The Tacks Men
This morning we drove from our castle hotel at Plockton, to Eilean Dinan Castle…. An impressive site in the Western Highlands of Scotland.
But once upon a time, the Highlands and Islands were being depopulated at an alarming rate.
The Tacks men have just paid me a visit…… I’m not happy!
He demanded ten shillings as well as our normal rent and said that if we didn’t pay we should look for another house up on the shores…. And that we should ‘fish’ instead.
All I want to do is farm.
My family and I have been on this land, with our friends and their families, farming our small plots for centuries, and now rumour is spreading of our lords becoming greedy…. Very greedy.
They’ve been enclosing the land and demanding that we create better drainage on our plots. They want us to change our crops, and some of the Lairds and Tackmen want us to leave the land completely.
Yesterday some sheep farmers from the lowlands appeared in our valley and it was clear that their eyes were on our land. Our clan leader was with them…. I felt ashamed to be of the McDonald clan.
Our Tackman has been aggressive lately, threatening us with higher rents and demanding more from us.
I can see the smoking ruins of some neighbouring communities…..they’ve been evicted and I think that this may happen to us. The tack men burn the homes so no one may return.
I am worried.
My brother left last year….. hed’d had enough of the stresses and strains of living here. He was paid to leave his land and go to Nova Scotia. It’s a long way from here, and I may never see him and his wife again.
I am worried.
Our lifestyle is changing. Farming is changing.
The lairds used to leave us be but now all they want is money…….
I am worried.