Here we have the splendiferous Dunrobin Castle, the most politically incorrect edifice in all of the United Kingdom. In the early to mid-1800s, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland ordered (though they did not personally orchestrate) the infamous Sutherland Clearances. This entailed forcibly evicting thousands of tenant farmers from the lands of their forefathers. Many of those driven from their modest crofts settled eventually in Canada. A few miles north of Dunrobin, at a coastal town called Helmsdale, we find a statue, The Emigrants,
commemorating those who fled to Canada -- a monument endlessly appealing to photographers. An identical statue is situated in Winnipeg, where it is called The Selkirk Settlers. Yes, this is the same doubling phenomenon that occurred with the iconic statue of Robert the Bruce on his horse -- one copy in Scotland, another in Calgary, Alberta.
Dunrobin Castle
Highland Clearances
Selkirk Settlers
Sutherland Clearances
2 comments:
Thanks for this Ken. A story I did not know.
One of those unpleasant stories from Scottish history, somewhat atoned for by those sculptures.
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