page_title: Ulva
section_title: The Clearances
hierarchical_section_title: Ulva / History / 19th century / The Clearances
caption_attribution_description: Ormaig Remains of the village. Bac Mor is visible in the distance.Isle of Ulva, Inner Hebrides.
context_page_description: Ulva is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, off the west coast of Mull. It is separated from Mull by a narrow strait, and connected to the neighbouring island of Gometra by a bridge. Much of the island is formed from Cenozoic basalt rocks, which are formed into columns in places.
  Ulva has been populated since the Mesolithic and there are various Neolithic remains on the island. The Norse occupation of the island in the Early Middle Ages has left few tangible artefacts but did bequeath the island its name, which is probably from Ulvoy, meaning "wolf island". Celtic culture was a major influence during both Pictish and Dalriadan times as well as the post-Norse period when the islands became part of modern Scotland. This long period, when Gaelic became the dominant language, was ended by the 19th-century Clearances. At its height, Ulva had a population of over 800, but by May 2019, this had declined to 5; some increase in the number of residents was expected in future, with the re-population plan that was to commence in 2020.
context_section_description: Francis William Clark, a lawyer from Stirling, bought the island in 1835. According to the Isle of Mull web site, Ulva was booming in 1837, with a population of 604 people. 
  After the clearances ordered by Clark, two-thirds of the islanders were gone within a few years. Sometimes those who were to be evicted were given no warning, and had the thatch of their houses set on fire by "brutal landowners who replaced them with more economically sound sheep", according to one news report. 
  In 1841, the population of Ulva and Gometra was 859, but by 1848 this had plummeted to 150 thanks to a combination of the Highland potato famine and Clark's Mass evictions. In 1849, 360 people lived on Ulva, but that number had dropped to 51 by 1881. 
  MacKenzie records at Aird Glas, near Ardalum, the now abandoned row of houses was nicknamed "Starvation Terrace":
  ...Where the old and feeble folk cleared from their crofts were placed by Clark, to exist as best they could on shellfish & seaweed till they died.
  He thinks however, that the plan may not have been to starve them, but to create fishing stations of the type which Walker lamented the lack of. This is certainly what was attempted in Sutherland. Opinions on Clark remain divided. The island's guidebook claims:
  Clark's high hopes for this thriving community were shattered when the kelp market collapsed, and he was left with a great surplus of tenants. His greatest concern would have been for the people and their livelihoods.
  One of Clark's neighbours did not think much of his concern, and is reported to have shouted "Francis William Clark, there's a smell of your name all over Scotland".
  In an era in which large-scale evictions were commonplace — those of Torloisg and Glengorm for example — this Francis William Clark gained a notoriety that matched or exceeded that of the [other] evicting landlords of his time. 'Notorious', 'ruthless', 'cruel', 'callous' are some of the epithets attached to his name.
  MacKenzie further notes, that unlike in Sutherland, where the Clearances are most remembered, there was no factor or middle man to provide a buffer  between the tenants and the landlord, like the notorious Patrick Sellar, and that Clark did a lot of the evicting himself. 
  In evidence to the Napier Commission, Alexander Fletcher recounted that Clark moved people from one piece of land to a small one, repeatedly "then to nothing at all, and when they would not clear off altogether, some of them had the roofs taken off their huts."
  Fletcher also claimed that Clark bullied the sick and the elderly:
  "In another case, there was a very sick woman... Notwithstanding the critical condition of the woman, he [F. W. Clark] had the roof taken down to a small bit over the woman's bed." Another recorded that a woman fetching water at a well was so terrified of him, that she "ran away, and left her kettle at the well, which Mr Clark took hold of and smashed to pieces."
  F. W. Clark was still alive at the time of the reports to the Napier Commission, and never made any attempt to refute these accusations. His son, of the same name, disagreed vocally with his father's behaviour and said, "he would rather have a cailleach (old woman) to light his pipe in every ruined house than all the sheep... of Ulva".
  The Clark family continued to own the island until 1945. F. W. Clark also bought, and cleared, the islands of Gometra and Little Colonsay. 
  Here is a list of some of the cleared townships, and their current state.
  (Notes: All information from MacKenzie  (2000).)
  Clark had a memorial built to himself, and his family on top of the Iron Age fort at Dùn Bhioramuill. A huge marble slab to F. W. Clark was "accidentally" lost in the mire, on its way to be placed here. Some say this was deliberate, but according to local folklore, this was due to the "weight of evil on it". The other parts of the memorial may still be seen.
caption: Ormaig was once the principal settlement on the island. It had been inhabited since prehistoric times, until it was cleared by Francis William Clark in the mid-19th century.
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