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The Highland Clearances have featured in many historical analyses over the past thirty years and have particularly attracted the attention of socio-economic historians interested in the study of agricultural changes, their causes and multi-faceted impact on the Highland region and society. Yet it seems that the increasingly refined knowledge that the period now enjoys has hardly percolated down to the popular interpretation given of the events. The present study concerns itself with the popular representations of the Highland Clearances which, to a large extent, are consensual and are revealing of the collective attitudes towards the period, especially in the crofting districts. The first part concentrates on the historiographical background of the period since the nineteenth century, so as to establish the fund of knowledge gradually accumulated on the times, the standpoints adopted by the various historical currents and the evolution in historical methods and perspective. To convey the collective perception on the Clearances, three areas are selected: twentieth-century Scottish fiction, political writings and the museum world. Through the individual analysis of each, the themes, elements and viewpoints which have been given priority, will emerge. The popular representation of the Clearances yields as much information on the way people see their past as on current attitudes and concerns since it is, more often than not, recycled to fit a particular reading. It is also, because of its consistency and its recurrence, a mark of the significance of the period in the collective memory and sense of identity of the inhabitants of the crofting districts.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the concept of isolation as it occurs within the profession of ministry. Isolation, for the purpose of this thesis, is defined social-psychologically. Within the field research isolation is considered as evidenced professionally, socially and spiritually. This study utilized as its sample base 200 hundred Church of Scotland ministers (15% of total population) which provided 159 usable responses to an extensive mail survey. The mail survey consisted of a questionnaire designed and tested to measure experienced isolation; the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality measure; and the Purpose In Life Test, a measure of motivation. A further 15% of the respondents were selected by random process for direct interviews. The thesis is divided into four primary sections; psychological perspective, theological perspective , field research, summary and conclusions. Chapter 1 reviews eight psychological perceptions of isolation as found in the works of such notables as Freud, Adler, Fromm, Horney, Laing, Sullivan, and Frankl. From these it was determined that common to all perspectives of isolation was a primary isolation from the SELF. In chapters 2 and 3a model of isolation was developed from the work of C. G. Jung and applied to the profession of ministry. Chapters 4 to 6 examine the concept of separation from the self from a theological perspective as found in the works of P. Tillich and E. Brunner. Chapter 6 develops a composite view of the self and considers it in light of the redemptive process. Chapters 7 to 10 review the actual field study conducted by the researcher among the Church of Scotland ministers. This study concludes in Chapter 11 with a summary of the findings and their implications for the ministry of the church. The salient factor evidenced was that isolation is not primarily an inter-relational problem, but rather an intrarelational phenomenon.

During the first half of the eighteenth century the political and social climate of Scotland was becoming increasingly favourable for the expansion of agricultural output and mineral exploitation. These activities generated extra traffic and the growing number of wheeled vehicles created a demand for soundly constructed roads. In contrast with the English parish system, responsibility for road management in Scotland lay with landowners, accountable to their county meetings. A tax on rent financed a selective programme of improvement, and when parish labour was converted to a monetary payment a considerable increase in road works became possible. In Fife, the influence of farmers and coal owners is seen in the planning of roads to distribute lime and coal, while leading landowners were concerned with the national highways which crossed the peninsula. Although one of these became a toll road in 1753, the turnpike system was adopted for the county only at the end of the century. It is the hitherto underestimated activity among road authorities before the imposition of tolls which forms the main theme of this study. The basic pattern of overland connections existing around 1700 is derived from the evidence of settlement distribution and known physiographic constraints. This pattern is checked against the earliest available maps and road records to deduce a putative network. A sequence of maps illustrates the subsequent changes, including the extent of postal and coach services and control of roads by the turnpike trusts. The abandonment of hillside routes, the dominance of the link between the Forth and Tay ferries, and the influence of individual landowners on schemes of improvement are illustrated by more localised studies which emphasise the multiplicity of factors operating during a crucial phase in the development of the modern road network.

The thesis aims to elucidate the form, extent and chronological development of Norse colonial settlement in the Inner Hebridean islands of Mull, Coll, Thee and Lismore in the period ca 800-1300. Tiree, Coll and Lismore are studied in their entirety while an area from each of the parochial divisions on Mull is selected. Historically Mull, Coll and Tiree have an essential territorial unity in that they formed part of the territory of the cenel Loairn within the kingdom of Dalriada in the pre-Norse period. With the division of the Isles in 1156 all three islands fell into the hands of Somerled of Argyll and in the immediate post-Norse period remained as a unit in the possession of the MacDougals. Geographically the islands differ greatly from one another and show a wide range of geological structures, landforms, soil types and vegetation, and climatic conditions. They thus offer an opportunity for analysing settlement location, development and expansion within a relatively small geographical area and yet one which encompasses a variety of natural incentives and constraints. Lismore, lying to the north-west of the above group and strategically situated at the mouth of the Great Glen was important in the pre-Norse period as a major Celtic monastic centre. The island is included by way of contrast, for its site and situation and close proximity to mainland Scotland suggested that the Norse settlement of the island may have been of a different character to that found on Mull, Coll and Tiree. An area of the Norwegain 'homeland', the Sunnmore islands lying off the west coast of Norway is looked at for comparative purposes. This allows an investigation of the evolution of Norse settlement and the coining of names within a purely Norse environment. This helps clarify the process of settlement development and expansion and the accompanying naming practices in a colonial setting where, particularly on Mull and Lismore, a dense Gaelic overlay often obscures salient features of the Norse settlement pattern. The methodology employed is both inter-disciplinary and retrospective allowing successive layers of settlement to be 'peeled back' in order to expose the pattern of settlement as it may have existed in the Norse period. The thesis divides into two parts. The first analyses settlement by settlement, the islands in question. The second concentrates on the major issues pertinent to settlement evolution. Norse and Gaelic settlement names are discussed together with the administrative and ecclesiastical organisation of the Isles. This leads to the formulation of a 'model for Norse settlement' for the Inner Hebrides.

This thesis spotlights a social group pilgrimage site staff heretofore neglected in anthropological research. The main subjects are the Resident Group ('ressies') working at the lona Community's guest centres. Based on an accumulative 16-month fieldwork, the ethnographic evidence challenges the assumptions that pilgrims' 'sacred' encounters are unmediated, that site staff passively acquiesce with the dominant ideology, and that the production of pilgrimage experience is unproblematic. Building on existing paradigms of pilgrimage as 'contested', 'movement'-oriented, and a form of'practice', the Turners' classic view of pilgrimage as rite de passage is deployed to show that 'place' and 'landscape' are key themes in people's understanding of and engagement with this ancient pilgrimage isle today. Part I lays the theoretical and methodological groundwork and introduces the research locale, locating it within recent Celtic revivalisms. It also addresses how the lona Community (ressies' employers) situate their religio-political vision within the wider sociological and theological contexts of contemporary British Christianity. Part II recounts the historical and contemporary formulations of lona pilgrimage and tourism. A Heideggerian perspective of 'dwelling' illuminates how devotees appropriate lona's 'sacred' geography as a resource for personal revelation and self- transformation. Ethnographic accounts of visitors' 'Iona experience' are provided as a comparative foil to the site staff who enable this distinctive pilgrimage encounter. Part III explores ressies' motivations, discourses, and experiences at lona as a locus of 'holistic' work (and worship). It elucidates their complex relationship with the lona Community and how ressies contest their idealised corporate identity. Van Gennep's concept of 'liminality' and Ardener's 'paradox of remote places' emerge as central themes in analysing ressies' 'betwixt and between' 'selves'. An investigation of the social and ideological structures of the Resident Group setup as a 'total institution' further reveals the impact of the 'leaving lona' rhetoric and reality upon ressies' post-Iona lives.

The thesis research involves the first extensive survey of church extension ministers in the Church of Scotland from 1945 to 1965, who were still living in 1989. Two-thirds of those church extension ministers were surveyed for the database on leadership profiles. The thesis argument begins with an a <I>priori</I> premise. In brief, leadership is essential in beginning a new church. Vital, effective leadership from early church times through present day church history has been a crucial factor in church development. During times of church growth, this leadership is particularly evident, such as that of the reformers during the Reformation. The thesis argument develops leadership profiles of church extension ministers whose church growth ministries were integral to the Church of Scotland's greatest boom of new churches in the twentieth century. The thesis commences with a limited exploration of the <I>Sitz im Leben</I> of the church extension boom years of 1945-1965. One-quarter of Scotland's population was relocated into new housing schemes. Over one hundred church extension charges were begun in a brief twenty-year period. The explanation of the <I>Sitz im Leben</I> traces the visionary call extended to Church of Scotland ministers to establish new churches. The key renewal movements and the individuals who significantly influenced and shaped the vision are identified. The main body of the thesis starts in chapter 2 with a question by question overview and analysis of the database developed in the church extension minister survey. Succeeding chapters 3 through 5 examine additional survey responses and correlate the answers topically. Leadership profiles are deduced from the qualities and traits that emerge from the investigation of ministers' descriptions of their CE charges.

Food web theory purports to describe properties that are common to all natural communities. Unfortunately, the data upon which the theory is based is fragmentary, and one of the most obvious omissions is that of parasites. The present study attempts to address this problem. The Digenean parasites found in the Ythan in two species of estuarine snail, <i>Littorina littorea</i> and <i>Hydrobia ulvae</i>, were identified, and prevalences were recorded. Field and laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the impact of infection on the mortality, behaviour and fecundity of the snail hosts. The importance of the parasites as predators of the snails in this ecosystem was assessed relative to the impact of other species recorded in the published Ythan food web. The parasites found in 12 species of fish occurring in the Ythan were recorded. In addition, five species of birds taken from Loch Leven, Perthshire, were autopsied, and parasites present were identified. Using this data, along with information available from the literature, the published food webs of the Ythan and Loch Leven systems were augmented with host-parasitic links. The new webs thus created were analysed for five patterns (food chain length, proportion of top, intermediate and basal species, degree of omnivory, linkage density and degree of triangulation). The values for these patterns were compared with those obtained from published webs without parasites, and with the predictions of the cascade model. A revised version of the cascade model, incorporating scale variant linkage density, was found to accurately predict maximum food chain length.

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