| Culrain | |
|---|---|
 Culrain | |
  Culrain Location within the Sutherland area | |
| Population | 90 (2001) [1] |
| OS grid reference | NH5794 |
| Council area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ARDGAY |
| Postcode district | IV24 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
Culrain (Cul Raoin) is a small village in Sutherland, Highland, Scotland. [2] [3]
Culrain lies west of Ardgay, beside the Kyle of Sutherland about 5 mi (8 km) west from the village of Bonar Bridge, where several rivers converge to flood into the sea through lush water meadows.
It lies within the civil parish of Kincardine and Community council of Ardgay and District.
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was defeated here at the Battle of Carbisdale, in 1650 in what proved to be the beginning of his end. Although Carbisdale is the name of the nearest farm to the site of the battle, Culrain is the nearest village. [4]
The Munro of Culrain family held the estate of Culrain in the 17th-century and it was apparently named after Coleraine in Ireland which the family's progenitor, George Munro, 1st of Newmore, had been governor during the Irish Confederate Wars. [5] The estate later passed from the Munro of Culrain family to the Munro of Novar family. [5]
Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar devoted himself more to art than to politics at a time when the Highland Clearances were a live issue and he evicted tenants from his estate of Culrain. [6] The initial evictions were entrusted to three men: James Stewart who was a sheriff-officer along with William Munro and Andrew Tallach from the nearby township of Morangie. [7] At the point of eviction in Culrain on 1 February 1820, Stewart was confronted by a crowd of 150 women who demanded that he hand over his papers, which he refused, but they took them off him anyway and they included 57 "notices of removal". [7] When William Munro and Andrew Tallach appeared, they were both forcibly detained by the women who were armed with "sticks and batons" according to Stewart. [7] One of the women was punched by William Munro and fell on her back. [7] William Munro then ran off being pelted with stones and Stewart and Andrew Tallach were then driven out of Culrain by the mob in a "mock triumph". [7] Munro of Novar later arranged for a larger group of militia men which amounted to 100 strong and included armed ex-soldiers to enforce the removals. [8] This group was also pelted with hand-size stones by the women on 2 March 1820 and failed to complete its objective. However, during this second incident, one of the women was supposedly shot dead and another was badly wounded through the eye and mouth with a bayonet. [8] Munro of Novar later came to an agreement in which while Culrain would still be turned into a sheep farm, his tenants would not be evicted. [8] However, this arrangement did not endure indefinitely and later in 1820 he cleared 500–600 people from his estate in Culrain to make way for sheep. [6]
For a number of years Culrain was also the home of the Scottish sculptor Ann Henderson (RSA).
Overlooking the Kyle of Sutherland is the early 20th-century Carbisdale Castle. This was home to the exiled King of Norway during the German occupation of Norway during World War II.
Trains between Inverness and Thurso stop at Ardgay railway station and Culrain railway station (a request stop). The youth hostel is closed.
Buses between Inverness and Lairg stop in Ardgay and Bonar Bridge.
Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made the dukes of Sutherland one of the richest landowning families in the United Kingdom. The title remained in the Leveson-Gower family until the death of the 5th Duke of Sutherland in 1963, when it passed to the 5th Earl of Ellesmere from the Egerton family.
General Sir Hector Munro, 8th Laird of Novar, KB was a Scottish army officer and politician who served as the ninth Commander-in-Chief of Bengal from 1764 to 1765.
Bonar Bridge is a village on the north bank of the Kyle of Sutherland to the west and the Dornoch Firth to the east in the Parish of Creich in the Highland council area of Scotland.
George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland KG, PC, known as Viscount Trentham from 1758 to 1786, as Earl Gower from 1786 to 1803 and as the Marquess of Stafford from 1803 to 1833, was an English politician, diplomat, landowner and patron of the arts from the Leveson-Gower family. He was the wealthiest man in Britain during the latter part of his life. He remains a controversial figure for his role in the Highland Clearances.
Clan Sutherland also known as House of Sutherland is a Highland Scottish clan whose traditional territory is the shire of Sutherland in the far north of Scotland. The chief of the clan was also the powerful Earl of Sutherland, however in the early 16th century this title passed through marriage to a younger son of the chief of Clan Gordon. The current chief is Alistair Sutherland who holds the title Earl of Sutherland.
Strathnaver or Strath Naver is the fertile strath of the River Naver, a famous salmon river that flows from Loch Naver to the north coast of Scotland. The term has a broader use as the name of an ancient province also known as the Mackay Country, once controlled by the Clan Mackay and extending over most of northwest Sutherland.
The Battle of Carbisdale took place close to the village of Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, against the Scottish Government of the time, dominated by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll and a grouping of radical Covenanters, known as the Kirk Party. The Covenanters decisively defeated the Royalists. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Although Carbisdale is the name of the nearest farm to the site of the battle, Culrain is the nearest village.
Ardgay railway station is a railway station serving the village of Ardgay and its neighbour Bonar Bridge in the Highland council area of Scotland. The station is on the Far North Line, 57 miles 70 chains (93.1 km) from Inverness, between Tain and Culrain. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.
Culrain railway station serves the village of Culrain in Kyle of Sutherland in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is located on the Far North Line. It is 61 miles 0 chains (98.2 km) from Inverness, between Ardgay and Invershin. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.
Elizabeth Sutherland Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, also suo jure19th Countess of Sutherland, was a Scottish noblewoman who married into the Leveson-Gower family, best remembered for her involvement in the Highland Clearances.
The Sutherland Railway was a railway company authorised in 1865 to build a line from Bonar Bridge station to Brora, a distance of nearly 33 miles, in the north of Scotland. This was to be continuation of a route from Inverness to Bonar Bridge that had been built by the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway; ultimately the line was extended to Thurso.
Patrick Sellar (1780–1851) was a Scottish lawyer, factor and sheep farmer.
The Highland Clearances were the forced evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860.
Ben Bhraggie is a hill in Scotland which rises to an elevation of 397 metres (1,302 ft) above sea level. The hill dominates the skyline above the village of Golspie and is visible from many parts of east Sutherland. The 100-foot-tall (30-metre) statue which is perched on top is that of George Leveson-Gower, Marquess of Stafford and first Duke of Sutherland who became notorious through the part he played in the Highland clearances.
Gruids is a small remote hamlet, in the council area of Highland, Scotland.
Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar was a British art collector.
Clan Munro is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically the clan was based in Easter Ross in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional origins of the clan give its founder as Donald Munro who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Scotland in the eleventh century, though its true founder may have lived much later. It is also a strong tradition that the Munro chiefs supported Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The first proven clan chief on record however is Robert de Munro who died in 1369; his father is mentioned but not named in a number of charters. The clan chiefs originally held land principally at Findon on the Black Isle but exchanged it in 1350 for Estirfowlys. Robert's son Hugh who died in 1425 was the first of the family to be styled "of Foulis", despite which clan genealogies describe him as 9th baron.
Strath of Kildonan, also known as Strath Ullie,, is a strath in Sutherland, in the north of Scotland. It extends in a north-westerly direction from Helmsdale towards Kinbrace.
The Munros of Culrain were a minor noble Scottish family and a cadet branch of the ancient Clan Munro, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. They were seated at Culrain which is in the south of the county of Sutherland, but to the north of the main Munro clan lands in Kiltearn, Easter Ross.
Kincardine is an extensive civil parish and Community council area on the south side of the Kyle of Sutherland, within the Highland unitary authority area of Scotland, the largest settlement being Ardgay.
