We went to the Isle of Skye 48 years ago for our honeymoon it was wonderful we hitch hiked everywhere and went pony trekking on highland ponies,watched the crafters at work and went for liquid refreshments at Dunvegan Hotel Many happy memories. We revisited Skye a couple of years ago and was shocked to see most of the crofts sold for holiday homes and posh restaurants. What a shame that most of Skye seems to be more of a giant theme park. You couldn’t move for motorhomes either. The times have changed for the worst.
I tramped through the Highlands more than thirty years ago and met many friendly folk. I spent a day or two on Skye. Beautiful country. I bought a handmade cable-knit sweater at a market near Fort William and I still have it in good nick too. Some of my dad's people came from Skye.
This great little film reminded me of my mother’s uncle’s sheep farm. It’s been passed down about two generations. I found it all so fascinating . No one was allowed to touch the sheep dogs, because they were working animals - I suppose it was thought that if the dogs were petted they’d go soft and be no good for work. The film was made the year I was born. Makes me feel so old…..which I suppose I am. Thanks for posting.
Same here Carol, I said to my younger co worker that she looked like Sophia Loren.....her response was "who's that"? 😢😢 Yep...that's a sign I'm getting old...
It breaks my heart watching this, my family crofted in this very location! I wonder what they'd make of all the family homes now used as holiday homes vacant most of the year. Such a tragic loss. A hard but pure way of life.
Scotland is a place that caught my heart like no other place has. Went for a month and stayed three years. Would still be there if I didn’t become a gran back here in Canada, love that wee miss but my heart is still in Fife.
I’m a great-grandmother of that generation, and this took me back to my earliest memories. As this documentary was made by the government, the voices are speaking Scots but the first language in the Outer Hebrides is Gaelic!
fascinating film ... I grew up on my father's croft in Scourie ( a few miles south of Achriesgill ) in the fifties , and can relate to everything in this documentary ... the sheep dipping and shearing, the lobster fishing ... everything. I remember when electricity first came to the village in 1951 (I was four years old) . One thing that irks me slightly about this film however is that the narrator keeps referring to "Sutherlandshire" ... nobody ever calls Sutherland "Sutherlandshire". ... except for sassenachs who don't know any better! Still, a minor quibble about an otherwise very enjoyable production.
We've always called it 'Sutherland' as well. To add the 'shire' is very old fashioned and official; no one has done that for 100 years . One summer we went to Scourie on a camping trip and I was a bit disappointed because I thought we were going to Scarborough! I grew up in Golspie, but my family were from Achriesgill and Kinlochbervie. My sister lives in Achriesgill now, but I am in Canada. Billy Calder mentioned at 7:38 and 16:32 was my great-uncle.
This was probably because is was a government made documentary! The government in London where those Sassenachs are!! The commentary is done with people speaking English with the lilt of Scots as the first language there may well have been Gaelic.
I’m born and bred in west of Scotland and most of my work is around the hills. It’s amazing how many ruins ( remains of buildings) there is scattered in the most remote areas. Small communities must have lived in what feels like wilderness now. I had my lunch a few days ago sitting on the remains of a stone wall which was once a drovers inn. This was where cattle and sheep drovers moved the livestock from place to place, to market etc. They would drove the livestock by foot and stop at the drovers inn that would be on the route where they would get fed and probably a wee dram of whiskey. Livestock would get fed and watered and if it was the end of the day they would stay the night at the inn. While having my lunch in this long abandoned ruin it seemed strange to think that 150 years ago stopping of there for lunch was a normal occurrence. I never got a wee dram of whiskey though. Those times have also changed when that wee dram would be what warmed you up and gave you the strength to keep on droving
I do regular hillwalking all over Scotland ( I'm from the central belt) and see many any ruined buildings .. What I would like to know is, how can I buy one of these , some still have roofs , I know of one near Crieff .. Who owns these empty buildings ?
CROFT: A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas.
The slight reference to the Highland clearances deserved more. Having come from the outer Hebrides I remember these events well especially the coming of “the electric” terrifying my grandmother would light the oil lamp before touching “the electric” for fear of electrocution.
Watching this in 2020 after living in eastern Scotland for three years, never thought I’d hear Vancouver brought up! That’s where I grew up after my parents immigrated when I was wee. Imagine the shopkeeper moving from a city like that to such a far away place. I would too!
As a Canadian who has visited Vancouver dozens of times, I had a similar thought. Hard to imagine this film was released only 14 odd years before I was born. It seems so quaint and antiquated. A Scottish friend years ago had told me of the crofters.
In comparison to today's farming it was very hard work but people that lived that life learned as a child how to do whatever had to be done it was a better life
@@noelfleming3567interesting sentiment, but even this propaganda piece mentions the loss of population to towns and cities, with less hard thankless toil. This lifestyle is a lot more pure and romantic at a distance.
@@thesmallerhalf1968 i think it depends on what you want. I absolutely know people who practically live this way now. They have electricity and indoor plumbing. But they have to maintain the ditch to irrigate the field and continue to be part of the community water rights for using the river. They do their best to harvest and use the fruit from the many fruit trees. They have chickens, huge gardens. And guess what, it makes them happy.
What a delightful little movie and what a wonderful way to live ❤. I’m sure there are many hardships but so peaceful. Thanks for sharing ❤. I just joined your channel, and the music is beautiful.
Watching from South Africa, left Scotland when I was 28,worked on the towing tractors on calmac ferries all up the west coast,I'm now 61,miss Bonnie Scotland. 😪.
So do I . . . my family comes from Lairg.I left for Vancouver 17 years ago but happily get back to Sutherland for a couple of weeks climbing every year. I'd move back but my kids are happy here . . .
I really enjoyed that. Well done for who ever compiled that, great footage, commentary and sound at a time that was not so easy to capture real life. This was really well done, a look back at a different time, long gone.
I enjoyed this film, I am a sassonack, with a good deal of Welsh, but I do love Scotland and the landscape. This is fascinating and wonderful, an age that is sadly gone though it must have been incredibly hard to live but they al look so healthy and fit.
It would be fascinating to see then and now film of the same area and if the new born boy or girl has any family left crofting, this is 80 years old we need to cherish this history ❤️
My grandfather Alexander Fraser along with his brothers and sisters was born in a Croft on The Hill of Troop, Gardenstown / Crovie near Banff Aberdeenshire
Sangobeag at 5.45 where we have a Croft and all these old houses are now all roofless. Have to say, I’ve never heard a man from NW Sutherland talk like that - our accent is completely different from that twee rubbish they have narrated over the top. Amazing to see home in a wartime vid though.
There are a lot of these sort of short films. Shown i imagine in cinemas as part of the programme and aimed, lets not forget, at reminding people what they were fighting for during ww2. The delighted returning soldier and his newly promoted officer coming home to the security of the country idyll. I've lived in this environment. Some love it, some couldnt wait to sell to highest bidder. Now i imagine its mostly holiday homes.
Although I didn't see it in the credits, I would swear that the male voice representing the male crofter is that of Duncan MacCrae, the great Scottish actor. If so, he was well-chosen. His voice and demeanor are perfect for this.
@@A60stock his voice sounds identical to one in the film called Highland Journey from I think it is 1957, And I don’t believe that that one is actually Duncan McRae in the film Highland Journey. that said, whichever one of the two it was, it certainly fits here.
40+ years later in the late 80s, life on Skye where I spent my Teens with my Uncles was not so much different. Looking forward to the Post Bus, the Grocery Van and the Gathering which I went on too many times, just like as depicted in this film. It is the 30+ years since when things have changed in the West Highlands and not at all for the better.
It depends where you live and how trusting of others you're prepared to be. I don't lock my door when I go out, and I once went away for three weeks and left my door open. Nowt nicked.
As a fairly frequent visitor to the far North of Scotland, these isolated crofting villages haven't changed much in 80 years. You do see the odd house or bungalow that has been built in the last 40 years or so, but much of it looks pretty much the same today..... the sad part is that many of the locals have moved on, and their former homes are now holiday homes.....
@@jumperontheline he was born in 1936. He probably started his training to be a film editor around the age of 5. He emigrated from the US to Britain to pursue this ambition. An ambition that had formed in his 4 year old mind.
What a marvellous film. I’m sure many of the skills shown here have been lost . What made me sad was when one of the men said they didn’t go out in the boats as much because of the drifters. It seems our oceans were being over fished even back then.😪
These are the lessons to be relearned for sustainable life on Earth. There is no time to waste and everybody has their share of the duties to perform and the lessons of life are earned fairly.
Oh dear very English opinion of the Highlands and the Highlander.. Its nice footage..in those days wool had value, 5 or 6 shillings per fleece, so in today's value £41.50.. Its worth 30p per kg today or left to rot 😢
Yes, and somebody explain to me why if I want to buy woolen yarn to knit, or a woolen article of clothing it costs so much? We are always being told fleeces are worth nothing, why? Wool can also be made into eco insulation but of course the big industries would not want us to know that.
therewere plenty of communities here in the u.s. where the same was true, remote places in the southwest and the appalachians, probably places in the smokies.
I was born in 1957, and even in the mid-1960's our homestead in Alaska didn't have electricity or running water, unless Dad started the generator (and we'd lived several years without even having a generator -- Mom carried water up from the lake next to our cabin). There are still homes even in the US that don't have electricity or running water; I've lived without both as an adult. I prefer having them, but could do without if I had to.
It looks like a lovely (if hard) way to live!! Such a shame we don’t have their family values. It’s been many years since our country pulled together. Thanks for sharing ❤
A fascinating look at a way of life only (in practice) a generation or two removed from that of the iron age. Like some of the others who have posted comments, I too am descended from crofters. Our croft was in the Isle of Skye, near Trumpan. My great grandfather married a Mackenzie from Loch Broom in Ross-shire, so she was from near where this film was made.
I don't have the Gaelic but I'm planning on remedying that with going to a course later this year! It's going to be part of a big trip to find out more about some of my ancestors.
Just crazy that these guys are doing 30 mile walks hikes, no water and doing it in less than a day to get the sheep brought in. I love the books and tv show Hamish Macbeth
7:06 and also earlier with the shot of the bodach getting the peats in, what kind of roof covering is that, sheet tin or something, plenty of corrugated iron came later, but I've never seen that flat type.
For sure, it really is a hard life, but if you enjoy living the life, I should think the returns and the freedom are many times greater than a city life..
Although I was born a century after and had nothing to do with it but the weight of shame for the Highland clearances sits heavy on me. It is hard to believe that rich people could have been so cruel and selfish causing people who could trace their heritage back generations to leave the country they loved. It is heart breaking. An Englishman who has the greatest respect for our Northern neighbours.
We see much the same with the wealthy of today, destroying others livelihoods that they might have a few dollars more. Able to do so because they foster the idea that they are job creators when in fact it is the customers who truly create jobs, and will create more if paid well!
My aunt and uncle owned a house with a stream running a couple of hundred yards away. A tree branch was hanging over the other side of the stream. They cut the branches off. Later, the Laird charged them with tresspassing. Eek. They were fined £1. 😂 Caring laird. 😂 P.S. Only 35 years ago. 🎉
Yes I still live in Kinlochbervie and there are people still living at Achriesgill, Achlyness, Badcall, Oldshoremore, Polin, Sheigra, Kinlochbervie, and numerous small settlements all abouts.
Hello. I'm Billy Calder's great-niece! My sister lives in Billy's house now. Small world. Love watching this film. I love the accents. I'm in Canada now so it's even more of a novelty for me.
pitty nobody cultivate scottish culture in tasmania. nobody cook scottish food or teaches gaelic. old generation that did something about scottish culture gone and youth has no interest whatsoever.
They wouldn’t have done. Their forebears would have been cleared from their ancestral Clan lands further inland. Those that didn’t emigrate were allocated plots (crofts) as these people in 1944 are shown on.
I'm a Newfoundlander. I think we made a mistake joining Canada. We're much more American than we are Canadian, maybe because we joined when Canada first started to imitate America. We didn't join them. It's more true to say us and Canada join the US at the same time. Newfoundland today is like if you took that place in Scotland in the video and dropped it in a modern day American city. The things that make us unique from others on this side of the hemisphere can be seen in this video.
Unfortunate that there is no "live soundtrack" on this film, all sound seemingly added later in the production studio. It would have been interesting to discover the extent of day to day Gaelic language use among this remote rural community during the middle of the 20th century?
I doubt anyone spoke any language other than the Gaelic. My neighbour (in London) is from Lewis, born in the mid sixties. He first visited London at five years old and was totally shocked because no one had told him about the existence of other languages, such as English, or of Black people!
@@jumperontheline I thought this would be the case but I am no expert on the timeline of English language uptake across previously monolingual (Gaelic speaking) communities in the Highlands and Western Isles. My uneducated guess would be post WWII before English was taught in schools across Gaelic speaking communities?
@@peterdavidson3268 I don't know about Scotland, but in Ireland and Wales, as well as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the Americas children were punished for speaking their own languages in school. The Irish were driven off the arable land and forced to live in the boggy west, which became the Gaeltacht. So I presume something similar happened in Scotland: the language was preserved in the islands and to a lesser degree the highlands, while the parts more attractive and accessible to the new rulers became English speaking. But that's just an semi-educated guess!
@@jumperontheline "I don't know about Scotland, but in Ireland and Wales, as well as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the Americas children were punished for speaking their own languages in school." A pattern of cultural repression observed among other so called "colonial powers" - France actively pursued a policy of minority language denialism for much of the 20th century - in the 1870s, so not so far beyond living memory, a majority of inhabitants living within the borders of what is now modern France didn't speak French so a Pariscentric state clique set about actively imposing its monolinguistic vision upon the 'unwashed' hinterlands/provinces, with devastating impacts for "Regional" language diversity.
@@peterdavidson3268 It's absolutely horrific. I didn't know that about France. The only other language I know of there is Breton, and of course a lot of people in Alsace wouldn't have spoken French. (Edit because my silly finger posted while I'm still writing!) France is such a big country geographically that it makes sense for there to have been many languages, or at least dialects as there were in England before television, etc. I remember my mother telling me once that, growing up in Suffolk in the 30s and 40s, they had trouble understanding people from the next village which was only five miles away.
Too late now really. Ethnic cleansing in the most civilised way. Some of these men did shout commands in English to their dogs. But not many.. That was a good fank for that era.. In two World wars never mind the preceding two-hundred years these areas produced huge numbers of cannon-fodder for the British army. They went willingly and foolishly.
Some of these practices are still part of life in Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Peat cutting and sheep shearing in particular. Homes have changed dramatically for the better with central heating and posh bathrooms. I grew up there in the 40s and 50s. Life was very similar to this then. Hard work but lots of fun.
Brother's didn't carry on the crofting as they have local jobs sadly,record keeping bit difficult too.Buildings date back to 1600,barn as father told us once used for church services,wool sadly worth nothing,treatment for sheep so expensive.Beautiful area though.
hello , please tell me where you found this video, and if you have any others similar based around oldshoremor back then. A lot of my family have lived up there and would love to see more. THanks very much. Vivien
I get an online newsletter called Electricscottland and often he posts old documentaries like this one. My grandmother's family were among some of the very last to come to America before the Revolution in 1775 and my many greats grandfather fought the entire war for America independence. They came from Scotland via Ireland and are among the so called Scotts-Irish-the Other Irish-because they were protestants.
Interesting, some footage of real people, the latter days of a way of life almost gone. unfortunately the voice over appears to be written later and done by actors. Just doesn’t quite sound right. But I suppose sound would be hard to get in remote locations back in those days. My dads uncle was the driver of the local mail van back in those days. My dad learned to drive in the mail van. My dad sold the Croft back in the 60’s. We were living to far away. My cousins still have a couple. most like me live elsewhere. With a few relatives still in the area.
Not many of them asserting their intersectionality I'd posit. Life lived close to the earth, and hearth and family and faith. No need to construct existential crises to find meaning.
It honestly hasn't changed at all in almost 75 years! There is electricity now and the occasional burst of internet (when the wind is blowing in the right direction...). I lived in Achriesgill for 3 years (2014-16) and fell utterly in love with the place. I go back as often as I can!
About the same. The road into Kinlochbervie has been widened and straightened a bit. First stayed there 1972 and it was almost exactly the same as in the film!
With Independence the true Scotland could be reclaimed, and the spirit of its people restored. Rise up, and get out from under the Norman yoke. Take back what is yours, and join yourselves to your your heritage, and traditions!
I wonder if there was much depression and anxiety there at that time…would think the hard work and simple life would account for little mental health problems..thanks
A lot like d west of Ireland around that time work was hard times were hard but in d west of Ireland the people talked more we had rambling houses this is where people played music and danced
Very enjoyable😃 I'm watching from New Zealand and was thinking the same, Sarah. NZ is being absolutely thrashed with that crap😢 My McRae ancestors came out from Plockton & Applecross areas in the 1860's. I would loved to have visited Scotland but sadly that won't be possible now.
The sky over Kinlochbervie still looks like this ,in your infinite wisdom ,explain how do so called chemtrails work ! who authorises it ? If it's the government do they all tell their family to stay home that day,and what about the pilots, do they do the the same ? Engage your brain before you put your mouth into gear !
I’m a crofter in a wee village near the Isle of Skye. It’s hard work. My husband and I own cattle and our crofts are geared towards that.
You should be so proud to keep this way of life alive, make good your way.
It looks like hard work but worthwhile. Many people would trade with you. 😊 best wishes
We went to the Isle of Skye 48 years ago for our honeymoon it was wonderful we hitch hiked everywhere and went pony trekking on highland ponies,watched the crafters at work and went for liquid refreshments at Dunvegan Hotel Many happy memories. We revisited Skye a couple of years ago and was shocked to see most of the crofts sold for holiday homes and posh restaurants. What a shame that most of Skye seems to be more of a giant theme park. You couldn’t move for motorhomes either. The times have changed for the worst.
@@paulbird32358
I tramped through the Highlands more than thirty years ago and met many friendly folk. I spent a day or two on Skye. Beautiful country. I bought a handmade cable-knit sweater at a market near Fort William and I still have it in good nick too. Some of my dad's people came from Skye.
This great little film reminded me of my mother’s uncle’s sheep farm. It’s been passed down about two generations. I found it all so fascinating . No one was allowed to touch the sheep dogs, because they were working animals - I suppose it was thought that if the dogs were petted they’d go soft and be no good for work. The film was made the year I was born. Makes me feel so old…..which I suppose I am. Thanks for posting.
Same here Carol, I said to my younger co worker that she looked like Sophia Loren.....her response was "who's that"? 😢😢 Yep...that's a sign I'm getting old...
@@totoro9590 fine looking girl then 😁
Thank you very much for this historical scottish film,i love scotland.
It breaks my heart watching this, my family crofted in this very location! I wonder what they'd make of all the family homes now used as holiday homes vacant most of the year. Such a tragic loss. A hard but pure way of life.
😟 yes
Same on the Isle of Mull
Scotland is a place that caught my heart like no other place has. Went for a month and stayed three years. Would still be there if I didn’t become a gran back here in Canada, love that wee miss but my heart is still in Fife.
Remember seeing this when I was a child, my great uncle Billy is in it at 7.40 and 16.30.
My Grandparents were born in 1939 on a remote Scottish Island in the Outer Hebraties. It's amazing to think that this was what their world was like
Not changed a huge lot...😊
I’m a great-grandmother of that generation, and this took me back to my earliest memories. As this documentary was made by the government, the voices are speaking Scots but the first language in the Outer Hebrides is Gaelic!
Well the government at that time would highlight the work ethic without acknowledging the culture, particulalry the lanuage. Such a shame .
Wishing you all the best
What a lovely film that captures the very essence of a caring community. So glad I have Scottish ancestry.
Watching from Ireland..this was beautiful to see...thank you
fascinating film ... I grew up on my father's croft in Scourie ( a few miles south of Achriesgill ) in the fifties , and can relate to everything in this documentary ... the sheep dipping and shearing, the lobster fishing ... everything. I remember when electricity first came to the village in 1951 (I was four years old) .
One thing that irks me slightly about this film however is that the narrator keeps referring to "Sutherlandshire" ... nobody ever calls Sutherland "Sutherlandshire". ... except for sassenachs who don't know any better! Still, a minor quibble about an otherwise very enjoyable production.
We've always called it 'Sutherland' as well. To add the 'shire' is very old fashioned and official; no one has done that for 100 years . One summer we went to Scourie on a camping trip and I was a bit disappointed because I thought we were going to Scarborough! I grew up in Golspie, but my family were from Achriesgill and Kinlochbervie. My sister lives in Achriesgill now, but I am in Canada. Billy Calder mentioned at 7:38 and 16:32 was my great-uncle.
This was probably because is was a government made documentary! The government in London where those Sassenachs are!! The commentary is done with people speaking English with the lilt of Scots as the first language there may well have been Gaelic.
It was a sassenach narrating the film!
@@margerykirner5604 Sounds as if he hails from Ireland not Scotland , there is a definite Irish Lilt.
It's a documentary film from the 40s, there will be errors and irritation to modern audiences Better it's survived than not, faults and all.
I’m born and bred in west of Scotland and most of my work is around the hills. It’s amazing how many ruins ( remains of buildings) there is scattered in the most remote areas. Small communities must have lived in what feels like wilderness now. I had my lunch a few days ago sitting on the remains of a stone wall which was once a drovers inn. This was where cattle and sheep drovers moved the livestock from place to place, to market etc. They would drove the livestock by foot and stop at the drovers inn that would be on the route where they would get fed and probably a wee dram of whiskey. Livestock would get fed and watered and if it was the end of the day they would stay the night at the inn. While having my lunch in this long abandoned ruin it seemed strange to think that 150 years ago stopping of there for lunch was a normal occurrence. I never got a wee dram of whiskey though. Those times have also changed when that wee dram would be what warmed you up and gave you the strength to keep on droving
If you're "born and bred" Scots, why cant you spell whisky the right way ?
@@wildscotsman1
Fuck of bawbag
That Scottish enough spelling for ye ya fanny
@@wildscotsman1they did. The Irish way.
Uisge Beatha you mean. A wee drop of the craiture.
I do regular hillwalking all over Scotland ( I'm from the central belt) and see many any ruined buildings .. What I would like to know is, how can I buy one of these , some still have roofs , I know of one near Crieff .. Who owns these empty buildings ?
a time when tv was worth watching this is the most educatational video ive seen
One small correction: there was no television in wartime Britain.
CROFT: A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas.
What a brilliantly shot film.
I stayed in a crofters cottage in the Isle of Sky the walls were about 3 ft thick
Wonderful film thank you so much ❤
When kids knew what fresh air and exercise was helping their parents
The slight reference to the Highland clearances deserved more. Having come from the outer Hebrides I remember these events well especially the coming of “the electric” terrifying my grandmother would light the oil lamp before touching “the electric” for fear of electrocution.
Watching this in 2020 after living in eastern Scotland for three years, never thought I’d hear Vancouver brought up! That’s where I grew up after my parents immigrated when I was wee. Imagine the shopkeeper moving from a city like that to such a far away place. I would too!
As a Canadian who has visited Vancouver dozens of times, I had a similar thought. Hard to imagine this film was released only 14 odd years before I was born. It seems so quaint and antiquated. A Scottish friend years ago had told me of the crofters.
What a delightful film, thanks for uploading. 😊
What a beautiful archive nugget . . very appreciated . .
We really don't know what hard work is nowadays.
In comparison to today's farming it was very hard work but people that lived that life learned as a child how to do whatever had to be done it was a better life
@@noelfleming3567interesting sentiment, but even this propaganda piece mentions the loss of population to towns and cities, with less hard thankless toil. This lifestyle is a lot more pure and romantic at a distance.
@@thesmallerhalf1968 i think it depends on what you want. I absolutely know people who practically live this way now. They have electricity and indoor plumbing. But they have to maintain the ditch to irrigate the field and continue to be part of the community water rights for using the river. They do their best to harvest and use the fruit from the many fruit trees. They have chickens, huge gardens. And guess what, it makes them happy.
I guess you don't do much housework. Electricity has utterly changed it, in a good way, and it's still tedious and grueling.@@divi2747
What a delightful little movie and what a wonderful way to live ❤. I’m sure there are many hardships but so peaceful. Thanks for sharing ❤. I just joined your channel, and the music is beautiful.
Watching from South Africa, left Scotland when I was 28,worked on the towing tractors on calmac ferries all up the west coast,I'm now 61,miss Bonnie Scotland. 😪.
So do I . . . my family comes from Lairg.I left for Vancouver 17 years ago but happily get back to Sutherland for a couple of weeks climbing every year. I'd move back but my kids are happy here . . .
I really enjoyed that. Well done for who ever compiled that, great footage, commentary and sound at a time that was not so easy to capture real life. This was really well done, a look back at a different time, long gone.
I enjoyed this film, I am a sassonack, with a good deal of Welsh, but I do love Scotland and the landscape. This is fascinating and wonderful, an age that is sadly gone though it must have been incredibly hard to live but they al look so healthy and fit.
Sassenach
Thank you so much for the upload. This reminds me very much of my own childhood. It's good to know one's roots and sometimes look back.
What a great video showing the crofters life! Thanks for sharing this!
It would be fascinating to see then and now film of the same area and if the new born boy or girl has any family left crofting, this is 80 years old we need to cherish this history ❤️
My grandfather Alexander Fraser along with his brothers and sisters was born in a Croft on The Hill of Troop, Gardenstown / Crovie near Banff Aberdeenshire
I recently discovered my Scottish ancestry through Duff and MacIntosh. Thanks for posting this! Fascinating to watch.
My goodness they worked hard, men, women, and children helped out too.
Really enjoyed watching this.
Sangobeag at 5.45 where we have a Croft and all these old houses are now all roofless. Have to say, I’ve never heard a man from NW Sutherland talk like that - our accent is completely different from that twee rubbish they have narrated over the top. Amazing to see home in a wartime vid though.
John Angus has a very strong pure isle of Harris accent. That's where his people came from
There are a lot of these sort of short films. Shown i imagine in cinemas as part of the programme and aimed, lets not forget, at reminding people what they were fighting for during ww2. The delighted returning soldier and his newly promoted officer coming home to the security of the country idyll. I've lived in this environment. Some love it, some couldnt wait to sell to highest bidder. Now i imagine its mostly holiday homes.
Although I didn't see it in the credits, I would swear that the male voice representing the male crofter is that of Duncan MacCrae, the great Scottish actor. If so, he was well-chosen. His voice and demeanor are perfect for this.
Certainly is Duncan MacCrae unmistakable voice.
@@A60stock his voice sounds identical to one in the film called Highland Journey from I think it is 1957, And I don’t believe that that one is actually Duncan McRae in the film Highland Journey. that said, whichever one of the two it was, it certainly fits here.
It does sound very much like Duncan, but as I knew him when I was a wee boy, I'm not sure it is him.
So interesting, loved learning this
just brilliant to actually see them and to hear them.
40+ years later in the late 80s, life on Skye where I spent my Teens with my Uncles was not so much different.
Looking forward to the Post Bus, the Grocery Van and the Gathering which I went on too many times, just like as depicted in this film.
It is the 30+ years since when things have changed in the West Highlands and not at all for the better.
Absolutely wonderful
An innocent polite time when people trusted each other and had some self respect. Modern times are not so good.
It depends where you live and how trusting of others you're prepared to be. I don't lock my door when I go out, and I once went away for three weeks and left my door open. Nowt nicked.
As a fairly frequent visitor to the far North of Scotland, these isolated crofting villages haven't changed much in 80 years. You do see the odd house or bungalow that has been built in the last 40 years or so, but much of it looks pretty much the same today..... the sad part is that many of the locals have moved on, and their former homes are now holiday homes.....
Lovely. I live on Arran Isle .
Back in the day when a film finished with “THE END” 😊 lots of hard working, honest, helpful people not feeling sorry for themselves
My god the film was edited by Denis Hopper. That fellah's full of surprises.
In 1944? Are you sure it's not a different Dennis Hopper?! 😂
@@jumperontheline he was born in 1936. He probably started his training to be a film editor around the age of 5. He emigrated from the US to Britain to pursue this ambition. An ambition that had formed in his 4 year old mind.
This land taught the people to be resilient and self reliant, but content with the little they had.
And it never Rained the whole film,,,,,amazing
What a marvellous film. I’m sure many of the skills shown here have been lost . What made me sad was when one of the men said they didn’t go out in the boats as much because of the drifters. It seems our oceans were being over fished even back then.😪
"An almost treeless landscape", indeed. Bha na caoraich mora a'goid na coilltean.
It was lovely to hear my Name mentioned at 5.15. McCaskill 😊
These are the lessons to be relearned for sustainable life on Earth. There is no time to waste and everybody has their share of the duties to perform and the lessons of life are earned fairly.
If only it were that simple.
Oh dear very English opinion of the Highlands and the Highlander.. Its nice footage..in those days wool had value, 5 or 6 shillings per fleece, so in today's value £41.50.. Its worth 30p per kg today or left to rot 😢
Yes, and somebody explain to me why if I want to buy woolen yarn to knit, or a woolen article of clothing it costs so much? We are always being told fleeces are worth nothing, why? Wool can also be made into eco insulation but of course the big industries would not want us to know that.
Plastic cloth is cheap and easy to care for, but not so healthy. The skin can't breathe
We have two large bags of wool here for near two years worth nothing,pity it could be of use in some way?
This is very similar to how we farm sheep on the outer islands in the Faroe Islands. Everything is done by hand.
To think; it’s only been 80 years since the big excitement was mail being delivered.
Surprising, not to say shocking, that there were homes without electricity, running water, or anything but peat fuel in Scotland in 1944.
therewere plenty of communities here in the u.s. where the same was true, remote places in the southwest and the appalachians, probably places in the smokies.
We would be well advised to remember these things. It would help us survive, if needs be.
I was born in 1957, and even in the mid-1960's our homestead in Alaska didn't have electricity or running water, unless Dad started the generator (and we'd lived several years without even having a generator -- Mom carried water up from the lake next to our cabin). There are still homes even in the US that don't have electricity or running water; I've lived without both as an adult. I prefer having them, but could do without if I had to.
West Burton notts didn't have power till the 60s despite a power station on the door step, Abergeirw only
Got electricity in the 21st century
Thank you for posting!
It looks like a lovely (if hard) way to live!! Such a shame we don’t have their family values. It’s been many years since our country pulled together. Thanks for sharing ❤
Hard, but what a good life!
Hard honest working people providing for their families
My great great grandparents were Skye crofters who landed here in Canada in 1843. As a family we have prospered and multiplied!
A fascinating look at a way of life only (in practice) a generation or two removed from that of the iron age.
Like some of the others who have posted comments, I too am descended from crofters. Our croft was in the Isle of Skye, near Trumpan. My great grandfather married a Mackenzie from Loch Broom in Ross-shire, so she was from near where this film was made.
Could your family speak Gaelic?
Trent Report My great great grandfather wouldn't allow English to be spoken in his house.
I don't have the Gaelic but I'm planning on remedying that with going to a course later this year! It's going to be part of a big trip to find out more about some of my ancestors.
Land tenure key to all of this and the ills of today - lets fix it - www.tlio.org.uk
we live here now. Coigach...I'm learning Gaelic online!
Being an auld quine I'd've loved to have seen inside their hooses.😂
Fabulous footage.🎉🎉🎉
Can't believe with all the beautiful Scottish music to choose from, they use something more appropriate for a 1940's American film. .
What a great film, and thanks to modern technology, the whole world can see this past way of living, for endless amount of years to come.😊
Just crazy that these guys are doing 30 mile walks hikes, no water and doing it in less than a day to get the sheep brought in. I love the books and tv show Hamish Macbeth
I would have loved to have seen inside a crofter’s house at tea time
Flies and dirt.
7:06 and also earlier with the shot of the bodach getting the peats in, what kind of roof covering is that, sheet tin or something, plenty of corrugated iron came later, but I've never seen that flat type.
Being a Scott myself This was an amazing film of farm life in the highlands A wee Bonnie film!
For sure, it really is a hard life, but if you enjoy living the life, I should think the returns and the freedom are many times greater than a city life..
Love these Films
Although I was born a century after and had nothing to do with it but the weight of shame for the Highland clearances sits heavy on me. It is hard to believe that rich people could have been so cruel and selfish causing people who could trace their heritage back generations to leave the country they loved. It is heart breaking.
An Englishman who has the greatest respect for our Northern neighbours.
We see much the same with the wealthy of today, destroying others livelihoods that they might have a few dollars more. Able to do so because they foster the idea that they are job creators when in fact it is the customers who truly create jobs, and will create more if paid well!
Shame sits heavy on you, but you and your predecessors had nothing to do with it? Makes sense. 😆
It wasn’t only the English who drove the crofters off their land during the clearances . Many Scottish landowners were responsible too .
@@carolthomas8528 Mostly all Scottish land owners, but hey, if Tango didn’t have the English to blame, his life would loose all meaning.
My aunt and uncle owned a house with a stream running a couple of hundred yards away. A tree branch was hanging over the other side of the stream. They cut the branches off. Later, the Laird charged them with tresspassing. Eek.
They were fined £1. 😂 Caring laird. 😂
P.S. Only 35 years ago. 🎉
And they all had time for 12 children too. Phew, I’m exhausted just thinking about it all.
Our house is in this, bottom left at 1:36.
Do you still live there? Is there still a community in Achriesgill?
Yes I still live in Kinlochbervie and there are people still living at Achriesgill, Achlyness, Badcall, Oldshoremore, Polin, Sheigra, Kinlochbervie, and numerous small settlements all abouts.
It's very nice of you to answer me Gary. Thanks you.
Gary Sutherland ✌️😔
Hello. I'm Billy Calder's great-niece! My sister lives in Billy's house now. Small world. Love watching this film. I love the accents. I'm in Canada now so it's even more of a novelty for me.
one of my two favorite videos...
What’s the other one?
pitty nobody cultivate scottish culture in tasmania. nobody cook scottish food or teaches gaelic. old generation that did something about scottish culture gone and youth has no interest whatsoever.
@@dyuissensarsembayev2990 That’s sad. Unfortunately it’s a familiar story all over the world. Young people only care about Instagram nowadays.
I keep my chin up. I live on Scottish and Irish recipes only. Admire old music. Sadly couldn’t find people with similar interests.
@@dyuissensarsembayev2990 Not too many on Tasmania I expect?
That’s a tough tough gig to be a crofter you had better be ready to suffer for your keep.
1. It's Cape Wrath (not Wroth).
2. The people spoke Gaelic (not English)
Crofters that keep there land after the land clearances... lucky ones 👍
They wouldn’t have done. Their forebears would have been cleared from their ancestral Clan lands further inland. Those that didn’t emigrate were allocated plots (crofts) as these people in 1944 are shown on.
I'm a Newfoundlander. I think we made a mistake joining Canada. We're much more American than we are Canadian, maybe because we joined when Canada first started to imitate America. We didn't join them. It's more true to say us and Canada join the US at the same time. Newfoundland today is like if you took that place in Scotland in the video and dropped it in a modern day American city. The things that make us unique from others on this side of the hemisphere can be seen in this video.
Unfortunate that there is no "live soundtrack" on this film, all sound seemingly added later in the production studio. It would have been interesting to discover the extent of day to day Gaelic language use among this remote rural community during the middle of the 20th century?
I doubt anyone spoke any language other than the Gaelic. My neighbour (in London) is from Lewis, born in the mid sixties. He first visited London at five years old and was totally shocked because no one had told him about the existence of other languages, such as English, or of Black people!
@@jumperontheline I thought this would be the case but I am no expert on the timeline of English language uptake across previously monolingual (Gaelic speaking) communities in the Highlands and Western Isles. My uneducated guess would be post WWII before English was taught in schools across Gaelic speaking communities?
@@peterdavidson3268 I don't know about Scotland, but in Ireland and Wales, as well as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the Americas children were punished for speaking their own languages in school.
The Irish were driven off the arable land and forced to live in the boggy west, which became the Gaeltacht. So I presume something similar happened in Scotland: the language was preserved in the islands and to a lesser degree the highlands, while the parts more attractive and accessible to the new rulers became English speaking.
But that's just an semi-educated guess!
@@jumperontheline "I don't know about Scotland, but in Ireland and Wales, as well as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the Americas children were punished for speaking their own languages in school."
A pattern of cultural repression observed among other so called "colonial powers" - France actively pursued a policy of minority language denialism for much of the 20th century - in the 1870s, so not so far beyond living memory, a majority of inhabitants living within the borders of what is now modern France didn't speak French so a Pariscentric state clique set about actively imposing its monolinguistic vision upon the 'unwashed' hinterlands/provinces, with devastating impacts for "Regional" language diversity.
@@peterdavidson3268 It's absolutely horrific. I didn't know that about France. The only other language I know of there is Breton, and of course a lot of people in Alsace wouldn't have spoken French.
(Edit because my silly finger posted while I'm still writing!)
France is such a big country geographically that it makes sense for there to have been many languages, or at least dialects as there were in England before television, etc. I remember my mother telling me once that, growing up in Suffolk in the 30s and 40s, they had trouble understanding people from the next village which was only five miles away.
My ancestors were crofters on Lewis back as far as the 1600's .
Too late now really. Ethnic cleansing in the most civilised way. Some of these men did shout commands in English to their dogs. But not many.. That was a good fank for that era.. In two World wars never mind the preceding two-hundred years these areas produced huge numbers of cannon-fodder for the British army. They went willingly and foolishly.
Cretin.
Just like they go willingly and foolishly to line up to have whatever swill the government wants to test shot into their arms.
is anyone living this way in the highlands anymore?
Some of these practices are still part of life in Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Peat cutting and sheep shearing in particular. Homes have changed dramatically for the better with central heating and posh bathrooms. I grew up there in the 40s and 50s. Life was very similar to this then. Hard work but lots of fun.
Brother's didn't carry on the crofting as they have local jobs sadly,record keeping bit difficult too.Buildings date back to 1600,barn as father told us once used for church services,wool sadly worth nothing,treatment for sheep so expensive.Beautiful area though.
@real183 Thank you Sir. I would love to correspond.
People in Sutherland " shire " definitely don't have accents like this.
What a joke !🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hearty souls!
hello , please tell me where you found this video, and if you have any others similar based around oldshoremor back then. A lot of my family have lived up there and would love to see more. THanks very much. Vivien
The Scottish Film Archive have a huge amount of footage like this from all around Scotland.
I get an online newsletter called Electricscottland and often he posts old documentaries like this one. My grandmother's family were among some of the very last to come to America before the Revolution in 1775 and my many greats grandfather fought the entire war for America independence. They came from Scotland via Ireland and are among the so called Scotts-Irish-the Other Irish-because they were protestants.
Interesting, some footage of real people, the latter days of a way of life almost gone. unfortunately the voice over appears to be written later and done by actors. Just doesn’t quite sound right. But I suppose sound would be hard to get in remote locations back in those days.
My dads uncle was the driver of the local mail van back in those days. My dad learned to drive in the mail van.
My dad sold the Croft back in the 60’s. We were living to far away. My cousins still have a couple. most like me live elsewhere. With a few relatives still in the area.
brilliant...
Not many of them asserting their intersectionality I'd posit. Life lived close to the earth, and hearth and family and faith. No need to construct existential crises to find meaning.
This reminds me of Madagascar now. Seriously
I bet every other one of them identified as a bigender hemisexual pansexual hemitransgoblin. 😊
Which faith? Chosen or imposed?
Brilliant question. @@marianfrances4959
Guess they havent heard a roar across the border from a bear yet to extend them an offer. :/
I learned so much about Scotland watching Monarch of the Glen
Great thanks - a simpler time .😀
Did I heard Norman Kennedy's voice at some point?
And they had the good sense, then, to carry mail and people in the same vehicle, as is still done in Switzerland
Great music at 19:56
What is Achriesgill like today?
About the same.
You are fortunate to live your life in such a beautiful place!
It honestly hasn't changed at all in almost 75 years! There is electricity now and the occasional burst of internet (when the wind is blowing in the right direction...). I lived in Achriesgill for 3 years (2014-16) and fell utterly in love with the place. I go back as often as I can!
About the same. The road into Kinlochbervie has been widened and straightened a bit. First stayed there 1972 and it was almost exactly the same as in the film!
The old schoolhouse still looks the same
With Independence the true Scotland could be reclaimed, and the spirit of its people restored. Rise up, and get out from under the Norman yoke. Take back what is yours, and join yourselves to your your heritage, and traditions!
Bollocks
Exactly.
The only jelly I'm put in my belly...
Oh, wait... that's a different story.
I wonder if there was much depression and anxiety there at that time…would think the hard work and simple life would account for little mental health problems..thanks
Probably got a slap for talking about it.
A lot like d west of Ireland around that time work was hard times were hard but in d west of Ireland the people talked more we had rambling houses this is where people played music and danced
Omg, thanks for the laugh. @@thelostone6981
And another thing never meet a lazy farmer 8 days a week all year and in this day and age as well , breed apart
My mother was from there and it was definitely 6 days a week, Sunday was strictly the day of rest and most definitely adhered to.
👍Thx.😊
Lovely reminder of how our skies looked before all the chem trailing and geoengineering got underway.
Very enjoyable😃 I'm watching from New Zealand and was thinking the same, Sarah. NZ is being absolutely thrashed with that crap😢 My McRae ancestors came out from Plockton & Applecross areas in the 1860's. I would loved to have visited Scotland but sadly that won't be possible now.
The sky over Kinlochbervie still looks like this ,in your infinite wisdom ,explain how do so called chemtrails work ! who authorises it ? If it's the government do they all tell their family to stay home that day,and what about the pilots, do they do the the same ? Engage your brain before you put your mouth into gear !
Interesting ,
Pure propaganda. Scottish people cleared to make way for sheep.
Enraging and sad 😢