1820 - Toiseach nam Fuadach (1807-1820) – Start of the Clearances (1807-1820)
In the 1820s, pastoral farming, requiring large tracts of land, was introduced as a means of shoring up estate finance as the profits from kelp continued to fall. The first villages cleared of their people were Scaliscro, Cleit a’ h-Og, Kinloch and (in the 1830s) Drovenish for the creation of Scaliscro, Morsgail and Linshader sheep runs. Small, uninhabited islands, used for summering the cattle, were also withdrawn from crofting use.
Photo © RCAHMS
Townships cleared around Uig bay.