Tales of the North Coast: The Beautiful and Remote North Coast of Scotland from Melvich to Tongue

by Alan Temperley

This original collection has been constantly in deman since its first publication over twenty years ago. Temperley is a leading children's writer one of whose books is about to be made into a TV series in the UK.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Fionnuala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected some good tales from this one, and this I definitely got. It's a wonderful collection of stories and folklore from a very specific time and place, and every one of them was entertaining, interesting, and charming. I currently live in Scotland, further to the south-east but in a place as wind-swept as some of the places described; with the same booming of the sea when the wind is blowing right. Reading this book on a cold evening took on some of the qualities of their original telling, and I absolutely love the kind of immersive, real feeling that tales like these have. Not to mention the fact that some of these aren't mere myth or legend -- several are true, real histories and anecdotes spun into entertaining stories. I got everything I wanted in that respect, and would have rated the stories five stars on their own, because they're all so enjoyable and this is a wonderful piece of preserved history.

What I wasn't expecting was the detailed history and testimony regarding the Highland Clearances in the area. In short, this was where communities that had lived in areas for centuries were brutally driven from their homes and banished from their ancestral lands, so these lands could be given over to farming for the profit of the rich aristocracy. The people of the Highlands were regarded by these colonisers as practically subhuman; they were treated accordingly. Many died from starvation, illness, and exposure. Many more left for other places, such as America, never to return. And the area where a lot of these stories originated became desolate and abandoned. The communities so lovingly captured in these tales disintegrated. The culture was scattered.

Not only was the history of the Clearances done very well, relying on witness accounts and creating an oral history, but it was masterfully placed and included. To have all of the stories come first, to introduce you to this area rich in community and spirit and culture, to make you fall in love with the place yourself -- and then to patiently and painstakingly explain how it was destroyed forever... this skillfully illustrates some of the depth and grief of these decisions. It can never make you fully comprehend the horror of it, because what can?, but this comes about as close as possible. It is like reading a wonderful book and then having it snatched from your hands before you reach the end. Questions stay with you: what kind of stories would we have now, had they been left alone? What would it be like to go to these ancient communities and wander around? Some of them do remain, yes. But if I drove north this summer and visited many of these tiny villages and dwellings, I would find nothing but moss-covered stones and overgrown houses, many of them ruins from being set alight as their former occupiers watched -- and sometimes, yes, even as they fled.

Not only is this a history of an area's life, it's also a witness to its destruction. It was not what I expected when I picked this book up, but I am glad I got it. What a lucky find.

[Allyson Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most fascinating “school assignment” you’ll ever read- the local folklore of Sutherland as told & illustrated by school children, brilliantly edited by their teacher at the time, Alan Temperley. The information on the clearances at the end makes the lively stories in the first part of the book all the more poignant— a culture and way of life cruelly eradicated by a greedy few for short lived gains.