From Clan to Clearance : History and Archaeology on the Isle of Barra C.850-1850 AD

This large, well-illustrated book is the culmination of fifteen years of historical and archaeological research into the history of Barra and its people from the time of the Vikings to the notorious clearances of 1850/51, as revealed by archaeology and hundreds of historical documents tucked away in archives in Scotland, England, Italy and Canada. The book describes the homes and workplaces of the population from Kisimul Castle and Eoligarry House, to the blackhouses and shielings of the ordinary clansmen. It pieces together their way of life, and for the first time uses archaeology to reveal just what it was like to live in a blackhouse. The collapse of the ancestral estate is documented in detail. There is also a special study of the township of Balnabodach, one of the most romantic settings in the whole of the Hebrides where one of the most notorious dramas of the Clearances was played out. The book concludes by tracing the migration of thousands of people from Barra to Canada in the years between 1770 and 1850.