The Trust are hosting a ‘Come Home to Glendale ‘ on Friday 23rd July and Saturday 24th July. 
Skye celebrates historic homecoming with a difference
The great grandson of a hero of the land reform movement whose revolt against landlords changed Highland history is ‘sounding’ a horn used in the rebellion to rally clans to a homecoming on the Isle of Skye.
The efforts of John McPherson, who became known as one of the Glendale Martyrs after being jailed for his role in the 19th Century crofter uprisings helped persuade Prime Minister William Gladstone to establish a commission that would transform the lives of thousands of people working the land.
This month their struggle, which led to clashes with the police and a Naval gunboat being despatched to the area, will be remembered as part of the inaugural Glendale homecoming weekend.
Hundreds of locals and members of the diaspora of the community in the far north west of Skye will be invited with other members of the public to swap stories and celebrate island life, past and present.
The event, which runs on 23rd and 24th July, has been praised by Neil Oliver, the presenter of the popular BBC television series “A History of Scotland” series.
It will feature an audio walk around the community’s most historically important features, narrated by Oliver for the series, a cultural evening with historic talks, an exhibition of Highland artefacts including early film reels from the early 1900s, sporting events and a ceilidh.
Oliver, who first became interested in Glendale while working on an archeological excavation of a broch in the area in the early 1990s, said the initiative had his “unqualified support”.
He said: “Any kind of community-based effort like this that gives people a connection to their own family and community history or a connection to the bigger story of the Scots and Scotland is always good.
“What happened in Glendale was a hugely significant part of what was going on in the Highlands. The nation-shaping events that unfolded in that little back of beyond cluster of houses were extraordinary.
“For communities to remember and celebrate and teach the wider community about their own history is terrific.”
Glendale became famous in the 1880s for the stance its crofters took against landlords with the power to evict crofters at will and impose excessive rents.
The islanders were becoming increasingly restive in the 19th Century. A blight that devastated the potato crop on which they depended had led to famine and destitution, leading many to seek better lives in places like Australia and Canada. In Glendale the crofters decided to take a stand, claiming back agricultural land that had been lost in the Clearances.
John MacPherson, a 5ft 10 man around 50 with a thick black bushy beard and piercing eyes, persuaded fellow crofters to refuse to pay their rents and to break down walls to allow their cattle onto land they and their forefathers had previously been allowed to use for common grazing.
In 1883, to try to end what was seen as a situation descending into anarchy police tried to station a detachment of officers to restore order but the crofters had sentries on the ridges above who sounded horns to gather as many local people are they could and the approaching police off were successfully driving away. To this date there is no police station in Glendale.
The expulsion of the police was the last straw for the authorities. With ‘The Times’ describing the whole island as being “in a state of wild excitement”, the Royal Navy was despatched to Glendale.
After negotiations between a civil servant and the crofters, MacPherson and others involved in the disturbances surrendered themselves and agree to stand trial in Edinburgh where they were jailed for a couple of months.
Gladstone’s government agreed to set up a royal commission to investigate the causes of the unrest on Skye and the rest of the Highland. Its chairman, Lord Napier, concluded that the impoverished crofters had suffered rough treatment, that something had to be done on their behalf.
Legislation followed in the form of the Crofters’ Holding Act of 1886, establishing the Crofters’ Commission to guarantee fair rents, security of tenure and some compensation for land improvements. Dubbed ‘the Magna Carta of Gaeldom’, it recognised the distinctive land tenure system of the crofting community.
Gladstone came to Glendale himself to inspect the living conditions of the crofters, and was personally escorted by John MacPherson to see for himself the suffering caused by the landlords.
It is said that at the end of his visit Gladstone said, “John you are a clever chiel, and if I had you in the government, you and I could go places.” “If I was in the Government,” replied John, “you wouldn’t be Prime Minister.”
A few years later crofters took over the Glendale Estate, Scotland’s first community buyout, in a move that has since been replicated in many parts of the Highlands and Islands.
The story partly inspired the Scottish band Runrig’s classic recording ‘Recovery’.
Iain MacPherson, the reformer’s great grandson, still possesses the horn his forefather is believed to have used during the uprising and has been recounting its story to The Glendale Trust which is organising the homecoming event.
The trust, which has highlighted the event on international geneology websites to reach descendents of the Glendale rebels, also hopes to commemorate Glendale’s place in Scottish history with a permanent exhibition in a heritage centre in a mothballed local school.
The exhibition will also showcase other aspects of Glendale’s history, including the Druids, the influence of the Vikings, the impact of the clearances and the Gaelic culture.
It is seen as a way to boost tourism in a remote part of the island where other attractions include the internationally-renowned Three Chimneys restaurant, Neist Point Lighthouse, and a toy museum.
Trust chairman Ian Blackford, a former City fund manager who now runs a management consultancy from his Glendale home, said: “Glendale has a unique story to tell.
“The actions of the Glendale Martyrs and their breadth of support in Glendale, Skye and elsewhere clearly had a strong influence on the government of the day appointing the Napier Commission and crofters being granted security of tenure.
“We owe these great leaders an enormous debt of gratitude and the crofting counties today still stand as a legacy to their efforts in standing up for crofters’ rights.
“The strength of the campaign for land reform led, of course, to Glendale becoming the place where the first community land buy out took place creating the inspiration for many communities in Scotland in more recent times to take control of their own destiny.
“Our homecoming weekend will allow all of us to celebrate the achievements of the Glendale Martyrs but also to reflect how their actions shape our lives today. Of course the gathering in Glendale will also be a fantastic occasion where people will meet to tell stories, renew friendships and enjoy the character of the people of Glendale.”