View of remains of township from north west

Description View of remains of township from north west

Date 1976

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 875523

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of AG 7655

Scope and Content Bourblaige Township from north-west, Argyll, Highland Bourblaige township is situated on the south-east slopes of Ben Hiant. All that remains of this community are the ruins of around 28 unroofed buildings. The township was cleared in 1828 by Sir James Riddell, the landowner, who wanted to create one large sheep farm out of Bourblaige and nearby Tornamoany. This shows the rough ground around the abandoned township. The houses were built on the driest areas of ground and all the other serviceable land would have been used for rig farming (narrow strips of worked ground) or for growing kale. The houses were built of dry stone and are mostly oblong with rounded corners. Many Highland communities were destroyed by the Clearances of the early 19th century, when local landowners removed tenants from their crofts in order to use the land for sheep farming. This was more profitable than the rents from tenants, but caused much suffering as whole communities were destroyed and people had to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/875523

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap