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