The Parish of Clyne extends from the shore of the Moray Firth  in a north-westerly direction for 24 miles. Its width on the coast is four miles,  and at the inland end it is about twice as wide.  A range of foothills  divides it into two parts - the small coastal area, containing almost all the  arable ground, and the inland district, consisting of pasture, moorland and  hills.

 The river Brora, the principal stream, rises in the parish of Rogart and has one main tributary, the Blackwater.  Less than two miles below the junction, the river flows into the narrow four-mile long Loch Brora, whence it issues to complete its final course of three miles through the coastal district to the sea.

 Brora is the only village in the parish.  Originally merely a small community on the south side of the river mouth, it began to extend in the early part of the 19th century and to-day occupies both sides of the river, is served by the main road and the railway, and has left the old Brora in a quiet backwater.

 The writer of the Old Statistical Account, the Rev. Walter Ross, gave the follwoing population figures:

 Year            Pop

 1755    =    1406

 1793    =    1660

These may be accepted as approximate, and the first official census, in 1801, giving us 1643, served to confirm that Mr Ross's estimate must have been very near the mark.

Mr Ross wrote, "The lowland track contains about 700 inhabitants, the remaining Highland part about 960."  This is a most important statement, although Mr Ross was quite unaware of its future significnce.  When he wrote, the proportional distribution of population throughout the parish was much as it had been during the centuries.  The "lowland track," the coastal plain - to use the Gaelic word - the machair - contained fewer people than lived in the long miles of Strathbora and the tributary glens.

This age-old pattern was suddenly changed, in less than 25 years after Mr Ross wrote, by the upheaval known as the Clearances.  Close on 1000 people in the parish had to leave their homes, their pasturages, and their small arable patches in order that a handful of farmers could put their south country sheep on those greens and moorlands.

Many of the evicted went abroad, but later census figures indicated that the greater number found new homes in the "lowland track", the few square miles of machair between the foothills and the sea.  The population figure of 1643 in 1801 jumped to 1874 in 1821 and went back to 1711 in 1831.

While with one hand the House of Sutherland had harshly evicted a multitude, the other hand busied itself in planting industries that might, to some extent, absorb the evicted.  At the mouth of the river Brora a harbour was made from which sea-fishing could be prosecuted.  Within walking distance of the village were founded a distillery and a brickworks, the coal pit was put in operation again and a salt-making industry revived.

The larger increase in 1821 - the major Clearances took place a few years earlier - may in part be accounted for by skilled men (with their families) being brought in from the south to manage those industries and to instruct the local people; also, in part, to some influx from other cleared areas in the county.

The figures in succeeding censuses varied, but not excessively.  For example, the figure in 1851 was 1933 and in 1921 it was down to 1616.  The last census, in 1961 gave a population of 1776.

It is not possible to say why the population should have been so high in the mid-19th century.  Post-war emigration is understood partly to account for the drop in 1921.

Constantly during the last 100 years or so the flourishing industries have been bringing in workers from elsewhere to replace wastage due to emigration overseas and also to the South.  The Wool Mills, which were put on a sound footing in 1902 and very much enlarged since then, have taken in, from time to time, a considerable number of skilled operatives from the Border Mills.  A wireless station, built over 25 years ago, played a major par in maintaining the figure.

Among Highland landward parishes, Clyne is unique in thus keeping up its population, and the loss of many natives has been adequately offset by the number of incomers.

The name Clyne comes from the Gaelic word Cluain meaning a meadow.  In the Statistical Account of 1794 we read that in the Highland part of he parish, horses, black cattle, sheep and goats were bred.  From 400 to 500 black cattle were exported yearly, and sold to drovers for the South of Scotland and for England.  As the money received from the sale of flocks and herds supported the families and paid the rent, there was much distress and confusion when dealers, after receiving possession of the animals, evaded payment of most of the price.

Some of the people who lived near the coast grew lint, which was spun into yarn.  Most of the population were farmers, sewing bear, oats and pease, the bear being manured with seaweed.  About 1756 planting of potatoes was introduced, with great success.

The Statistical Account of 1840 tells us that the inhabitants of the Highland part of the parish who were moved nearer the coast dug the barren waste land and improved what was already ploughed.  They tilled 14,000 acres - formerly there were only 3500.  The principal farms were Clynelish (235 acres), Inverbrora (210), East Brora (75), Killcalmkill (60), Clynekirkton and Glebe (40), Clynemilton (33) and Achrimsdale Park (17).  The crops raised were barley, oats and turnips.  The duration of the leases was 19 years.  Men's wages were £8 to £10 per annum, women's wages £3 to £5, labourers' 1/6d per day.

With the exception of the arable farms and the land occupied by small tenants, the parish was laid out in sheep walks, the total number of sheep being 10,000 to 11,000.  The small tenants who were removed from the interior of the parish were given a quarter-acre of old land and two acres of moor ground which they were to improve.  Not only was this done, the adjoining land was tilled and rish crops of corn and potatoes were produced.

The successful development of agriculture and the rearing of cattle and sheep continue in the parish of Clyne, the principal farms being Clynelish, Clynekirkton, InverBrora, Clynemilton and Gordonbush.  There are also several crofts.  The history of the parish, however, is less connected with farming than it is with the story of the rise and fall of industries.

Before we launch into the story of the industries, it may be of interest to refer to the traditional beliefs of the older inhabitants regarding pre-historic times.  Some say that long, long ago the river Brora flowed into a lock at Inverbrora, and in finding its way to the sea, it crossed the now main south road somewhere between the Clashaig and Strathsteven.  The believe that the Danes wanted Brora to be a Seaport.  Water was diverted from the Inverbrora lock, rocks blasted near the now main road and a new passage thus made for the river to reach the sea.  The first bridge and harbour were constructed and Bruar-a or Brora got its Danish name of bridgewater.

Coal was discovered in the Doll in 1529.  In 1573, at Lower Brora, salt production from sea water was started, the fuel being the nearby outcrop of coal.  Farther inland the first mine shaft was sunk, in 1598.  Credit for this is given to Lady Jean Gordon, widow of Earl Alexander of Sutherland.  In 1601 her son, Earl John, impressed by the possibilities of Brora, was instumental in having it elevated to the status of a burgh of Regality.  Although power was given to create bailies, councillors and the like, and also four fairs on four feast days, there is no evidence of any of these things having been done, with the exception of holding markets, which is recalled in the name Market Street, Lower Brora.

Although Scotland had become Protestant, Earl John still adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, and it is possible that he was therefore not permitted to develop Brora in the way he wished.  The industries of salt production and coal-mining were carried on at intervals until 1768, and because of heavy salt tax, they were re-started in 1812 by the Marquis of Stafford, who spent £16,000 in getting the works into order and constructing a miniature railway from the coalmine to the harbour and to the four salt pans.  When the salt tax was abolished in 1823, salft produciton and coal-mining declined and finally ceased in 1828.  The domestic fuel at that time was peat.  It is recorded that in 1818 there were shipped from Brora 11,580 bushels of salt, most of it to the villages along the shore of the Moray Firth.

During the 17th century salmon fishing flourished at Lock Brora, in 1638 salmon to the value of £300 was exported to France and other parts.

Early in the 19th century there began in Brora brick and tile manufature from clay, the works being near the coal mine.  Besides producing bricks needed for the salt works, in 1818 there were shipped 14,700 bricks and 7000 drain tiles all fired by Brora coal.  The brick and tile works were closed with the colliery in 1828.  Cod, ling and herring fishing and boat-building all flourished in Brora in the early 19th century.

In 1815 a small brewery was built near the harbour, the cost (£200) being advanced by Lady Stafford.  It was said that she wished to encourage the drinking of beer instead of whisky.  The brewery, eventually convered into a place for kippering herring, no longer stands.  The exciseman's house, however, is in very good condition.

In 1818, at a cost of £380, the Stafford Arms Inn was built near the harbour.  It was demolished in 1950.  In 1819 Clynelish distillery was built at a cost of £750 by the Duke of Sutherland.

Up until 1820 the only road north and south was a mere track by the seashore.  By 1840 there were 30 miles of road and 15 bridges in the parish of Clyne.  There was a sub-post office with a receiving house built by subscriptions from the inhabitants.  The mail coach, drawn by two horses, passed and re-passed daily.  The building which housed the post office is still in good condition.  In its time it became a shoemaker's shop and toy shop, then a dwelling-house, and is now the Unionist Party's offices.

Whereas, in 1800, there were practically no carts and ploughs, there were 258 carts and 240 ploughs in 1840, all made by native tradesmen.  Indeed, skilled tradesmen abounded.  There were 5 stone-masons, 9 house carpenters, 12 dyke builders, 3 blacksmiths, 9 tailors, 12 shoe-makers and 3 cartwrights, besides journeymen and apprentices.

A market, the last of the season, was held in Brora in October, and was always well attended by the neighbouring parishes.  Shopkeepers came from a distance and erected tents to display their goods.  A great many cattle and horses were sold.  Brora at this time had five inns which used to be crowded for the occasions, as were the tents in the market which sold whisky.  Some little time before 1840 a total abstinence society was formed and the innkeepers complained that they sold only a third of the former quantity of whisky.  It was, however, a rare occurrence to meet anyone the worse of liquor, except occasionally at markets.

Whereas formerly coarse homespun cloth was worn by the girls, they now had dresses of the latest imported fashion, as well as straw bonnets or handmade caps, and their hair was neatly plaited.

The Highland Railway came to Brora in 1871.  The results were far-reaching.  The colliery and brick and tile works, which had been closed were re-opened in 1872 by the Duke of Sutherland.  Using Brora bricks, he built an engineering shop where repair work in connection with the railway could be undertaken.  On the same site he had a grain store, a weaving shed, a sawmill and an office where colliery business was transacted.  He drove his own railway engine on a branch line which crossed the main road, then called Pig Street (now Victoria Road), to where Lipton's now stands, turning left and running parallel to the main road for 300 yards or so to reach the engineering shop.  Among articles made in the carpentry shop were writing desks and the counters to be used in the Town and County Bank, which was opened in 1874 in Rosslyn Street.  In the engineering shop a small engine called "The Florence" was consturcted to carry, on the miniature railway, bogies of coal and brick to the railway station and the harbour.

Two freestone quarries, one at Spouty and the other at Braambury Hill, near Clynelish, gave steady work to a considerable number of men, the stones being used for domestic purposes and export.

The colliery was eventually leased to Mr Melville, manager of the grain store, and it was worked by him and his son until 1914.  Mr R. Mackay, who had been the Duke of Sutherland's clerk to the colliery opened a high-class grocery business in Bridgend and afterwards Bridge House, where he also had a draper's shop.  The oldest estabilished draper's shop at this time, opened in 1850, was owned by Mr W. Sutherland, the postmaster.  Another long-established business was the Sutherland Arms Hotel, built in 1818 by Mr Gordon, of Embo.

Towards the end of the 19th century a wool mill was built on the site of the sawmill.  It was bought in 1901 by Mr T. M. Hunter, sen., a descendant of a pioneer Galashiels woollen manuafacturer.

The first buildings in the parish of Clyne to have electric light were Clyenlish Distillery, the Station Hotel and the Wool Mills, the plants being installed between 1903-5.  It is a great surprise to many to learn that Brora had electric lighting in the streets before the First World War.  The public supply was started in 1913  by the late Captain T. M. Hunter, of Brora Wool Mills, under the name of the Brora Electric Supply Company.  Before this, in the winter of 1912-13, Captain Hunter erected, free of charge, three street lights to give an indication of the type, so that in part of Brora there was actually electric street lighting in 1912.

Electricity was supplied to shops and houses as well, the generators being driven by steam from the mill boilers.  The lighting was switched on by Mr T. M. Hunter's sister, Mrs Bannerman.  And so Brora was well ahead of many towns and large villages in the south in this respect.

When street lighting was restored after the war the demand for electricity became so great that the plant had to be enlarged.  The increased demand was maintained so that in 1938, when the public lighting was taken over by the Grampian Electricity Supply Company, about 170 houses in Brora were connected.  After the Grampian Supply Company took over, Clyne District Council replaced the stret lights with modern mercury vapour lanps.  Then the new lights were to be switched off during the Second World War.

Brora colliery and brickworks were leased to Captain Hunter in 1914 and were worked by T. M. Hunter Ltd., untill 1949, when the colliery was taken over by Sir David Robertson M.P.  Now the brickworks are operated by a private company and the pit by the miners themselves.

A radio receiving station was established in Brora in 1939, brining new life to the village.  Two results are many happy marriages and a variety of new accents, some from over the Border.

In spite of dredging, the local harbour is badly silted up and is used by only a few fishermen.  Industry is, however, well served by rail and road.

From the beginning of this century Clyne has built up a reputation as a holiday centre.  The long stretch of sandy shore at Brora, the golf course, the tennis courts, the bowling green, the cultivated land, the winding river, the inland lochs, moorland and hills all make their appeal.  The holiday trade has greatly helped in the growth and prosperity of the parish.

Strath Brora provides a succession of landscape surprises and delights which are climaxed by the long and varied extent of Lock Brora.  Three times it appears as if it were narrowing to an end, but widens out again to a new vista of loveliness.  It is closely dominated on the south side, for a part of its length, by Craig Carrol, Ledmore Ridge and Kilbraur Hill.  Carrol rises out of a steep birch-clad approach, a long curve of almost sheer cliff, at one point fissured by a wide gully or "chimney".  From the opposite shore the ground slopes upward more easily, under a cover of mixed woods, to the high moors which stretch into the distance north and west to the parish limits at Ben Armine and the hills of Kildonan.

The river Brora, a notable salmon stream, flowing out of the parish of Rogart, is joined by its only large tributary, the Blackwater, at Balnacoil, well over a mile before it goes into the lock.  From the loch it issues to journey four miles or so to the sea; finally, at the village, passing through a tree-girt gorge which has been an obvious bridging point since the dawn of history, and is responsible for the name, Brora, which derived from the Norse "Bruar-a", Bridgewater.  (It has to be remembered that the Norse were overlords of the North of Scotland for some centuries until 1266 and have left their most permanent impression in place names).

It is recorded that in 1840 there were three schools in theparish of Clyne, the parish school, the Doll school (supported by the Glasgow Auxiliary Gaelic School Society) and a sewing school for girls, endowed by the Duke of Sutherland.  Another school was built by the Free Church in the mid 19th century.

For many years there three schools in the parish, a combined primary and secondary school in Brora and primary schools in the Doll and Strathbrora.  Now in 1966, there is a combined primary and secondary school (the large, modern Brora High School) and also Tordale School, catering for a wide field and the first school of its kind in the highlands.

Some of the High School pupils, at the age of 13-14 years, proceed to Golspie High School to study for their "Highers".  Others take "O" levels and may then go on to Golspie.  Many go on to the Sutherland Technical School to take a commercial or pre-apprenticeship course.

Brora High School was the first school in Scotland to incorporate in the same building a community centre, public library, centre depot for county libraries, and the administrative offices of the education authority.

One of the earliest references to a church in Clyne was in 1223, when Bishop Gilbert of Dornoch, in dividing the diocese into parishes, allocated to the Church of Clyne responsibility for supporting the Dean of the Cathedral.  Pennant, in his "Tour of Scotland", in 1769, mentions a chapel at "Dol, called St Mahon".

The old parish church at Clynekirkton was built in 1775 on the site of a former church dedicated to the Celtic St Aloyne, and afterwards to St Peter.  The church had no steeple and the bell was hung in a round tower on a nearby hillock.  The tower was used untill 1825 when a belfry was added to the church.  A watch-house was built in the churchyard in "body-snatching" days.  In 1826 the church was enlarged to hold 900-1000 of a congregation.  At the Disruption, in 1843, the majority of the congregation left the church, which was reconstructed to seat 300 people.  In 1849 a spacious Free Church was built in Brora.

The centre of population changed, the majority of the Clyne Parish Church congregation now being resident in Brora.  In 1907 a new parish church was built at Victoria Road, Brora, and the parish church at Clynekirkton was closed.  In 1911 the United Free Church was built, also in Victoria Road.  After the parish and United Free churches were united in 1929 to form the Church of Scotland, the two churches in Brora continued as separate units until 1938, when the congregations were united.

In addition to the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland, there are in Brora two other churches, the St Columba Episcopal Church (built in 1908) and a Roman Catholic chapel dedicted to St Pius X (built in 1959), the congregations being drawn from various parts of he county.  Evangelistic services are held on Sunday evenings in the Fishermen's Hall, Lower Brora.

The inhabitants of Clyne parish are very gregarious as is proved by the large number of clubs and voluntary organisations.  The golf club, with 130 members - it was founded in 1892 - is the oldest.  Then there are the Brora bowling and tennis club, the badminton club, the Doll Badminton Club, the drama group, Scottish country dancing, the Friendship Club (under theauspices of the W.R.V.S. and founded in 1964), and the Variety Show Committee.

The youth organisations are: - Boy Scouts, Cubs, Girl Guides, Brownies and Army Cadet Force.  Other organisations are :- the church woman's guilds, Masonic Lodge of Clyne, Red Cross detachment, Territorial Army, An Comunn Gaidhealach, Clyne Cagebird Society, Women's Royal Voluntary Service, Brora Rangers Football Club, Brara Wanderers Football Club, W.R.I. (with 90 members), W.R.I. Drama Club, and Brora Pipe Band Committee.

Aslo supported by members from the parish of Clyne are the East Sutherland Music Society, the East Sutherland Toastmasters Club and the Trefoil Guild.

Much of the social life during the winter revolves round the High School and community centre.  This is partly because the building is adjacent to the extensive new housing area.  Organisations such as the W.R.I., the Friendship Club and the drama clubs meet in the school hall, the stage equipment being exceedingly useful.  On Saturday evenings the hall becomes the local cinema.  The Bridge Club meet in the community centre and the Country Dance Society and the badminton club in the gymnasium.

Adult education classes in cookery, art, pottery, carpentry, French conversation, etc., are all well attended.  Full use is made of the livrary and the facilities of the community canteen are much appreciated by old and young.

Dances are held in the Territorial Hall and the Brora Rangers' recreation hall, and An Comunn Gaidhealach favour the Drill Hall for their ceilidhs.  A very popular whist drive takes place weekly in the bowling and tennis paviliion.

Individual craft occupations in the parish include fly-dressing, rod-making, hand-loom weaving and upholstery.  We lay claim in Brora to the title of "the Industrial Capital of Sutherland".  The colliery (owned and worked by the miners), the brickworks (under local management), the Clynelish Distillery (a company concern) and the Wool Mills (a family business) are all in full produciton, the tweeds, knitting wool, whisky and salmon flies being exported to many parts of the world.

A small company has been formed with plans for constructing racing karts.  This may develop into a thriving industry.  The survey for oil, which is to be made of the North Sea from Brora to Wick, may have far-reaching consequences for the parish.

The oldest memorial of man in the parish of Clyne is the chambered cairn on the north shore of Loch Brora, a little way west of Killin.  It is said to date back about 3000 years.  Not so old is the hill-foot of Craig Barr, a projection from the main slope on the south side of Loch Brora at its seaward end.  It is defended on two sides by natural cliffs; at cach end are ruined walls which had been massive construction.

The brochs, those round towers which the experts say were built about 2000 years ago, are represented in the district by exmples in three states of ruin - one which still shows something of the tower structure (stumps) and those which are merely stone heaps or grassy mounds.

Castle Cole, on the bank of Blackwater, about two miles west of Balnacoil, is the one in best preservation.  The outer wall is still 10 feet high - originally it would have been between 30 or 40 feet high.  It is 10ft. thick.  The internal diameter of the broch is 21ft/

A "stump" is on the hillside close to Carrol on the south side of Loch Brora.  It was a much large tower than that on the Blackwater.  It shows an internal diameter of 30ft. and a wall width of 14ft.

Tumbles of stone mark the positions of brochs at Coich Burn between Point and Sciberscross, and on the Sallachy ground nearly opposite to that of Carrol.  A sheepfold sits on the top a of a knoll close by Kilbraur where at one time a broch was perched.  On the slope below Craig Barr, a grassy mound with some projecting stones shows where a broch once stood.

Here and there are hut-circles.  Tumuli, which are supposed to be burial mounds, are frequent.  The remains of a "henge" are by the road-side between Grianan and Ascoile.

All those memorials of ancient times are in the inland part of the parish.  That such also existed in the shoreward area can be taken as certain; but agriculture, housebuilding, and other more recent activities have quite obliterated them.

Geologically the neighbourhood is as interestng as any in the United Kingdom and many geologists of note have spent some time i the district.  Sir Humphry Davy, when he visited the county in 1812, compiled a manuscript on the geology and gifted it to Dunrobin Castle.  The hills behind Brora are the old red sandstone, made up of coarse sandstone and cnglomerate.  The river has cut down through these, and faulted against them is a strip of Jurassic rock, shale, white sandstone, fireclay and the unique coal seam.  The Jurassic strip is nearly two miles broad at Brora, but narrows to half that width towards both Golspie and Helmsdale.

From Strathsteven to Greenhill the main road, railway and houses are built on what were formerly beaches, now 50 and 100 feet above sea level.  Below these beaches the Jurassic rock appears on the seashore from the river mouth to Strathstbeven.  The various heights of the waters of Lock Brora during the Icve Ages are shown by terraces at six levels on the banks.  At West Clyne and Lay's Lock there are moraines - mounds of gravel left by the retreating glaciers.

The stone from the Braambury Hill quarry, Clynelish, is soft to cut, but hardens with age.  It is very white, is prized for its durability, contains many fossils and was used in the construction of London bridge and Dunrobin Castle.

Wth the exception of Killcalmkill (Gordonbush), which the Gordons of Carrol owned between 1510 and 1810, the Earls of Sutherland were the sole landowners of the parish of Clyne.

It is said that Coineach Odhar, the Brahan Seer, prophesied that one day the Sutherland family would own only that land which could be seen from the windows of Dunrobin Casle.  The land on the north of the river Brora has been sold during this century.  The Countess of Sutherland owns all the land in the parish which is on the south bank of the river.