The presence of many brochs and burial chambers suggests that the area has been inhabited successfully for thousands of years. In the late 18th century there were upwards of 3000 people living in the Glens. However, the Highland Clearances saw man replaced by sheep and the depopulation of the Highlands began. Evictions led to extreme poverty and with it starvation. Those who could fled their homeland for a better life in North America. There they helped shape the 'New World' giving their name to features such as the Chisholm Trail and Fraser River. Today many societies have flourished in all corners of the globe as descendents remember their roots. In the mid 19th century the fortunes of the Highlands took another turn as wealthy Victorians, treating the Highlands as their summer playground, purchased vast tracts of the country as shooting estates - the red deer becoming the new 'Monarch of the Glen'. At Guisachan near Tomich, Lord Tweedmouth bred the first Golden Retrievers.

Descended from the Norman conquerors of 1066, the Clan Chisholm established themselves in Strathglass with Glen Affric and Glen Cannich being in their possession from the 15th Century. An Siosalach, the Chisholm, had his first home at Comar near Cannich. Later chiefs lived at Erchless Castle on the River Beauly. The Clearances saw the vast majority of clan folk leave for North America in a sixty year period from 1773. By the mid 19th century, Roderick Chisholm, after losing his lands but not his head fighting for the cause at Culloden, played a leading role in extracting timber which had, by then, become the Glen's main economic resource. The last remaining Chisholm lands were finally sold off in the late 20th Century.

The poor quality of the land meant that the area never achieved real prosperity until the 1950s when major changes within our Glens came about as the Hydro Board arrived to build their dams and the Forestry Commission started to plant trees destined for the paper mills. Today tourism and conservation are bringing man back to our glens once again, thus helping to preserve the local economy. Only this time we are striving to ensure that both man and nature will continue to live in harmony.

For more information on local heritage please read the article Christianity in Strathglass & the Foundation of Marydale Church (pdf file, 106kb) written by Sister Petra Clare.