CROICK CHURCH lies some 10 miles up STRATHCARRON to the west of the village of ARDGAY in the county of SUTHERLAND. The current church was built in 1827. Previously there had been a Preaching Station in its locality and there are the remains of a Pictish broch within its glebe. The Church and its minister figured prominently in the Clearance of Glencalvie in 1845, a tragic event that is recorded in messages scratched on its east window.
One message scratched onto the window is “We are all sinners.” Imagine! They camped outside the church in the winter and some people died from the cold. They would not go into the church for shelter (this has 2 legends) because it was donated by the Ross family, the very ones clearing them from the land (to this day Scots will not hold the games; it’s on Ross property), or because they felt that staying in the church defiled a holy place. I’m for the former, due to the ruthlessness of the clearances.
The Pict stones are emotionally moving. The whole patch of land is!
CROICK CHURCH lies some 10 miles up STRATHCARRON to the west of the village of ARDGAY in the county of SUTHERLAND. The current church was built in 1827. Previously there had been a Preaching Station in its locality and there are the remains of a Pictish broch within its glebe. The Church and its minister figured prominently in the Clearance of Glencalvie in 1845, a tragic event that is recorded in messages scratched on its east window.
One message scratched onto the window is “We are all sinners.” Imagine! They camped outside the church in the winter and some people died from the cold. They would not go into the church for shelter (this has 2 legends) because it was donated by the Ross family, the very ones clearing them from the land (to this day Scots will not hold the games; it’s on Ross property), or because they felt that staying in the church defiled a holy place. I’m for the former, due to the ruthlessness of the clearances.
The Pict stones are emotionally moving. The whole patch of land is!