History

2009 was the Year of the Homecoming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interior of building in the deserted settlement of Arineckaig

 

Coulags is located in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands with poor communications.  The economy has gone through several distinct phases.  First subsistence agriculture  organised under clan chiefs, then the introduction of sheep farming such as at Tuillich with the subsequent clearanaces of folk from the land to villages such as Lochcarron (formerly Janetown) with fishing and crofting.  

 

The C19th saw the rise of hunting and the creation of large shooting estates for  red deer.  More recently the changes have included commercial forestry, salmon farming, a temporary period of building of drilling rigs at Kishorn and of course tourism has been an important contributor to the local economy. 

 

Ordinary people's lives showed little change over long periods of time; agriculture was dominated by subsistence farming. The importance of agriculture in the Straths can be seen in the place names, so many beginning with"Auch" meaning field.  Crops such as barley and oats were grown and later potatoes.  In the C18th and C19th many people kept black cattle which contributed to the huge number of animals sent to market in the south.  

 

Local marts existed to act as collecting points, there was a market at Tuillich, which later moved to New Kelso near the railway station at Strathcarron.  From this, and other local markets the animals were driven along Strath Carron and Strath Bran to the large regional mart at Muir of Ord.

 

Housing was at the earliest time in circular houses thatched with heather and later in rectangular black houses with a central fire.  The construction was that the lower part of the walls were stones and the upper part turfed with thatch.  Later the housing was improved and made of stone.  The remains of such settlements are dotted all over the highlands.  Coulags itself has ruins of former blackhouses, but better preserved are those at Arineckaig and to the west of Loch Carron is Stromemeanach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coulags: a history of a very small place in an isolated and remote area

The name Na Cùileagan means "The little secluded spots". It comes from cùil, meaning nook, or sheltered spot; + eag, the diminutive; + an, the plural.   "Cosy corner" as the former crofter, Kenny Coulags,  translated the gaelic. 

Coulags is shown on maps of 1826 and close to the road, but Coulags Croft seems to have been built following the Crofting Act of 1886 about the turn of the century.   The crofts were located on the Achnashellach Estate which was, and is, used for hunting red deer.  The original estate hunting lodge passed to the Forestry Commission and can be seen by Achnashellach Station.

Communications have always been difficult in the highlands and initially settlements were linked only by paths used by houses and for droving cattle along the straths and by foot over the bealachs "passes".  Following the Jacobite rebellions and the move to open up the Highlands commercially road construction and improvement began.  Coulags is mentioned as Coulachan in a C18th road mapping survey. 

 

Coulags Croft was one of four dwellings in Coulags in the C20th.  There was a primary school at Balnacra, which the children from Coulags walked to.  Coulags Croft was a typical example of an improved house built for estate workers and crofters: made of stone and roofed with slate, two rooms downstairs, a living room and bedroom. The stairs went straight up in front of the front door.  Under the stairs was a small “bathroom” and out the back were various tin sheds attached to the back of the house for storage and keeping animals.  Upstairs there were two further bedrooms both with small cast iron fireplaces and coombed ceilings.  The family ran the croft, but also acted as stalkers and game keepers.  In 1901 the census showed that all those living at Coulags Croft spoke both Gaelic and English.

 

In small Scottish settlements the houses do not have numbers or names, but are known by their owner’s names.  This house was referred to in the past as Maclennan Coulags and indeed the owner was known as "Kenny Coulags".  In the 1970’s Mr Kenny Maclennan, the last crofter in the property died, and the house passed to a relative in Kyle.  The house was subsequently decrofted, modernised.  Kenny Coulags was a keen shinty player and can be seen in a number of the photographs of the local shinty team.

 

At the bothy, about an hour’s walk up the valley of Fionn-abhainn you can also see a copy of the contract of employment for one of the Maclennan family to maintain the paths and look after the area for the shooting parties.  This young man went to France in the 1st World War and was killed by a sniper.  The bothy is very much in its original condition with iron fireplaces and pine cladding to the walls; it is worth a visit.  The bothy, is now in the care of the local mountaineering club and acts as an emergency refuge.

 

Gaelic place names

 

Carron means means rough water so, Lochcarron means Loch of the roug water.  The village had formerly been known as Jane Town after the wife of a local landowner but before this was apparently known as Torr nan Clar "Hill of the flat slabs" a reference to the hills which are so  clearly influenced by the geology and geological structure.

 

 

A great website for researching archaelogical sites and sites of historical interest is:

 

http://her.highland.gov.uk/ 

 

For Coulags:

 

http://her.highland.gov.uk/MultiResults.aspx?

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.

Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.