Islands facing new clearances as more households to house elderly single adults
The Emigrants, memorial statue showing evicted Highlander family during Highland clearances at Helmsdale, Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, Scotland. (Photo by: ARTERRA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
By Mike Merritt THE Highland Clearances remain one of the most emotive chapters in Scotland s history, during which tens of thousands men, women and children were forcibly evicted from their homes as swathes of the country were depopulated. Now a new report has painted a bleak portrait for the future of the Outer Hebrides in the 21st century. Conjuring up an image of a new kind of clearances scenario, the document projects that the Outer Hebrides will become the first part of the country with an average household occupancy of less than two people.