Country Diary: Ding wall

The scenes at the Ding wall and Highlands Marts, just north of Inverness, looked as if it was business as usual as the small groups of sheep milled around the sales ring. However, the faces of the sellers and buyers showed the strain of the current market, gloom and doom. Even the auctioneer, with his rapid voice, seemed unusually subdued. Fortunately, I was not there for the sales but to see what progress had been made with the Highland Drover Project being assembled by the Highland Livestock Heritage Society. This consists of a comprehensive archive that has been drawn together under the knowledgeable eyes of Janey Clarke. There are photographs, documents and letters plus artifacts, such as cattle shoes and bleeding knives. The archive forms a background to a huge display that will encircle the walls of one floor of the mart. The aim of the exhibition will be to commemorate the historical achievements of traditional breeders and drovers of the Highlands and Islands and their international role.

The drovers, who walked cattle from the north to the south of Britain, were men of importance despite the wild stories about them. One aspect of their colorful lives was the question of carrying arms. These were banned under the Disarming Act of 1716 but for the drovers it was different. Many carried arms, usually a broadsword with a knife and pistol. They were exempt from the Acts and I have a copy of a permit issued by George Wade, Commander in Chief of all His Majesty's Forces in north Britain. It was issued in 1733 to a Charles Stuart of Perth to keep, carry and wear weapons - a gun, sword and pistol. As for the exhibition I understand it will be in place early in the new year and, judging by the plan I saw, it will be of national and international importance.