This statue at Golspie was also ostensibly erected by "his mourning and grateful tenantry" to a "judicious, kind and liberal landlord" and stands near the summit of Beinn a' Bhragaidh. Many people would like to see this monument removed.
At the start of the 1800s the Sutherland Estates amounted to some 1.5 million acres and formed the biggest private estate in Europe. Because more money could be made from the land if it was grazed by sheep than from the rents of the crofters, up to 15,000 people were forcibly, sometimes brutally, removed. Some were resettled in coastal communities but more were shipped to North America.
More about the Highland Clearances here.
This still leaves the question "Were the Shropshire farmers really grateful?" I shall continue to look.
Now, I mentioned above the Geograph website. To quote from the website "The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland and you can be part of it"
I've not seen this website before today but it looks very interesting - even if you do not want to add your own photgraphs it provides a useful reference as there are photographs from almost everywhere. Go on, have a look! (Edited 21.44 31 Jan 2010 - have spent some time browsing the Geograph site and have noticed that some of the contributers seem to use it to post opinions about off-road motorcyclists, 4wd vehicles and even horse-riders ruining routes for cyclists and walkers. Personally, I think that is abusing what the site is about. I'd rather just see the photos with a factual statement of where and when the picture was taken. There are plenty of other places to go and argue the toss about who should be allowed where.)
Mmmm, time to attempt to cook Kidney Curry (Kidney e Kash).
