'The People Are Not There': The Transformation of Badenoch 1800-1863

This book explores the transformative events that shaped the destiny of Badenoch, a landscape of empty glens and ruined settlements. It examines climate and market forces, hunger and relief measures, sheep farms and sporting estates, agricultural improvement and proprietorial greed, and the evolution of clanship. It shows how the region's journey from prosperity to destitution was shaped by estate reform and 'improvement, leading to depopulation and emigration.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 15 June 2023
Publisher: John Donald Publishers Ltd

Badenoch, a once thriving landscape, has transformed into a desolate expanse of empty glens and abandoned settlements. However, this book delves into the transformative events that shaped its destiny, encompassing a range of factors such as climate and market forces, hunger and relief measures, sheep farms and sporting estates, agricultural improvement, and proprietorial greed. While this study focuses on a localized region, it also places the dramatic changes within the broader context of events across the Highlands, as well as within the British state and its global empire.

The journey of Badenoch unfolds from the relative prosperity of the Napoleonic Wars to the devastating post-war destitution that affected peasant, tacksman, and the Duke of Gordon. Estate reform and "improvement" aimed at economic stability and social progress, but they inevitably led to depopulation as people were forced off the land or abandoned their Gaelic homeland in search of a better life in the Lowlands. For those with the means, emigration presented lucrative opportunities that were unimaginable at home.

Through extensive use of documentary evidence, much of which has been previously unseen, David Taylor paints an intimate portrait of the historically neglected region of Badenoch. This book offers a fresh and compelling perspective on Highland history, shedding light on the region's rich heritage and its complex historical trajectory.

Weight: 480g
Dimension: 154 x 236 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781910900987
Edition number: New in Paperback