Art work to recall Coigach Clearances rebellion led by women

A rebellion led by women during the Highland Clearances 150 years ago is to be remembered by a new art installation.

The community in Coigach, an area in the north west Highlands, resisted attempts by their landowner to clear them off land where generations of families had lived.

The area was be turned into a large sheep farm, and police and sheriff’s officers landed in boats on five occasions to serve legal documents.

During one of the raids, police were forced to flee after being attacked and stripped naked and in another the legal papers were burned on a beach.

Clearances occurred across large parts of rural Scotland, with landowners having communities evicted to make way for large-scale farming.

In the Highlands, some of the evictions took place while men were serving in the military and fighting overseas, including in the Crimean War.

Coigach Heritage is working with local artists Will Maclean and Marian Leven on the proposed the new installation.

It would recall events from 1852-53.

Under the plan, a large standing stone in the centre would represent the community and three other stones would represent the women who led the resistance.

The installation would also have five granite blocks laid out in a circle and pointing in the directions of where police and sheriff officer’s arrived from in boats.

The authorities eventually gave up trying to evict the community, and its residents were regarded as among the early heroes of “land wars” that led to reforms and new legislation to protect their rights.