Highland Clearances - interview with Prof James Hunter

Professor James Hunter joins Lesley Riddoch for an extended conversation about Strathnaver, Patrick Sellar, and one of the most notorious episodes in the Highland Clearances. Jim is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He has written extensively about the Highlands and Islands and - in a varied career - has been director of the Scottish Crofters Union, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and an award-winning journalist. This interview recorded in May 2026, is part of our forthcoming film about Strathnaver, which shows how local people have put their own mark back on the land, after the total clearance of 1819, with the Gaelic Tree Alphabet Woodland ( A’Chraobh) at Borgie and the community buyout at Rosal. The interview with Jim explores the history behind clearance across Sutherland, the way of life it destroyed, the motivations of the Duke of Sutherland's factor Patrick Sellar, the circumstances around his arrest for culpable homicide and the lasting impact of these mass evictions on Highland culture and confidence. We are sharing the full interview now to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Jim's seminal book - The Making of the Crofting Community - and to thank everyone who supported our recent Crowdfunder campaign. It will finance two films - one about Strathnaver and the other about the Women of Coigach who resisted eviction five times in 1852/3 to stop Achilitibuie becoming yet another desolate, depopulated peninsula. Big thanks to Professor Jim Hunter for giving his time so generously, and for a lifetime's dedicated work exploring, recounting and validating the experience of Highlanders in Scotland and the lands to which they emigrated - some by choice but most by compulsion. Both films will be released later this year on Youtube and cinemas. Most of Jim's books are available from Birlinn https://birlinn.co.uk/contributor/jam...