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SRP Archaeology Notes

Date 19 July 2011

Event ID 632015

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Srp Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/632015

The township of Holm was part of the tack of Scorrybreac, which was held by the Nicolson chiefs from Lord MacDonald of Sleat, until 1827. It then became part of the large sheep walk called Scorrybreac Sheep Farm, which, by the mid-nineteenth century had become one of the largest sheep farms in Scotland (for further information see the attached file, 'Scorrybreac Sheep Farm').

The township had two foci (North Holm NG55SW 1.01 and South Holm NG55SW 1.02). Local tradition states that people remained in Holm after the sheep farm was created in 1827, but that they lost their tenancies and remained only as cottars and fishermen. There is lazy bed cultivation at the South Holm settlement, but not at North Holm, which suggests that the people were cleared from South to North Holm about that time. About 1840 those cottars left ‘en masse’ to the jute factories in Dundee. The shepherd’s house (building number 1) at North Holm (NG55SW 1.01) is said to have been one of seven shepherd’s houses associated with the sheep farm. It seems likely that the attached enclosures and perhaps buildings 2 and 3 were also in use during the sheep farming period.

Both townships were surveyed by SRP Storr Lochs during June 2011 and detailed descriptions, plans and photographs resulting from this survey are attached to the respective site entries (NG55SW 1.01 and NG55SW 1.02).

Information from SRP Storr Lochs, July 2011.

People and Organisations

References