The Clearance Village of Badbea, Caithness, Scotland.


*"Woe to thee, oh land, the Great Sheep is coming!"

In around 1793, Highlands landowner Sir John 'James' Sinclair evicted 80 people belonging to 12 families from the fertile areas of Langwell, Ousdale and Berriedale; destroying their homes to create sheep farms.

The twelve families were moved to the sloping cliffs of Badbea, where they were forced to create makeshift houses and a new community from scratch. Badbea lay between a great stone wall, designed to protect the landowner's flocks of sheep, and the edge of dangerous cliffs above Berriedale. The Clearances, one of the most cruel and hotly debated periods in the history of the Highlands, were happening.

The families and their descendants faced numerous hardships at Badbea for more than 100 years, until the last inhabitant left in 1911. This site, produced by and on behalf of their descendants, celebrates their lives and tells some of the stories they passed down to their children and grandchildren, so that their fortitude may be remembered by future generations.