July 17 Plockton

Clearances, Controversies, Herring Migration and Hamish MacBeth Oh, My!

Although it may seem as if time has stood still, Plockton wasn't always like it is today. Originally called Am Ploc, the settlement was a crofting hamlet until the end of the 1700s. As in so many other parts of the Highlands this all changed when landowners found it was possible to make much more money from their estates by letting their land to sheep farmers: and to make room for the sheep they simply cleared the crofters from the land, people who in many cases had lived there for generations. Many had little choice but to emigrate, and Plockton soon became a port of embarkation for those displaced during the clearances.

The Highland Clearances form one of the most deeply emotive topics in Scottish history, and one of the most controversial. The term usually describes the process in which, between about 1750 and about 1880, large numbers of Scottish Highlanders and Islanders were displaced from the traditional lands their families had occupied for generations, ending up in marginally viable coastal settlements, as fodder for central Scotland's rapidly growing industries, or as emigrants. It is possible to read many different accounts of the Highland Clearances, and find within them nearly as many conflicting views about what happened, and, especially, why it happened and who was responsible. There are even widely different views of the numbers of people involved.

In the early 1800s the landlord, Sir Hugh Innes, decided he could increase the value of his estates further by giving tenants cleared from inland areas an option to emigration: to resettle in a new fishing port he developed under the name of "Plocktown". New streets of houses were built, many with small crofts, pieces of land that the residents could use to supplement the income they derived from fishing. This was the era of the "herring boom" and Plockton rapidly grew to accommodate over 500 people, many living two families to a cottage.

But the herring boom simply ended when the fish changed their migration patterns, and the area was severely affected by the potato famine of the late 1840s. Before long Plockton became known as Baile na Bochdainn, or "village of the poor". It saw a resurgence following the arrival of the railway in the 1890s, but large scale fishing never resumed.

Plockton today is a lively place. Its place on the tourist map was firmly established when, in the mid-1990s, the BBC chose to film a drama series called Hamish Macbeth here. Three series were made and tourists flocked to see its setting. Though the TV effect has diminished, summers remain very busy here.

For more information visit- http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/plockton/plockton/index.html