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Title |
Glencoe and Beyond:
The Sheep Farming Years 1780 - 1830
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Author |
Iain S Macdonald |
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Details |
Softcover. John Donald
Publisher. 316 pages |
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ISBN |
0859766195 |
Publisher's
Synopsis: The early sheep-farming period
in the part of the Highlands examined in this study was
characterised by a great deal of geographical, social and financial
movement.
Two general points can be made. One is
that chiefs, tacksmen, clansmen, and even southern sheep-farmers
were all individuals reacting to the circumstances in which they
found themselves. The other is that these circumstances were
characterised by a great deal of economic turbulence.
It has been widely accepted in the past that sheep-farming in the
Highlands was developed and undertaken by southern incomers. Some
modern historians have even dismissed the possibility that
Highlanders could have become sheep-farmers because they lacked the
necessary skill and capital.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, some southern
sheep-farmers did indeed move into the Highlands but they were
greatly outnumbered by native Highlanders who saw a future in
sheep-farming, initiated it themselves, and pursued it vigorously.
Comment:
This is a fascinating and very scholarly (but eminently readable)
account of Alexander Macdonald of Glencoe's Sheep-Farming exploits
and how they impacted on various Macdonald families: Mainly the
Glencoe and Keppoch cadets and ranges far from their Lochaber base
to Knoydart and Strathconon among many other places. The book gives
and interesting insight into agriculture and commerce in the
highlands as well as being a goldmine of genealogical information in
a period which has many researchers stumped.
This book is a
tremendous piece of work and I can thoroughly recommend it.
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