Plocaig Reawakens

Plocaig is a village which died. It stands on Ardnamurchan's north coast, to the east of, and about a kilometre from Sanna. It's surrounded by the remains of its people's fields and, below the village, there's a well-protected bay where the men kept their fishing boats.

We know from the wonderful photo in Catriona MacMillan's collection, here, that Plocaig's houses still had the remains of their thatch in 1932, so this was not a classic, 19th century 'clearance' village. It probably faded away because it was so remote, separated from the new road and 'civilisation' by the deep cut of the Sanna Burn.

But, every now and again, the village reawakens. In early autumn the sheep which still graze its fields as they have done for generations are gathered and held in a fank at the south end of the line of abandoned houses.

Gathering is a hard task in this broken wilderness, and impossible without dogs. This picture shows John Alec Cameron, who has rights on the croft land, at work a mile to the east of Plocaig, driving his sheep along the coast.

The area also comes alive in the summer with visitors who use the land the villagers knew so well for modern, leisure purposes. One of the many things the area offers, along with superb walking, is endless opportunities for rock climbing on the steep outcrops of the ring dykes left after the erosion of the 60-million year old Ardnamurchan volcano.

A map of the area is here.