Chair from Strathnaver Clearances

This is one of two chairs that were rescued from one of the longhouses during the Strathnaver Clearances.

During the early and mid-nineteenth century, tenants were evicted from the land to make way for sheep farming. This increased the income for the Sutherland estate but caused distress, hardship and the loss of a traditional way of life for the tenants.

The legs of this chair were deliberately built short so that the person using it would be sitting beneath the smoke level created by the fire situated in the centre of the room.

This chair originally belonged to donor’s grandmother, Betsy MacIvor (the great grandmother of Charles and Maurice MacIvor of Bettyhill).