The abandoned village of Unish, on the Waternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye, is a casualty of the Highland Clearances. Made up of 47 abandoned buildings, most of which are now just broken knee-to-waist-high stone rectangles, Unish is about eight miles from the nearest inhabited village (Stein). The town was first documented in 1708, but by 1880, it included just one occupied house.
Now the only occupants are the sheep, oblivious remnants of the agricultural and societal shift that brought about the town's demise.
The sheep share their grazing ground with at least one deceased human resident of the area. On the outskirts of Unish, cows keep the cairn of Roderick MacLeod company. He died in 1530 on this spot, just a few miles from his home, a casualty of the ongoing battles between Clan MacDonald of Trotternish and the MacLeods of Waternish.
