Monument to agricultural experiment of Deanston on Isle of Lewis. SEE DETAILS IN DESCRIPTION.

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This roadside monument remembers an agricultural experiment by Sir James Matheson in the middle of the 19th century. A man was hired to improve the boggy peat land by bringing sand from Uig using horses with boards strapped to their feet so that they could work on the waterlogged ground. Crofters from Reef settled the area in 1850 but were unable to make a living from the land and emigrated to Canada the following year. The notice on the monuments reads: 'DEANSTON / IN 1845 SIR JAMES MATHESON COMMENCED / A LAND RECLAMATION SCHEME ON THIS SITE, / EXTENDING TO 80 ACRES. / IN 1886 THE LEWIS FARMERS SOCIETY / HELD THEIR ANNUAL SHOW HERE. / DEANSTON VILLAGE EXTENDED TO 8 HOUSES, / THE LAST ONE MERGED WITH / LOCHGANVICH IN 1907.'

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Size: 4204px × 2792px
Location: Deanston, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © UrbanImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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