Crofting problems

I was in the village shop the other day and listening to all the talk.  The village consists of -

 the shop 

and

 the pub

The community lives in far flung small crofts

It has always been this way and it has always had the same problems.

and

this was the cause of the discussion in the shop.

Nearly all the crofters manage to exist  - only - by having another small job to help eke out the paltry income.

Some work on the railway, others build dry stone dykes. Some of my husband's ancestors were masons and joiners.

Some work in the shop.

At certain times of year - all crofters are suddenly very very busy on the croft.

Nowadays -  lambing time is the main one –

and that is now - the next 2 weeks. They lamb late up here in the cold and frozen north of Scotland

So

All other jobs are dropped

Suddenly there is no-one to man the shop etc

Crisis

Many years ago in 1792 a cotton mill was built at Spinningdale on the North shore of the Dornoch Firth  - by George Dempster (owner of Skibo Estate) and David Dale, the successful industrialist and entrepreneur, who had already established a cotton mill complex along with Robert Owen at New Lanark.

Although the site offered most of the usual requirements of a cotton mill –

a fast flowing burn for water power,

a climate damp enough to prevent cotton threads breaking,

a means of importing the raw cotton, in this case by sea.

But - the main reason for locating the factory to Sutherland - was to relieve poverty and unemployment. 

Ironically, “problems with the labour force” was the main reason it was not successful. There was no tradition of factory work in the Highlands, and workers – mostly crofters - absented themselves at lambing, peat cutting and harvesting times.

Thus, when the building was gutted by fire in 1806, it was not deemed worthwhile to rebuild it and it remained a ruin.

These same crofting problems continue.

                                 This shows the ruins of Spinningdale Mill