Langwell: The History of a Caithness Estate and its Management, 1750-1850

This book traces the history of a 30,000-acre Highland estate and its people from after the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 until the estate was sold to the 5th Duke of Portland in 1857. Using original research and archival sources including first-hand reports, court records, letters and contemporary newspapers, it sheds light on the lives of the crofters, their landlords, the sheep economy, the droving trade and the fishing industry. Langwell provides deep insight into the immense cultural and social changes taking place in the Scottish Highlands during the period.

Table of Contents:
Lists of Illustrations and picture credits List of Maps List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements Foreword Notes on Names and Terminology Introduction: title tbc 1. A Commission of Fire and Sword: Breadalbane takes Caithness 2. Parks and Furrestorie: A Proposall for Langwall 3. For Every Scot in Favour There is 99 Against: The Act of Union 4. The Hospitable Mansion: The Sutherlands of Langwell 5. Long Acres: The Droving Trade 6. ‘The Horrour of It Must Wear Off’: The Profits of Slavery 7. The ‘Saturday Slap’: Walter Gray Struggles On 8. A Serious Desire to do Good: Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster 9. An Caorach Mhor: The Coming of the Sheep 10. As Many As Possible of the Present Inhabitants Ought to be Retained: Sir John’s Sheep Scheme 11. A Whole Neighbourhood is Set Afloat: Early Emigration 12. Whole Baronies Into Sheepfarms: The Coming of the Flockmasters 13. The Chief of the Arts: Agricultural Innovation in Caithness 14. The Fire! The Fire! The Kildonan Riots 15. Never Out of the Law: James Horne Buys Langwell 16. Land For Votes: The Political Hornes 17. Mischief This Night: Sheep Stealing in the North 18. The Silver Darlings: The Fishing Boom 19. Improving on Improvement: James Horne at Langwell 20. The Great Donald: Donald Horne Succeeds to Langwell 21. Uncertain and Exaggerated Benefits: Hunger and Emigration in the Nineteenth Century 22. The Coming of the Steamers: Sea Connections 23. ‘From the Pen to the Plough’: Horne Expands into Clyth 24. The Deserted Villages: From the Land to the Sea 25. All the Grouse are Killed: The Coming of the Sportsmen 26. Destitution Road: Famine 27. The Empty Estates: The Fall of the House of Stirkoke 28. Running Before the Wind: Caithness Havens 29. Mad, Blind and Impious: The Eviction Scandal 30. Fit For A Maharajah: Langwell for Sale Family Trees: The Sutherland, Gray and Horne Families Appendix: The Defenders named in Summonses of Removal, 1763 to 1857 Bibliography Footnotes Index

About the Author :
Michael Moss was emeritus professor of archival science at the University of Northumbria, he was previously research professor in archival studies at the University of Glasgow. He served as archivist of the University from 1974 to 2003. He was educated at the University of Oxford and trained in the Bodleian Library and was Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Melbourne in 2015. He wrote numerous books including The 'Magnificent Castle' of Culzean and the Kennedy Family, 2002, The Making of Scotch Whisky, 2000; The Building of Europe’s Largest Mutual Life Company – Standard Life, 1825-2000, 2000. Michael Moss died in 2021. William Parente graduated from Oxford with a First in English and went on to do research in Shakespeare’s comedies, later working in theatre and writing the Scotsman’s film column from 1980-92. With Yves Bonavero he set up Bonaparte Films in 1990 to finance small British features including Waking Ned and William Boyd’s The Trench. His ancestor the 5th Duke of Portland (the ‘mole’) acquired Langwell in 1854. He lives in Nottinghamshire and Caithness.

Review :
Langwell is an absorbing story of a Caithness estate,1750-1850. Its review of the key changes of the period undoubtedly adds to the wider debate, but what is particularly well-depicted is the complex network of debt surrounding the estate’s ownership and the book’s success at giving identity to those who managed it. This remarkable book will be a landmark text for the history not only of Caithness or the Highlands, but for rural communities across Scotland and globally. It utilises a huge range of primary materials to build a meticulous picture of a society undergoing a series of revolutions in their way of life, and tells that story with excitement and creativity from multiple perspectives. An absolutely essential read. Based on extensive archival research, Langwell explores a period of profound change and traces its impact on local communities. Wide-ranging and thoroughly grounded in the broader context, it encompasses impecunious lairds, grasping lawyers, links to slavery, clearance, famine, and social conflict. The book throws new light on a distinctive part of the Highlands. This remarkable original study of a Caithness estate during the extraordinary era of clearance and emigration is a fresh and absorbing contribution to Highland history. Thorough in archival research, meticulous in scholarship and fluent in writing the book should command a wide readership.