Dr Juliette Desportes receives funding from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for illustrations

UHI Centre for History's Dr Juliette Desportes recently received funding from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland to include 13 colour illustrations in her upcoming book, The Politics of Highland Improvement, which will be out with Edinburgh University Press in January 2027.

The illustrations are drawn from one of the first and largest collections of 18th century estate maps and depict agrarian ‘improvement’ in the making such as the disappearance of runrig and the introduction of enclosed farms. They also demonstrate the essential role and participation of Gaelic residents in the process surveying as Gaelic-speaking locals served as guides and cultural translators, providing place names, pointing out farm boundaries or evaluating the quality of the soil.

The example provided here is a close up of the farm of Dunballoch on the estate of Lovat surveyed by Peter May in 1757. Colour shading shows land occupied by tacksmen and subtenants and the layout of a 'typical' Highland farm.