areas around the coasts engaged in this work during the Napoleonic Wars but when the wars were over, barilla was imported from Spain and the industry collapsed in the Scottish Highlands. As the kelp industry vanished the tenants found it impossible to meet their rent commitment and many had to seek work elsewhere. Some went off to work as reapers to the large farms in the Lothians, while others found it necessary to set sail for Canada or Australia.

Towards the mid-eighteenth century the Highlands became involved in a turmoil that was to disrupt the lives of clansmen for a very long time. Prince Charles Edward Stuart set foot on Highland soil and many of the Clan Chiefs found themselves leaving the Highlands with their clansmen to support Charles in his effort to win back the crown for the Stuarts. This final and ill-fated Jacobite Rising proved a disaster, and finally at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the Highland Clans were bitterly defeated. The English, under their King George of Hanover saw to it that all the Chiefs and clansmen who fought for the Jacobite cause were brought low. The gloom of disaster prevailed throughout the Highlands and Islands as the 'Disarming Act' came into force. The wearing of the Highland dress was prohibited and the use of musical instruments was banned, and even the use of the Gaelic language was frowned upon. But the greatest change of all came about as the Clan System was broken up and a Central Authority took over. The long-standing relationship between Chief and clansman was completely transformed. Social conditions began to deteriorate with the increased pressures being put on the tenantry or crofters, as they were now being called, by the landlords who now needed more and more money to pay for what they owed to the Crown. Rents of the smallholdings or crofts were raised drastically with the result that crofters soon fell into arrears. Landlords now turned to the letting of their estates to sheep farmers from the south whose livelihood was made by supplying the Border Mills with wool. The Cheviot sheep and their shepherds began to arrive in large numbers and this meant that the tenants or crofters were to be displaced and those who refused to move out of their holdings were soon forced to leave. They had no security of tenure. The notorious Highland Clearances had begun. Those who were adamant in their desire to remain in their birthplace were forced to retreat to overcrowded patches of land along the sea coast where they tried to survive by fishing. A good example of such a settlement can be seen about half a kilometre to the north of the Skye Museum, at Score Bay, on the road to Duntulm.

As conditions worsened many islanders realised that life elsewhere could not be any worse and many drifted away to the cities in search of work while others were encouraged to emigrate to countries beyond the seas. Carolina was the first area of settlement to attract Skyemen. In September 1771 three hundred and seventy set sail from the island to North Carolina while hundreds more were to follow and by 1790 it was estimated that upwards of 2,000 had crossed the sea to the new world. In 1837 a party of 459 men and women from North Skye set sail for Australia and three years later 600 more left for the same country from the Portree area. Between 1840 and 1883 it is said that no fewer than 7,000 people emigrated from Skye and most of that number went under pressure. Hundreds were packed into old and unseaworthy boats, many of which never reached their destination. Malnutrition and disease caused those who survived to suffer incredible hardship upon arrival, having to live in crude wooden huts and work like slaves in order to exist. It took them years to clear the land and to carve for themselves a life from the unkindly terrain. For those who remained, a period of imposition and restriction made life almost totally impossible for them. The common method of dealing with arrears of rent was to issue a summons for the removal of the defaulting tenant. The collection of seaweed from the shore was forbidden and crofters were not permitted to keep any dogs. Other impositions included the right of the landlord to demand free labour and the crofters were not allowed to remove marauding deer from their land. By the mid 1870's crofters in many parts of the Highlands were very embittered by their lot and were harbouring thoughts of revolt against those who tried to enslave them. By 1873 a newspaper called The Highlander was established at Inverness to focus attention on the plight of crofters, while in Glasgow the North British Daily Mail took interest in the crofters' cause.

By the latter half of the 19th century, public opinion turned bitterly against landlordism and the success of the Irish Land League inspired the setting up of a Highland Land League. Crofters throughout the Highlands now began to resist eviction orders and soon there was chaos and near riot situations prevailed in many areas. On Lord MacDonald's estate at Braes near Portree, a sixteen year old grievance with the landlord was revived. Crofters on the estate demanded that grazings on Ben Lee, which had been taken over by the landlord's sheep, should be handed back to them. They refused to pay any rent for their crofts until their demands were met. When eventually a Sheriff's Officer was sent out with summonses of ejection on 7th April 1882, a band of crofters met him and forced him to bum his papers. The situation was so alarming that Sheriff Ivory of Inverness asked for assistance from the Glasgow constabulary in restoring order. Fifty policemen were sent to Skye to help settle the uprising. Before dawn on 19th April, a bitterly cold wet day, the policemen with Sheriff Ivory in the rear, set off from Portree to Braes. Taken by surprise, the people were thrown into confusion, but soon about one hundred men, women and children, each carrying sticks or stones, met the policemen and charged at them. In the scuffle that followed several arrests were made and a number of crofters were taken prisoner. On appearance at Inverness court, small fines were imposed but it was clearly established that law and order could not be enforced without military assistance. This encounter became known as the Battle of the Braes. Many journalists were present at the court case and gave wide publicity to the crofters cause. There were clearly two alternatives; Parliamentary Inquiry and legislation, or a state of emergency.

Yet another outburst of crofter rebellion took place at Glendale, thirty miles west of Portree, where crofters allowed their stock to wander over a neighbouring farm. After defying an interdict, three ringleaders, including John Macpherson, 'the Glendale Martyr', were arrested, but only with the assistance of the Gunboat 'Jackal'. After trial in the Court of Session at Edinburgh the crofters were imprisoned for two months. This aroused great public concern and soon twenty-one Scottish M.P.'s of both parties promoted a petition asking the Home Secretary to set up a Royal Commission on Highland distress. The Government gave way and within a short space of time a Royal Commission was set up under Lord Napier and Ettrick. Great effort was made by the Highland Land League to collect evidence and train witnesses. The result was a formidable indictment of the Highland land-owning class. The Napier Commission reported against fixity of tenure and free sale, and did not recommend any official revision of rents, but favoured the stabilising of crofting townships with the power to enlarge crofts and pasture land. Highlanders, however, were not content with these proposals, as security of tenure and fair rents were their basic requirements. In 1884 an American land reformer, Henry George, visited the Highlands and made considerable agitation against landlordism. Once again Glendale was the scene of unrest and the Government decided to send Marines with gunboats to the Isle of Skye. A hundred marines and fifteen constables marched across Skye to intimidate the crofters. This episode once again brought the crofters cause to the forefront of public attention, and in Parliament questions were raised about new legislation. In 1884 with the influence of Joseph Chamberlain the Government introduced a Crofters Bill. In 1885, however, the Liberal Government of the time went out of office and so the Bill was dropped. The Highland Land League saw here an opportunity of direct action and nominated six candidates to stand independently of the Liberal and Conservative parties. The Crofters' Party, as it was called, was therefore the first Labour Party in Britain. Four of the crofter candidates were duly elected to parliament and demanded a new Bill, and they succeeded in having it introduced in February 1886. Finally, in June of the same year, Gladstone's government passed the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act which gave security of tenure to the crofter, and compensation for improvements should he give up his tenancy. It also allowed him to hand on his croft to his family. The new Act also provided for the setting up of a new Commission to administer the Act generally. But unfortunately, the Crofters' War was not entirely over. Landlords still made attempts to evict crofters before their cases could be heard, and there was also no attempt being made to make an adequate amount of land available. In October of 1886 another encounter took place at the nearby township of Herbusta and at Bomasketaig where writs were served at bayonet point. Nine local crofters were arrested and brought to trial. They were found guilty and spent weeks of imprisonment in an Fdinburgh jail.

After some months had passed, the work of the Crofters Commission was beginning to take effect. Rents were being reduced and arrears were cancelled. Meanwhile, however, the economic situation throughout the Highlands was deteriorating as the fishing was unprofitable through falling prices. Crofters now had to fall back on the land for a living. This meant that demand for extra land was again becoming acute and in several places throughout the Highlands crofters were taking possession of land by force. Raids on estates continued until at last in 1887, more than ten years after the passing of the Crofters' Act, a serious attempt was made by the Unionist Government of the time to improve conditions for the crofting communities. The Highlands Congested Districts Board was established and money was set aside for the improvement of roads and bridges; for the development of the fishing and tweed industries, and for the general improvement of the crofters' lot.

In 1911 the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act was passed and at that stage the Crofters Commission was replaced by the Scottish Land Court - a body to which tenants could appeal in any case of injustice. A year later the Congested Districts Board became the Board of Agriculture for Scotland which was to regularise the agricultural situation over the whole of Scotland and which had the power to settle people on the land and create crofts or small-holdings as and where this was deemed necessary. By the late 1920's it could be said that the long struggle for land was practically over. Young people having come home from the war had seen some of the world and wanted to settle in the towns and cities in preference to having to pursue the crofting way of life in their native land. This now left a much reduced number engaging in crofting. Up to and during the second world war cropping and livestock rearing programmes were being regulated in accordance with the needs of the nation at large and attractive grants and subsidies were being offered. Housing grants and loans were being made good use of over the years from 1900 to the present day and a most significant advancement in crofter housing has taken place. The crofter is not more heavily subsidised than the industrial worker of the same economic status in a Council house. Indeed it costs the state little more than half as much to house a crofter as it does to provide a local authority house.

The first Crofters Acts only touched on the fringe of the Highland problem and so in 1955 a further Crofters' Act went on the Statute Book and this new act led to the establishment of a further Crofters Commission, which happily is still in existence. The present Commission with its headquarters at Inverness has as its remit to reorganise, develop and regulate crofting and make grants and loans available for the development of agricultural production on crofts.

Throughout the Highlands a great deal of improvement of land and livestock has taken place with the help of the Crofters Commission but the problem of providing industry and employment is not within the scope of the Commission. In 1966 the Government set up an agency called the Highlands and Islands Development Board with part of its function being to promote non-agricultural developments in the crofting areas of the Highlands and Islands. The Board has been very successful in its role of providing employment and one of its major successes has been within the Tourist industry to which it has given a very significant boost. The Development Board was superseded some years ago by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise with its Local Enterprise Companies responsible for the administration of grants and loans for various developments. The discovery of North Sea oil and Britain's entry into the Common Market were matters which created many changes in the life style of the crofting areas of the Highlands. In 1976 a Crofting Reform Act was passed which conferred on crofters the right to purchase their crofts if they so desire. This was seen as a way of enabling crofters to accept such changes as were inevitable and at the same time to benefit from these changes.

Over the past century a great deal has happened in the crofting world. Thankfully, the crofters' life today is an easier and a more secure one and through modern day opportunities his labours are better rewarded. Crofting, of course, is more than a system of land tenure and more than a means of making a living. It is a unique and satisfactory pattern of life in a part of the world that is still refreshingly different.

© J MacDonald 1998

This article is available as a booklet. Other booklets by Jonathan MacDonald are:

All available at Skye Museum of Island Life, Kilmuir, Isle of Skye. Tel: 01470-552206

Other sites

Scottish Crofting Foundation
Crofters Commission
Scottish Parliament Cross-Party group on Crofting
Walks on the Isle of Skye
Gaelic Music - CD's from traditional Skye artistes
Duntulm Castle
Isle of Skye Tour Guide - includes pictures by renowned Skye photographer Cailean MacLean
Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald
Trotternish, Isle of Skye, bed and breakfast accommodation
Trotternish, Isle of Skye, self-catering accommodation

 

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