On the Eve of the
Clearances
Though the '45 uprising and its failure at Culloden is widely regarded
as a turninb point in the history of the region, the point at which its
independence of mind and behaviour finally gave way to the authority
of the centre, the Highlands and Islands had already been experiencing
significant change for over a century. The decades that followed the
145 saw a quickening of change, and new pathways along which it
ran, but they did not initiate change. Different parts of the region
experienced change in different ways.
Signs of Change
Even by 1600, many parts of the southern, eastern and northern
Highlands had become involved in marketing produce as landholders
fell under the influence of urban markets to the east and south, drawn
not just by what they could sell to them, but also by what they could
buy from them. Some of the larger estates around the Lowland-facing
edges of the Highlands possessed substantial amounts of productive
land, arable as well as grass. The Breadalbane estate, for instance,
boasted fertile grain-producing lands in areas like Lawers and
Netherlorne, as well as fertile pastures on the lower slopes of Ben
Lawers and across the Braes of Balquhidder. An estate like that of
Cromartie could offset the barrenness of its western portions in
Coigach with the productiveness of areas like Cromartie itself and
Strathpeffer that were capable of shipping out grain easily. In the
medieval period, the owners of such estates would have uplifted vast
quantities of food rents that they would have used to build status. But
even when we start to see the workings of such estates in any detail,
during seventeenth century, many had started to use the produce of
their lands differently. Instead of consuming it conspicuously in the
pursuit of status, we find them looking to market it. Their command
over such large quantities of food rents enabled them to redirect the
surpluses of the township economy, effectively adding a strong
commercial component to the township's ongoing subsistence needs.
Though we have few details of this transition, it was a relatively
straightforward process of change, with landowners perceiving the
way in which their food rents could be revalued via the market. Many
along the Highland edge were already interacting fi-eely with Lowland
society by the end of the medieval period and would have been aware
of the expanding market opportunities of the early modern period.
Their response is strikingly illustrated by the way grain began to flow
out of the Highlands. The scale of flow involved is shown by what

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