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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Highland Clearances
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The removal of people during the 19C from their crofts (small tenanted farms) in the *Highlands of *Scotland, often by force, in one of the most shameful sagas of Scottish history. The crofters paid only a small rent to their landlords – who were in many cases their own *clan chieftains – and a higher return was available if the land was turned over to large-scale sheep farming or even used for the stalking of red deer. Evictions continued sporadically from the early 19C. Faced with ever-higher rent demands, the remaining crofters turned to violence in the 1880s (the so-called Crofters' War). An act of parliament in 1886 finally gave them security of tenure.
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