1814, the year that the Highland Clearances hit the Province of Strathnaver. On taking financial advice from her factors, James Loch and Patrick Sellar, the Countess of Sutherland agreed that her tenants should be removed from their inland crofts to make way for large flocks of Cheviot Sheep which would provide her with a much better financial return on her land than the existing rents being paid by her crofting tenants.