The tip of the Waternish peninsula, north from Trumpan, is uninhabited. It has a north west aspect and views over the Little Minch to the Outer Hebrides. It is not mountainous, but has a rounded hilly backbone. The hills are heather clad, and boggy on the tops. The peninsula is almost totally surrounded by sheer cliffs. Even on a calm sunny day you can almost 'feel' how remote and wild the countryside is.
And yet, in the 18th century, there was a farming township right at the exposed tip of the peninsula. Their township was called Bail an Tailleir, which translates as Tailor's Town. Today, the ruins have the name Unish.
There were 47 buildings and 15 enclosures in the township, and at least fifteen farmsteads. All around are extensive areas of lazy-beds.
Unish is first documented when it was leased in life rent to Donald Macleod for 306 merks in 1708. In 1788 a report to the British Fisheries Society found 10 married couples, 17 children, 30 unmarried adults, and two widowed adults in a total population of 69. The clearance of the township was certainly effected by the time of the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map of 1880, when only a single house was in occupation.
3 comments:
Maybe slightly off-topic, but seeing the ruin of the Croft house at the bottom, its always amazes me just how many derelict properties there are on Skye. For some bizarre reason the whole property ethos of price/location/demand seems to go out the window on Skye and I dont understand why.
Regards,
Nick
Hello Nick,
Thanks for posting a comment on our blog.
There are many reasons for derelict properties on Skye - Today, it's mostly down to money. Why struggle to maintain an old, draughty, damp, stone built relic when there is plenty of room to build a nice new energy efficient house nearby? The planning authority will generally permit a new-build on the site of (or close to) an existing derelict house.
There's also the historic reason - the clearances. This was when the crofters were cleared off the land by the landowners because the landowners wanted the land for grazing sheep. Before the clearances there were more than 30,000 people living on Skye. Today, the resident population is around 10,000 - so that's a lot of empty (and now ruined) houses!
Not sure I could farm in such a wind-blown place. Those people were tough! Sure is scenic though.
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