The Clearances: From Rùm To Nova Scotia

In 1621, William Alexander,1st Earl of Stirling, was granted permission by King James VI of Scotland and I of England to establish a settlement in Acadian Canada. James VI and I was the son of Mary Queen of Scots. He became King of England after the death of Queen Elizabeth I.The new settlement was called 'Nova Scotia' - New Scotland. Rùm, is an island of the Inner Hebrides, In the district of Lochaber, Scotland It has been inhabited since the 8th millennium Held by various clans down the centuries Now it is now an important study site For the red deer, the white-tailed sea eagle. Seagoing Hebrideans had taboos about naming islands In the case of Rùm, use of the name was forbidden, It was called Rìoghachd na Forraiste Fiadhaich— The kingdom of the wild forest Once there were alder, hazel and willow trees Before man left it shorn like a bald head Columba established Christianity here, with Beccan of Rùm, a monk from sacred Iona Who wrote of Columba: In scores of curraghs with an army of wretches He crossed the long-haired sea. He crossed the wave-strewn wild region, Foam flecked, seal-filled, savage, bounding, Seething, white-tipped, pleasing, doleful. Once, there were 9 busy villages Here, black cattle were raised to export to the mainland, Goats were kept, their hair was sent to Glasgow Made into wigs for export to America. Shipwrecks provided wine Kelp was sold, a little barley grown The mountain goats ranged over the soaring hills Of Rùm Cuillin, hills with Old Norse and Gaelic names Askival, the mountain of the ash trees Ainshval -the mountain of the strongholds Trollavil, the mountain of the trolls) Sgurr nan Gillean, the peak of the young men Orval, Sròn an t-Saighdeir Bloodstone Hill in the west. Now, there is no indigenous population Residents are employees of Scottish Natural Heritage Their families, researchers, a school teacher There are artists and crafters, three newly created crofts Sheep, pigs and poultry, mountain goats and ponies No church or pub, But a village hall a tiny primary school. A shop, post office and a summer teashop You can walk to the A'Bhrideanach peninsula, Wreck Bay, and the cliffs ofSgorr Reidh Ah then, the Clearances, the Rùmachs, the people, Evicted by the laird and his kinsman, Lachlan Maclean In1825four hundred and fifty people Given one year's notice to quit Their homes handed over to bleating blackface sheep In July the following year, three hundredboarded Two overcrowded ships bound for Cape Breton MacLeans, MacKays, MacKinnons and MacPhadens McKinnon from Rùm was the first settler by Kinloch On the Northwestern side of Inverness County, Cape Breton Two brothers, Donald and Allan McLean, Were the first settlers of Beech Hill, Inverness County in 1826. In 1827, giving evidence to a government committee, An agent of the laird was asked ‘And were the people willing to go? ' ‘Some of them, ' came the reply, ‘Others were not very willing, They did not like to leave the land of their ancestors' An eyewitness, a local shepherd, told them ‘The people of the island were carried off in one mass, for ever, from the sea-girt spot where they were born and bred... The wild outcries of the men and heart-breaking wails of the women and children filled all the air between the mountainous shore of the bay' In 1845, bankrupt,the MacLean laird sold the island Now wild goat graze the braes of the western sea cliffs The native cattle roam the lands round Harris Greylag Geese and cormorants haunt the shores Manx shearwaters breed in the Cuillin Hills White-tailed sea eagles soar in the pearly clouds Brown trout, eels and stickleback swim the streams, Salmon run in the sparkling Kinloch River Damson fly, dragonfly, beetle, butterfly, moth Flit over lochans, where swarms of midgies hover Rare arctic sandwort and alpine pennycress, Heath and eyebright, sundew, butterwort, Milkwort and roseroot, thrift, sweeten the air Replanting brings the return of the silver birch, Hawthorn, rowan and holly. Over a million native trees and shrubs, On the slopes of Loch Scresort and on Meall á Ghoirtein From the pristine sparkling sands of this tiny Island. Over the might and storm ofthe cold Atlantic The blood of the Hebrides pulses on in a far Canadian land.