Evictions on the Estate of Langwell Part B

(Letter above referred to) See previous blog.

Just behind Langwell House

EVICTIONS ON THE ESTATE OF LANGWELL FROM 1830-31 TO 1855

(To the Editor of the Dundee and Perth Saturday Post)

SIR, - There are men in this world of ours, whatever their conduct may be, who are never brought to task for their actions; and from the licence thus given them, they assume and air of infallibility and unaccountableness. Consequently their word becomes law in the region in which they live. In short they become Popes within their own domains. Those under them may be commanded to make ropes from sand, or dam the raging ocean, and they, like the children of Israel of old when commanded to make bricks without straw, must obey. But we would venture to hope that such absolutism cannot long survive in this free country of ours. If the united powers of Europe are engaged to crush and extirpate tyranny and despotism by an expenditure of blood and treasure such as was never known before, will we permit that cruel system of depopulation that is so sorely felt at the present crisis to exist at our very doors?

The estate of Langwell, situated in the west end of the county of Caithness, abounds in rich and fertile straths and valleys, once inhabited by a loyal and happy people. But Alas! These happy days are past and gone, and in these straths and glens, where the merry notes of the reapers wafted on the breeze as the golden grain fell before their sickles, and who were always foremost at the nation’s call to defend their country and their homes, there is nothing heard but the bleating of sheep and the bark of the shepherd’s dog. But we do not undertake to rake up the ashes of the dead, we mean only to deal with present men and their actions.

Scything North Uist Am Baile Facebook

A Native of Badbea - To be continued

My Comments:

The opening paragraph of A Native of Badbea’s letter of 1855 pulls no punches and tells his readers exactly what he thinks of the changes in land occupation and use on the Langwell estate in his lifetime. Next blog we will see that he names those he sees as ‘Popes within their own domains’.

Locked gate near Langwell

The Braemore and Langwell Estate is 52,00 acres and was purchased from Donald Horne by the Duke of Portland in 1857. After the estate changed hands the large flocks of sheep went and Langwell was developed as deer forest and hunting estate.