This is part two of a 3 part series looking at Rousay - The Rousay Clearances

by Fiona Grahame

The former Westside Kirk

The period 1815 - 1914 is known as Britain’s Imperial Century when the might of the Empire stretched across almost a quarter of the world’s land surface

Kamoan , bounded by Tibet and Nepal, is part of the Himalayan range. Mahatma Gandhi wrote of it “In these hills, nature’s hospitality eclipse all men can do.”

It was once covered in dense forests filled with many kinds of wild animals. Human occupation dates back thousands of years. By 1850 those dense forests were stripped back to make way for intensive farming.

It was to this beautiful land that George William Traill arrived to take up his post as its first administrator as part of the British Empire in 1816.