In a rare (or at least, rarely recorded) organised protest against the Highland Clearances, over 6000 sheep were driven from Sutherland and Easter Ross, south towards Beauly near Inverness, by up to a hundred ordinary people angry over being forced off their land to make way for sheep. This happened in 1792, against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Some of the leaders of the protest (or ‘sheep-drivers’) were banished from Scotland for life, while others were sent away ‘beyond seas’ for at least 7 years, on pain of death. 1792 became known as the ‘Year of the Sheep’.

> The Highland Clearances, The Kinder Scout Trespass