Auchencraig

Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands 1883 Part F

Alex Gunn continues:

There was a thriving fishing and curing carried on at Auchencraig before the people were evicted. I remember seeing 13 boats fishing at Auchencraig for Leith curers and between coopers and others engaged in the fishing, there were hundreds of pounds circulating in the district every year. There was also a thriving herring fishing carried on at Berriedale, but the laird preferred salmon fishing to herring fishing, and lest the salmon fishing should suffer he put an extinguisher on the herring fishing, thus taking away an industry which was a great advantage in the district.

Ceann Ousdale with the Auchencraig settlement
 having been on the hills in the right foreground

Remains from the old Auchencraig settlement

The late Duke of Portland purchased the estate from the Hornes for £90,000, and banished the sheep, all but a few hundred, converting the whole estate into a huge deer forest and then claimed exemption from poor rates on that account. Some of the witnesses before the Royal Commission stated that a deer forest would give employment to more people than a sheep farm, but my experience is quite different. When the sheep were on the estate, there were as already stated, 12 shepherds, and at the clipping time there would be 20 people employed for three weeks, while two or three people are all that are needed to look after the deer. There are thousands of acres in these straths, of as fine land as is in the country, and were it under cultivation it would supply the market with a very large quantity of farm and dairy products, and provide hundreds of families with comfortable homes.

The Langwell Water valley

A good track goes up the valley for about 10Km on the north side. 

This section on the south side only has deer-tracks through the wood!

My Comments:

A number of witnesses to the Royal Commission spoke out against the Poor Law Act whereby rich landowners were exempt from paying tax on their shooting grounds while small crofters were heavily taxed on various public matters.

The mention of the Leith curers is evidence that the herring business was well established at Auchencraig. The firms of curers moved around the coast of Scotland and played a central role in the herring fisheries, organising and overseeing all the associated activities. They had to ensure there was enough salt delivered on time and arrange for the barrels to be ready. Once the barrels were packed the curer firm would arrange for their export. The curers purchased the fish through a system paying a guaranteed price to the crew of the fishing boat, also having payment agreements with the gutters and packers. It seems unbelievable that such a well-established local industry could to fall prey to the whims of the laird in favour of salmon when the two could have easily existed in the same district.

Welbeck Estates, including Langwell and across to the mountains of Morven, Scraben, and Maidens Pap, is approximately 50,000 acres. It is still a sporting estate owned by the Portland family with both deer shooting and Atlantic salmon river fishing being offered to those who can afford it.

Curious deer in the Langwell Estate

Note the two-headed deer on the right!

Note: Auchencraig is also known as Achnacraig and has other variations in spelling.

To be continued...

Herring fishing at Berriedale in 1820 by Willliam Daniell