At the end of the 18th-century, a population of around 1,000 eked out a living on the Knoydart peninsula, through a mixture of
crofting and
fishing. By 1948, Knoydart was owned by
Lord Brocket, who was controversial for his fascist activities before and during
World War II. He was known as a
Nazi sympathiser, and became a committed member of the
Anglo-German Fellowship, using his estates to entertain supporters of
Nazi Germany. On 9 November, made the
land raid invoking the
Land Settlement Act, which permitted
returning servicemen to take over land which was under-used and farm it as their own. As veterans of the
Second World War, they had been fighting to defend Britain against the fascist regimes in
Germany and elsewhere. The seven men marked out of arable land and of hill land upon which to settle. The raid followed a pattern set by the
Highland Land League some seventy years before, and was inspired by similar land raids at the end of the
Great War, on
Raasay and the
Long Isle, when returning soldiers drew public attention to the misuse and mismanagement of land. The plaque reads: ::
Justice! ::
In 1948 near this cairn the Seven Men of Knoydart staked claims to secure a place to live and work. ::
For over a century Highlanders had been forced to use land raids to gain a foothold where their forebears lived. Their struggle should inspire each new generation of Scots to gain such rights by just laws. ::
History will judge harshly the oppressive laws that have led to the virtual extinction of a unique culture from this beautiful place. == Legacy ==