Editing Vatersay (section)

==Ownership==
{{main|Highland Clearances}}
At the end of the nineteenth century, the existing landowner, wanting to use the whole of the island for their own farming purposes, evicted all the existing [[crofter]] inhabitants. Between 1902 and 1906, in a sequence of [[land raid]] actions, some of the men, the so-called "Vatersay Raiders", returned and took possession of land,<ref name="EC97">{{cite journal |last1=Cameron |first1=Ewan |title='They Will Listen to no Remonstrance': Land Raids and Land Raiders in the Scottish Highlands, 1886 to 1914 |journal=Scottish Economic & Social History |date=May 1997 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=50–55 |doi=10.3366/sesh.1997.17.1.43|via=Edinburgh University Press}}</ref> claiming that an ancient law allowed a man to acquire land by building a wooden dwelling and lighting a fire on its hearth within a day. However, the landowner [[Emily Gordon Cathcart|Lady Cathcart]] took them to court, and they were imprisoned. After much public protest at these events, in 1909, the [[Congested Districts Board (Scotland)]] bought Vatersay island for £6250 ({{Inflation|UK|6250|1909|r=-3|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}),<ref name="EC97"/> and it was divided into 58 crofts.<ref>Burnett, Ray (1984), ''Land Raids and the Scottish Left'', in Parker, Geoff (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 18, Autumn 1984, pp. 2 – 6, {{issn|0264-0856}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Barra and Vatersay islanders on path to ownership |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13085213.barra-and-vatersay-islanders-on-path-to-ownership/ |website=The Herald |date=18 December 2012 |access-date=23 January 2021}}</ref>