The Clearances were a notorious chapter in the history of the Highlands. Spanning many decades, tenant crofters were systematically evicted from the land by landowners in order to replace them with more profitable sheep farming.

In May 1845 the churchyard at Croick became a place of refuge for 80 such individuals – men, women and children who had nowhere to go, but who camped out under plaids and rugs against the church wall. This was reported by the Times of London, whose correspondent witnessed the events, bringing the Clearances to the attention of the south for possibly the first time.

It is still possible today to visit the church and to see messages scratched onto the window panes by the dispossessed. Most tellingly, one message details: ‘Glencalvie people the wicked generation’.

It is undoubtedly a haunting place, but one which raises many questions. Why, for example, would individuals who according to the Times correspondent were difficult to communicate with as they only had the Gaelic language, write in English, in perfect copperplate? Why do so many of the dates appear to be later than the 1845 Clearance, and refer to other events? Who was ‘John Ross shepherd’ whose name appears so frequently, when there were no sheep – and thus no shepherds – at the time of the Clearance? What connection might the schism in the Scottish church of a couple of years previously have to do with the fact that the crofters sought shelter in the churchyard, rather than within the building?

None of these questions seems to have a satisfactory answer, but for more information see the links page.