|
|
Snippets of History |
|
Date/Era 1780 |
Topic Large farms |
District An Tac, Rigg, Tote |
Person Nicolson clan |
| Scorrybreac is an interesting territory and historically it included Staffin within its boundaries. Scorrybreac is associated with the Nicolsons since they first came to be on Skye. According to tradition, the Nicolsons are Skye's oldest clan and were gifted the Scorrybreac lands during the reign of Malcolm Canmore. The Nicolsons had a farm at Torvaic in Scorrybreac since the time of the Norse. But after Culloden when the clearances were hailed as the model form of land management, the historic Scorrybreac lands were cleared in dribs and drabs - but nevertheless entirely - of their people from around 1780, to make way for a very big farm. The Scorrybreac farm spanned an area of twelve miles in length and three miles in breadth. The big farm had its northern border at Drochaid Leth allt (the Leth allt bridge), and its southern border at the geata dearg, beside the hydro house (one hundred yards or so south of the entrance road to the Hydro electric dam at the Stor Lochs). The district included the villages of Tobht a rom, Ermishader, Holm, Rig, Beararaig and Tobht. The tenant of the Scorrybreac farm was Donald Stewart. And Staffin people still call the Scorrybreac area 'an tac mor'. Tobht a Rom was once a township which ran from beneath the Old Man of Stor to the Stor lochs. We imagine that Tot a rom was cleared along with Ermisader, Holm and Bereraig around 1790 - to make way for sheep. Today there isn't a soul in Tobht a rom, Ermisadar or Holm. And yet, the grandmother of Iain 'an Murdo was born in Holm. Rig and Tot were cleared about the year 1800. In theory, the Scorrybreac area was restored to the original people sometime after the passing of the Crofters' Act in 1886, but very few of these people ever returned to Rig, Holm or to Beararaig. According to Mackenzie, many of the people from Holm, Bereraig, Rig and Tote emigrated to the Carolinas. In south Scorrybreac - on the Portree side, there is also a place known as Hirimishader, but we haven't established whether people lived there at any time. LACHIE WOULD THIS NOT BE ERMISHADER? The clearance of Upper and Lower Tobht was the last clearance to take place on the Scorrybreac lands, and - according to Mackenzie at least - that was sometime after 1800. They say that this clearance was carried out under the orders of a Nicolson of Scorrybreac, who was a grand uncle of the last occupant of the farm at Lòn fheàrna. Tote was really difficult ground, and it was without people for a long time, but after World War I, crofters returned there. At any rate, Padraig Dhonnchaidh, brother of Seonaidh Dhonnchaidh and grandfather of Peadar an t-saighdeir (who died in 1998), returned to Tobht. Also Flora (Peter's mother) went from Dìg to live in Tobht. A croft had been given to his son, but he didn't go, so his father went to Tobht instead. Nos 1 and 2 Tote were above the road. Then there was Cameron's croft, then Tormod an Tàilleir, and then Alasdair Eòghain MacKinnon. Alec Uisdein (from Stoighseall) also went to stay in Tobht when it was broken up. Tobht had a horse park which was useful during the summer when communities weren't permitted to put their horse on the common grazing. You paid a given fee to the tenant of the horse park. There was a bull park in Tobht as well, where bulls could be wintered. Around 1900, the bulls were mostly cross-Highland - red ones that were crossed with the shorthorn bull. Lachie Gillies did not remember the Highland bulls - in his young days, they were beef shorthorns and Aberdeen Angus. After the 1886 Crofters' Act, four crofts were created at Rig. Down at the shore, two of these were tenanted by Dòmhnall Mór and Murdo Campbell. It was desperately steep there. Today, there is only one home at Rig. At Beararaig, there is a hydro house but it is not in the place that was originally called Beararaig. | |