This project, funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities aimed to explore the busyness of upland landscapes across the Highlands and Islands in the early modern period, through an investigation of the relationship between shieling practice and other upland seasonal practices. This it was intended would contribute to our understandings of these landscapes and their past busyness – working to ‘repopulate’ these landscapes archaeologically and in the popular imagination, challenging tired notions of romantic upland emptiness and wild sublimity.
Shieling practice was selected as a core focus of this research due to its important role in the use and management of these upland landscapes. This project conducted walkover surveys in Glencoe, Mar Lodge Estate and the Isles of Canna and Sanday, and excavations of shieling huts and related features in Gleann Leac-na-Muidhe, Glencoe. The results of this fieldwork are reported in reports, a 2023 PSAS article, a 2025 Scottish Historical Review article and D&E 2021 & 2022 volume entries.
Research questions guiding this project included:
- What was the relationship between shieling practice and other seasonal upland industries and practices in the highlands of Scotland?
- How did the changing social and economic practices in the post-medieval period impact the development of shieling practice?
- How can we ‘repopulate’ the post-medieval highlands in the minds of future generations.
As part of this project workshops were carried out with members of the local community of Glencoe, hosted by the Glencoe Folk Museum, which aimed to explore the landscape and heritage values held by members of this community and to understand how they engaged with the landscape of Glencoe through work and leisure.
This research was conducted by Dr Edward Stewart and supervised by Prof Michael Given, Dr Rachel Opitz and Prof Sian Jones.