Battle of the Braes

Rewind to 1882. The islanders of Skye had for centuries made (or more often scraped) a living through crofting and kelp-farming, obliged to pay rent on their patches of land to Lord MacDonald, who ‘owned’ 150,000 acres. When the landlord made the decision to shift into the more lucrative business of sheep-farming, his crofting tenants were simply evicted as an inconvenience. This story was played out endlessly during the so-called Highland Clearances – but in Skye, as in many places, the locals didn’t go quietly. The tension culminated in a violent confrontation between crofters and police officers, a showdown now known as the Battle of the Braes, in which five men were arrested and many more injured. A memorial cairn still stands near Portree.