LangwellThe History of a Caithness Estate and its Management, 1750-1850
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About this book
Presents the rich history of a Caithness estate in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
- The history of a large Highland estate, its tenants and landlords from after the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 until the land was sold as a sporting estate to the Duke of Portland in 1857
- An in-depth but eminently readable portrait of the immense changes taking place during that period
- The shift from a droving economy to one based on sheep
- The collapse of the droving economy leading to clearances, emigration to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, riots, depression and famine
- Use of old estate and court records, with contemporary books and newspaper reports and new books with new material
This book traces the history of a 30,000-acre Highland estate and its people from after the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 until the estate was sold to the 5th Duke of Portland in 1857. Using original research and archival sources including first-hand reports, court records, letters and contemporary newspapers, it sheds light on the lives of the crofters, their landlords, the sheep economy, the droving trade and the fishing industry. Langwell provides deep insight into the immense cultural and social changes taking place in the Scottish Highlands during the period.
Reviews
Langwell is an absorbing story of a Caithness estate,1750-1850. Its review of the key changes of the period undoubtedly adds to the wider debate, but what is particularly well-depicted is the complex network of debt surrounding the estate’s ownership and the book’s success at giving identity to those who managed it.
This remarkable book will be a landmark text for the history not only of Caithness or the Highlands, but for rural communities across Scotland and globally. It utilises a huge range of primary materials to build a meticulous picture of a society undergoing a series of revolutions in their way of life, and tells that story with excitement and creativity from multiple perspectives. An absolutely essential read.
Based on extensive archival research, Langwell explores a period of profound change and traces its impact on local communities. Wide-ranging and thoroughly grounded in the broader context, it encompasses impecunious lairds, grasping lawyers, links to slavery, clearance, famine, and social conflict. The book throws new light on a distinctive part of the Highlands.
This remarkable original study of a Caithness estate during the extraordinary era of clearance and emigration is a fresh and absorbing contribution to Highland history. Thorough in archival research, meticulous in scholarship and fluent in writing the book should command a wide readership.
EUP have produced a handsome book, with excellent illustrations. It is a welcome addition to the slim bibliography on Caithness.
Table of contents
Lists of Illustrations and picture credits
List of Maps
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Notes on Names and Terminology
Introduction: title tbc
1. A Commission of Fire and Sword:
Breadalbane takes Caithness
2. Parks and Furrestorie:
A Proposall for Langwall
3. For Every Scot in Favour There is 99 Against:
The Act of Union
4. The Hospitable Mansion:
The Sutherlands of Langwell
5. Long Acres:
The Droving Trade
6. ‘The Horrour of It Must Wear Off’:
The Profits of Slavery
7. The ‘Saturday Slap’:
Walter Gray Struggles On
8. A Serious Desire to do Good:
Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster
9. An Caorach Mhor:
The Coming of the Sheep
10. As Many As Possible of the Present Inhabitants Ought to be Retained:
Sir John’s Sheep Scheme
11. A Whole Neighbourhood is Set Afloat:
Early Emigration
12. Whole Baronies Into Sheepfarms:
The Coming of the Flockmasters
13. The Chief of the Arts:
Agricultural Innovation in Caithness
14. The Fire! The Fire!
The Kildonan Riots
15. Never Out of the Law:
James Horne Buys Langwell
16. Land For Votes:
The Political Hornes
17. Mischief This Night:
Sheep Stealing in the North
18. The Silver Darlings:
The Fishing Boom
19. Improving on Improvement:
James Horne at Langwell
20. The Great Donald:
Donald Horne Succeeds to Langwell
21. Uncertain and Exaggerated Benefits:
Hunger and Emigration in the Nineteenth Century
22. The Coming of the Steamers:
Sea Connections
23. ‘From the Pen to the Plough’:
Horne Expands into Clyth
24. The Deserted Villages:
From the Land to the Sea
25. All the Grouse are Killed:
The Coming of the Sportsmen
26. Destitution Road:
Famine
27. The Empty Estates:
The Fall of the House of Stirkoke
28. Running Before the Wind:
Caithness Havens
29. Mad, Blind and Impious:
The Eviction Scandal
30. Fit For A Maharajah:
Langwell for Sale
Family Trees: The Sutherland, Gray and Horne Families
Appendix: The Defenders named in Summonses of Removal, 1763 to 1857
Bibliography
Footnotes
Index