Island harvest

The pile of stones and ruined walls give a clue to the lives of the last people to live on the island. They were farmers and this is where they had their home. Before timber and bark were harvested here, oats and barley were the usual crops. The family that lived here probably kept a few hens, some cattle and some old fashioned Scottish sheep. Like other families they would have paid their rent in kind, with butter, cheese and grain. By the end of the 18th century, landlords needed more money to support their lavish lifestyles. They replaced small farms with large-scale sheep farms or woodlands. Around 1796 the farmer was asked to plant acorns and more than 2,000 years of farming tradition on Inchcailloch came to an end.