Echoes of the past

Mull has many, many sad and abandoned villages. In the 18th century the island supported over 10,000 people but now there are less than 3000 inhabitants.
Crofting, farming, cattle droving, fishing and burning seaweed to produce kelp ash, for use in the manufacture of soap and glass on the mainland, were the main economic activities on the island until the 19th century. A collapse in the demand for cattle following the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s together with the Highland Potato Famine and the notorious Highland Clearances reduced the population by two thirds and the island economy collapsed. In the early 20th century there were more sheep than people on the island.
This abandoned small crofting village on the island of Ulva is typical. Now desolate and deserted it would once have been a busy and thriving place, with Gaelic-speaking people growing potatoes and oats, raising a few cattle, goats and chickens and gathering what they could from the sea.
The house in the photograph was the home of the grand-parents of Dr David Livingstone the famous African explorer and missionary.