Caen Highland Township - 1813

About

The Reconstruction

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the inhabitants of many small farming communities in the Scottish Highlands were forced to leave their homes. Under the guise of improvement landlords drove out traditional subsistence farmers and created a much less densely occupied landscape. One of the communities affected by this process of ‘clearance’ was the township of Caen in Sutherland. Caen was located in the lower part of the Strath of Kildonan. This area was cleared particularly brutally by representatives of the Duke of Sutherland between 1813 and 1819. Several families resisted the clearances and soldiers were sent from Fort George to maintain order. Today only a few foundations indicate where a thriving farming community once stood. This reconstruction shows the Caen township as it may have looked in 1813, just before the families who lived and worked here were forced out from the Strath of Kildonan. A collaborative project between Open Virtual Worlds, a research team within the School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews, and the Timespan Museum. Digitisation funded by the EU Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme 2014-2020 through the “Connected Culture and Natural Heritage in a Northern Environment” (CINE) project.

Project Team

Authors:

Sarah Kennedy (University of St Andrews), Jacquie Aitken (Timespan), Iain Oliver (University of St Andrews), and Alan Miller (University of St Andrews).

Specialist Advisors:

Jacquie Aitken (Timespan) and Keir Strickland (University of the Highlands and Islands).

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Ways to Access the Reconstruction

Research and Design

Historical Research

Recent excavations (including a community dig) have revealed much about the people who lived at Caen before the Clearances. This archaeological material was combined with nineteenth-century maps and documents to inform the reconstruction of Caen in 1813. The project received extensive advice from Jacquie Aitken (Heritage Officer for Timespan), as well as drawing on the research of Keir Strickland (University of the Highlands and Islands).

How the Reconstruction Was Made

A digital landscape was created using survey data and height map. Models were created in 3D modelling programs and imported into UNREAL (a cross-platform game engine for creating virtual worlds). The models were then scaled, orientated and assembled. The landscapes were populated with flora and fauna. Where applicable, models of characters and animals were imported and animated.