The Church and the Clearances


Dr. Allan W MacColl

a public lecture on


Land, Faith and the Crofting Community:

The Church and the Clearances


Croick poster


CROICK CHURCH lies some 10 miles up STRATHCARRON to the west of the village of ARDGAY in the county of SUTHERLAND. It was built in 1827 on land donated by the Rosses of Balnagown and to the design of Thomas Telford, and formed part of a church extension programme initiated and financed by the Westminster Parliament. Previously there had been a Preaching Station in its locality and there are the remains of a Pictish broch within its glebe.

The Church and its minister figured prominently in the Clearance of Glencalvie in 1845, a tragic event that is recorded in messages scratched on its east window. But today they play a happier role in continuing to provide a Christian witness in this remote Highland strath.

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