Caen Highland Township - 1813

Caen Highland Township - 1813

Intangible Heritage

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the inhabitants of many small farming communities in the Scottish Highlands were forced to leave their homes. Under the guise of improvement, landlords drove out traditional subsistence farmers and created a much less densely occupied landscape. One of the communities affected by this process of ‘clearance’ was the township of Caen in Sutherland. Caen was located in the lower part of the Strath of Kildonan. This area was cleared particularly brutally by representatives of the Duke of Sutherland between 1813 and 1819. Several families resisted the clearances, and soldiers were sent from Fort George to maintain order. Today, only a few foundations indicate where a thriving farming community once stood.

reconstructions,movablecollections

2012

image/jpeg

Reconstruction

179

In Copyright (InC)

current,58.13846667047033,-3.670965106477378;

https://www.openvirtualworlds.org/caen-2/

https://player.vimeo.com/video/398781066

Open Virtual Worlds Team University of St Andrews

TEXT

https://canmore.org.uk/site/348637/lower-caen

This digital reconstruction of the Caen Township represents life in the highlands of Scotland before the Highland Clearances. Based on the synthesis of archaeological and historical evidence, this reconstruction locates the Caen Township within the context of its landscape in the Strath of Kildonan. It also shows reconstruction of the longhouse and other buildings in the township, together with animations of characters and animals.

Recent excavations (including a community dig) have revealed much about the people who lived at Caen before the Clearances. This archaeological material was combined with nineteenth-century maps and documents to inform the reconstruction of Caen in 1813. The project received extensive advice from Jacquie Aitken (Heritage Officer for Timespan), as well as drawing on the research of Keir Strickland (University of the Highlands and Islands).

Jacquie Aitken (Timespan) Keir Strickland (University of Highlands and Islands)

Sarah Kennedy, Iain Oliver, John McCaffrey, Alan Miller

1813