People Power

Since a previous visit to Lewis almost 4 decades ago memorials have appeared commemorating the crofters whose actions were instrumental in establishing the Crofting Refotm Act of 1886.

The main photograph shows the cairn on the Eye Peninsula commemorating the Aignish Riot when desperate crofters agitated for more land to feed their near starving families.

The extra is the monument on Great Bernara commemorating a riot of 1874 which centred around a threat to remove the vitally important right of summer grazing from the crofters inorder that it could become part of a deer forest. This sparked several riots in the Highlands and Islands and led to the Act which gave Crofters security of tenure.