Brutal beauty

©2019 Barry Smith - Historical rings of aged timber Sletell

Fiona and I were told about an abandoned post-clearance village called Sletell. After checking out the sculpture The Unknown we decided to take a detour on our way home to see if we could find the remains of the village. We could not find it following the directions we were given - or at least what we heard. We were about to give up when we saw a couple of older guys talking and took the chance to ask directions - one said this fellow will show you - he is heading over that way. The second guy said follow me and I will show you the path. We rolled him for what seemed an age - we were no where near the location. Suddenly he pulled up and said park your car there and I will show you the start of the path. Sure enough 20m the path started uphill - he said it will take about 15 or so minutes to get there depends on how fast you walk - it took us 35 minutes.

©2019 Barry Smith  - Start of the path to Sletell

It was totally worth it - such beauty.

©2019 Barry Smith  - Looking to Mt Loyal from the top of the ridge to Sletell

©2019 Barry Smith  - Twins pathways through the heather

©2019 Barry Smith  - One of the three cottages

©2019 Barry Smith   - A second cottage - see the cove - imagine building a boat and going out to sea over that "beach"

©2019 Barry Smith  - Very unusual to find timber roof supports like this in cottages of this age

©2019 Barry Smith  - The beach

©2019 Barry Smith  - Possibly an early circle hut?

©2019 Barry Smith  - Making do with what you have - or including bits of history from a past life???

©2019 Barry Smith  - Fractured lintel

©2019 Barry Smith  - Beauty of stone and location

©2019 Barry Smith  - Thistle at the base of the cottage 

Then why do I say brutal - well three families were expelled-evicted from their farms and relocated miles and miles away in this remote spot on small acreage and were basically told to become fisher folk. They had to build their own houses and there were no amenities. Such was the brutality of the clearances - legal but not moral surely.

One of the other beautiful aspects of the walk was that the guy visited some other folk near the trail so that he could ensure we made it back we think. But it also turned out that he now owns the land and was pleased that we recognised it for what it was in terms of its beauty and history.