Camuscross () is a small

crofting township Crofting (Scottish Gaelic: ') is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century Township (Scotland), townships, individua ...

on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

in Scotland. Camuscross is situated on Camus Croise bay, on the west shore of the Sound of Sleat, in the

Highland Council area Highland (, ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the United Kingdo ...

. It lies close to the village of Isleornsay and the island of

Ornsay Ornsay is a small tidal island to the east of the Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Description The island provides good shelter to a natural harbour which is overlooked by the village of Isleornsay. The " ...

History

In the early 19th century, Lord MacDonald created a township of 40 small crofts, on average. The hill grazing was less than a tenth of the size of most other

Sleat Sleat ( ) is a peninsula and civil parish on the island of Skye in the Highland council area of Scotland, known as "the garden of Skye". It is the home of the clan '' MacDonald of Sleat''. The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic , which in tur ...

townships, with many more crofters. It is thought that the crofts were deliberately made too small to live on, forcing the crofters to fish during the

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

boom.

Harbour

Isle Ornsay harbour was one of the most promising harbours in the whole of Skye, for a time the main connection to the mainland. Isle Ornsay post office, situated where the estate office now is, was the main post office for the whole of

. Isle Ornsay harbour saw the departure of emigration ships. The ''William Nichol'', a government emigration ship left on 6 July 1837, bound for Australia as part of "Langs" Bounty Scheme. Conditions on the voyage were poor, with the deaths of 19 children and 2 adults from a

manifest Manifest may refer to: Computing * Manifest file, a metadata file that enumerates files in a program or package * Manifest (CLI), a metadata text file for CLI assemblies Events * Manifest (convention), a defunct anime festival in Melbourne, Au ...

of over 300. The ''Sillery'' departed on 7 September 1853 for Canada, including 332 people from

Knoydart Knoydart () is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, on the west coast of Scotland. Knoydart is sandwiched between Lochs Nevis and Hourn — often translated as "Loch Heaven" (from the Gaelic ''Loch Néimh'') and "Loch Hell" (Gaelic: ''Loch ...

and the Glengary estates, who had been cleared to make way for sheep. Houses were burnt and levelled to the ground. Four young men from Inverguseran 'escaped' over the hills to

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; ) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a distric ...

Camuscross Community Initiative

Camuscross Community Steering Group was set up in February 2007 to develop various projects for community benefits. It is working on affordable house sites, a network of heritage paths with interpretation, and hoping to build a local shop and cafe. The group has been researching local history and has collected a number of place names from local people. It publishes a newsletter called ''An Lianag'' – after the name of the

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

in the middle of the village, which is where the crofters traditionally met to discuss township matters. The Steering Group organise the Camuscross Crofting Olympics, an afternoon of serious and not-so-serious competitions in August. It became a community company, becoming incorporated on 22 December 2008, with the name of ''Camuscross Community Initiative''. When the company decided to add the neighbouring crofting township to its area of benefit, it became ''Camuscross & Duisdale Initiative''.

Footnotes

External links

{{Skye Populated places in the Isle of Skye