0:00:19 > 0:00:23Hello and a very warm welcome to a special Landward, in a series of
0:00:23 > 0:00:27BBC programmes marking the centenary of the start of World War I.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31In this programme we'll be focusing on how the Scottish countryside
0:00:31 > 0:00:35changed as result of the war, from here in the Howe of the Mearns.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40We've come to the Mearns, just south of Aberdeen, as it's
0:00:40 > 0:00:45the setting for Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic novel, Sunset Song,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48often voted the nation's favourite book.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50It tells the story of a north-east farming
0:00:50 > 0:00:54community during World War I, charting the dramatic
0:00:54 > 0:00:58changes to the people and the landscape during these years.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Changes felt across all of rural Scotland.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Also on the programme...
0:01:04 > 0:01:08The role of the Scottish gamekeeper on the front line.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12These chaps opened sights, no telescopes, at 600 yards.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14It takes a bit of doing, that.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Sarah will be finding out how the war was nearly lost
0:01:18 > 0:01:20when we almost ran out of trees.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27And Euan experiences the pulling power of Scotland's horses
0:01:27 > 0:01:31- sent to the front line. - Windsor, walk on, walk on, Windsor.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33What a good boy, what a good boy.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42MUSIC
0:01:42 > 0:01:44From remote glens...
0:01:44 > 0:01:47..to village squares,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51wherever you go in Scotland you will find a war memorial.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Such was the loss of men by the time the First World War had
0:01:56 > 0:02:01finished in 1918, nearly every community in Scotland decided
0:02:01 > 0:02:04to erect a monument to their own war dead.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13This is Auchenblae war memorial,
0:02:13 > 0:02:18sited on a vantage point above the parish of Fordoun in the Mearns
0:02:18 > 0:02:19and it was in small rural
0:02:19 > 0:02:24communities like this that the loss of young men was particularly felt.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33Among the 29 names inscribed on this memorial are those of brothers
0:02:33 > 0:02:36William and Duncan Harper.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39They are just two of the many thousands of young
0:02:39 > 0:02:43men from rural communities who went to fight in the Great War.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48There are no remaining photographs of the brothers or their family.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Just two names on a war memorial.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55These boys came from humble beginnings.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Their father was an agricultural labourer.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02For them, as for many others, the Army offered an escape.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The younger, Duncan, joined the local regiment,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07the Gordon Highlanders,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10then transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15His older brother William joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
0:03:15 > 0:03:17and both were sent out to France.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22On 1 July 1916, aged just 21,
0:03:22 > 0:03:27Duncan was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31The single worst day of losses the British Army has ever seen,
0:03:31 > 0:03:36with 60,000 casualties and 20,000 dead.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41His brother William was killed just two weeks later, also at the Somme.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47I've come to Fettercairn, the next village along,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51where I'm told the Harper brothers' names appear on a gravestone.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55I've just got to find it.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03With no known graves, both brothers are named on the Thiepval Memorial
0:04:03 > 0:04:09in France, but they're also remembered on a family stone.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10This is the stone I'm looking for.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14This is William and Duncan Harper's grandparents' gravestone.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Pretty hard to see, I know. It's weathered, but if you look at
0:04:17 > 0:04:20this you really get the sense of the extent of losses felt in this area.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Duncan Harper is there, William, his brother is there.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30But if you look below there are four other Harpers, all in their 20s,
0:04:30 > 0:04:35all killed between 1916 and 1917. Six members of one family.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40At the top it says mortui pro patria.
0:04:41 > 0:04:42Died for their country.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50This tragedy was repeated all over Scotland, where brothers
0:04:50 > 0:04:54and friends fell in their thousands, leaving communities devastated.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Some areas never recovered from the loss of men.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Among them is the Cabrach, a bleak,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07hilly moorland covering 50 square miles of north-east Scotland.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21Before the war the Cabrach had a population of several thousand people.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25I'm meeting journalist and author Norman Harper,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29who has charted the impact of war and winter on this remote landscape.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36All the fighting age men and boys here believed what politicians
0:05:36 > 0:05:38and newspaper editors were telling them.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43More than 800 men and boys went off to war within the first four weeks.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46I reckon it's about 90%. I mean, you look at it now,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50- you would think they could barely muster 80, but 800.- Yes.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54It's a tremendous thing for a wee community like this to send to war.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56MUSIC
0:05:58 > 0:06:01But of the men and boys who had left so willingly,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03many would never come home.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Those who were left behind had their own battle with the elements.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12'The women and children and old folk more or less survived
0:06:12 > 0:06:16'the winter of 1914-15 because it was unseasonably mild.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20'But after a year of trying to survive they hit the winter of '15-16
0:06:20 > 0:06:23'and it was a classic Cabrach winter. Drifts,'
0:06:23 > 0:06:27blizzards, blocked in for weeks on end, animals dying.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31So really they had to make a decision that was forced on them.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33It was the only decision they could make.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35They went to look for accommodation
0:06:35 > 0:06:37in the surrounding towns and villages,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Dufftown, Huntly, Rhynie, Lumsden and they abandoned the crofts.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44MUSIC
0:06:48 > 0:06:53100 years on, mile upon mile of this empty landscape scattered
0:06:53 > 0:06:56with tumble-down crofts and farms.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58A whole community abandoned.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01The buildings are a poignant
0:07:01 > 0:07:05reminder of the price this area paid for World War I.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Everybody thinks war wreaks its worst damage on urban areas
0:07:10 > 0:07:13but rural Scotland played a huge part too,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15you just need to look around here to see that.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Glasgow is still Glasgow, Edinburgh is still Edinburgh,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Aberdeen is still Aberdeen.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23But the Cabrach is nothing like it was 100 years ago
0:07:23 > 0:07:24and nor will it ever be again.
0:07:25 > 0:07:31In just a few short years, the once vibrant crofting community of the Cabrach was empty.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34The people never came back.
0:07:35 > 0:07:3830 years ago I interviewed a Dutch academic historian,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41who was researching the effects of war on home fronts
0:07:41 > 0:07:45in various countries and he said, you know, in Scotland you are living with
0:07:45 > 0:07:49the biggest war memorial in Europe, specifically the Cabrach.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55No-one knows the exact figures for Scotland's war dead,
0:07:55 > 0:08:00the estimates range from a low of 80,000 to a high of 147,000.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04But whatever the figures, the losses were enough to have a deep
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and long-lasting impact.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23It wasn't only crofters and labourers who were sought by the Army,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27it was one group of men with unique skills that could be readily
0:08:27 > 0:08:29deployed on the Western front.
0:08:30 > 0:08:31Gamekeepers.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35They were wanted for their stalking and shooting skills
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and were recruited from Scottish estates.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43When war broke out, it soon became clear that it was going to be
0:08:43 > 0:08:48fought and won in the trenches, and the army would need expert shots.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51So they looked to gamekeepers.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57This is Invercauld estate near Braemar where I am going to find out
0:08:57 > 0:09:00more from a retired gamekeeper, Peter Fraser.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06They were first-class shots, all were experienced handling rifles.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09What type of weapon did they use?
0:09:09 > 0:09:14It was a Lee Enfield 303, a good sturdy rifle, it was.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21It had a ten shot magazine, and it was accurate to about 600 yards.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26- 600 yards?- 600 yards, yes. - So what is that, a 30th of a mile?
0:09:26 > 0:09:29- That is correct.- A huge range.- A long range.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33When you think today we are using telescopes
0:09:33 > 0:09:37and basically we are shooting maybe between 100 and 200 yards,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41these chaps, open sights, no telescopes at 600 yards.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42It takes a bit of doing.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52In 1916, gamekeepers, Gillies and stalkers are brought together
0:09:52 > 0:09:56in the regiment known as the Lovat Scouts.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59They were the British Army's first sniper unit,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01they were called the Sharpshooters.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Part of a stalker's main job is spying, locating deer
0:10:07 > 0:10:12and then using ground cover to get in as close as they can.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15And Lord Lovat thought that the men from the Highlands would be
0:10:15 > 0:10:17well equipped to do that.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19He was a stalker himself
0:10:19 > 0:10:22and knew exactly how capable they were at doing that.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The Sharpshooters were highly valued for their skills
0:10:26 > 0:10:30in reconnaissance, able to get close to German positions
0:10:30 > 0:10:34and gather intelligence on the numbers and movements of the enemy.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39In other regiments, the age of conscription was between 19 and 41.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43But Lovat's regiment was made up of men who had honed their skills
0:10:43 > 0:10:48over many years stalking on the hills and moors and they were much older.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54The youngest was 42 and the oldest was 62.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57That's quite old for active service.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01- For that time it was a fair age, wasn't it?- A fair age, it was.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03And very remarkable, I would have said.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10But while the men were away, their absence was felt in the countryside.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Highland sporting estates were neglected.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18There was no heather burning, no deer management, no vermin control.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Estates ran into financial difficulty,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25and in the years after the war many had been broken up and sold.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30As a result, the number of gamekeepers employed fell dramatically.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Now Euan is at Strathorn farm in Aberdeenshire where he is
0:11:43 > 0:11:47finding out was not only men who were called up for the war effort.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Just as Scotland's land and estate were emptied of men,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57horses were also in huge demand.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Last week we saw the modern show Clydesdale but at the time of
0:12:00 > 0:12:04the First World War, farms depended heavily on horse power and the
0:12:04 > 0:12:09requisitioning of farm horses to become warhorses was deeply felt.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15George Skinner runs Strathorn farm stables,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18which specialises in Clydesdale horses.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20A fantastic beastie, isn't he?
0:12:20 > 0:12:25You are going to be in charge of this horse. You need a licence anyway.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31- Watch he doesn't step on your toes.- OK. You'll tack him up?
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I am going to tack him up, and put on a harness.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36- You hold him there, that's perfect. - I will hold on tight.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42So this is what traditionally they would have worn for war?
0:12:42 > 0:12:47The collar must go on upside down so the wide part gets over
0:12:47 > 0:12:51- the horse's eyes, you see. - Why were Clydesdales so important?
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Why this breed? Why were they used on the farm?
0:12:53 > 0:13:01The Clydesdale was the motive power, in the farms at that time.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06- Because there was no machinery.- What kind of work would they be doing?
0:13:06 > 0:13:10They were... Most of them were ploughing, that was their main job,
0:13:10 > 0:13:17and they did a lot of work transporting, with boxcarts, stepcarts and woodcarts.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19And also harvest carts.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24A 100-acre farm would tend to have a pair of horses
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and has you went on to the bigger farms there was maybe three horsemen
0:13:28 > 0:13:33and they had a pair of horses and that pair belonged to the farmer,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36but the horsemen were very proud of their pair of horses.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43At their height there were 140,000 Clydesdales
0:13:43 > 0:13:45working on Scottish farms.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48But then, in 1914, it all changed.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53When war broke out there was a shortage of horses
0:13:53 > 0:13:56in the British Army, so the War Office
0:13:56 > 0:13:59and the urgent task of sourcing half a million more.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Each district had a remount officer who kept house on the local
0:14:03 > 0:14:08horse population and requisitioned suitable horses for the Army.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10The horses were used for mounting cavalry charges
0:14:10 > 0:14:13but they were vital in transporting ammunition
0:14:13 > 0:14:18and supplies as well as taking dying or injured men back to hospital.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22But the Clydesdale in particular was well-suited for one particular job.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26They were used for transporting guns,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29which have similar wheels to a boxcart.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31How heavy a weight can the horse pull?
0:14:31 > 0:14:35- A ton.- A ton?- A ton was the load on the boxcart.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40About 25% of the weight was on the horse's back,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44and the rest was carried by the wheels.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46- So they would have been perfect for pulling guns?- Absolutely.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51- So that's us. We're all tacked up and ready to go.- Yes, ready to go.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55I am taking a ride to get a sense of the power of the Clydesdale,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58that made it so useful in the war effort.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00This isn't a good look!
0:15:02 > 0:15:04So does this thing actually move or is it static?
0:15:04 > 0:15:08With a little luck I think we will get going. Windsor, walk on!
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Walk on, Windsor! Very good boy. Very good boy.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15So would there be trained horseman out there?
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The farm guys come off the farm, would that have been their job?
0:15:19 > 0:15:24A certain number of them would have been people... Workers who worked on the farms.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26And went out to join the Army,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30and went out and looked after the horses in the First World War.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32Nae doubt about that, like.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42By 1917, over one million horses and mules had been shipped off into
0:15:42 > 0:15:47military service and the terrible slaughter of the Western front.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51More than a quarter of these were lost, the exact figure isn't known.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02At the end of the war, only a lucky few returned,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05most were sold to French abattoirs or horse traders,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08because the Army couldn't afford to ship them back.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09Back in Scotland,
0:16:09 > 0:16:14farms which had depended on horse power were finding alternative methods.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17That, presumably, led to the mechanisation of the farms?
0:16:17 > 0:16:21It was the beginning of the start of the mechanisation in farms,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24it was just after the First World War.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26But it was very, very early days.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Can you make this go any smoother? It's a bit bumpy.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Nah, there's nothing we can do about it, like.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41The war emptied the countryside of all
0:16:41 > 0:16:44kinds of breeds of horses, but the loss of the Clydesdale led to the
0:16:44 > 0:16:49mechanisation of farms and the move to larger scale farm units.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54It's worthwhile considering what these gentle giants endured during World War I.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03From Aberdeenshire across the Cairngorms to Glenmore Forest,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08where Sarah's finding out about the impact of the war on our native woodlands.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18As agricultural areas were emptied of the male workforce,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22some parts of Scotland's countryside saw a sudden influx of workers.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The demand for timber during World War I brought a whole new
0:17:26 > 0:17:28industry into Scotland's forests.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35At the front, the Army walked on timber
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and underground props were needed for hundreds of miles of trenches.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42From huts to ammunition boxes to bridges.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47The First World War devoured more timber than any other war in history.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54And all this wood had to come from somewhere.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57I'm meeting up with environmental historian
0:17:57 > 0:18:00Mary Stuart on the shores of Loch Morlich in Glenmore
0:18:00 > 0:18:03to discover what this meant for Scotland.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07When war broke out timber was largely sourced from abroad,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10from particularly the Baltic countries,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Russia, Finland, Scandinavia, and also North America.
0:18:13 > 0:18:14Particularly Canada.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18But it was quickly realised during the first year of the war
0:18:18 > 0:18:21the shipping was going to have to be used frugally to
0:18:21 > 0:18:24bring in other supplies such as munitions, such as food.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29And timber being very bulky was regarded as something that should be home-grown.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39In 1914, 5% of Scotland was covered with forests,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41most of it native woodland.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44But with demand for timber on the Western Front rocketing
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and imports from abroad cut off, the British government had to turn
0:18:48 > 0:18:51to woodlands and forests at home.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55A recruitment campaign was launched to draft workers into the forests.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02The government put out a plea to the Canadian government to
0:19:02 > 0:19:07provide lumberjacks, lumbermen, saw millers, to come over.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10As a military army battalion.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22If you look at Glenmore, it is quite wild, and in those days very, very remote.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26First of all they had to build their own camps,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30they then had to put in place all of the infrastructure to be able
0:19:30 > 0:19:33to access the timber, so they had to put in railways,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36build their sawmills and their sawmills were substantial.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41The industry in Canada was much, much more sophisticated
0:19:41 > 0:19:44than ours, so they were asked to bring their own equipment.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48But, yes, these 200 lumberjacks that came to Glenmore
0:19:48 > 0:19:52were going out every day in weather that they really didn't like
0:19:52 > 0:19:56and they were felling by axe and by saw.
0:19:58 > 0:20:04Between 1916 and 1918, over 100,000 trees were felled here at Glenmore.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Just one of the many camps across the Scottish Highlands.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13By the time the war ended, Scotland's native forests were all but gone.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Prime Minister David Lloyd George admitted that the war had
0:20:18 > 0:20:23almost been lost because we were so close to running out of timber.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28This led to the creation of the Forestry Commission in 1919.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Glenmore Forest was one of the first areas to be
0:20:30 > 0:20:33replanted by the new commission.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35100 years since the outbreak of war,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39trees now cover over one quarter of the Scottish landscape.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43Far more forestry than we had in 1914.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56From forestry to farming,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00where during the war food production became critical.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09At the start of the war Britain produced 35% of its own food,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12with a heavy reliance on imports by ship.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16But when Germany began its naval blockade the country faced
0:21:16 > 0:21:17a serious food shortage.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Alarmed at the success of the German U-boats, the government was
0:21:24 > 0:21:27keen to promote an increase in the growing of crops.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Many acres were turned over from meat production to growing wheat -
0:21:31 > 0:21:34the farmland of Scotland would be changed for ever.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40I'm meeting Dr Billy Kenefick from Dundee University.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42We're in Aberknight.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46This Tayside parish is a fairly typical Scottish farming community.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51By 1915, Aberknight was seeing the impact of changes to farming
0:21:51 > 0:21:54driven by the need to produce food for the masses.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59The whole way farming happened here would have changed.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Basically the arable crops were intended mostly for animals,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07you can see that, the amount of pasture land, grassland that there was.
0:22:07 > 0:22:08They go away from meat
0:22:08 > 0:22:12and they want farmers to produce food for the people.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Not to feed animals.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18This didn't just happen in Aberknight, it happened all over the country.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23In Scotland, an extra quarter of a million acres were brought
0:22:23 > 0:22:27under the plough by the end of the war, and that's a huge amount of land.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32The effort required to turn these fields into ploughed fields must have been massive.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34You'd have thought that with all of the men
0:22:34 > 0:22:38going off to war there would have been a huge shortage of labour.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40That was the case in England but not in Scotland?
0:22:40 > 0:22:43No, in Scotland the situation was very different.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48- We had an army of women working the land in Scotland.- Already?
0:22:48 > 0:22:53- Yes, absolutely. Probably around 20, 21,000.- What about the children?
0:22:53 > 0:22:58- Were the part of that labour force? - They were always part of it.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00When it came to cultivation or harvest time,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03the women and the children would have been very much involved.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05These were families who were working on the land,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08just not the man working on the land.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13Yes, basically we're talking about maybe 20,000 men leaving.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15What about the skilled jobs like ploughing, though,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17presumably you can suddenly get that?
0:23:18 > 0:23:21There must have been skilled men at the front and in the war,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23did they get sent back?
0:23:23 > 0:23:27There is quite a bit of evidence to suggest that they tried to
0:23:27 > 0:23:29hold on to the skilled men, the ploughmen in particular.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Presumably the farmers did not want them to go.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33No, they were the aristocracy of labour.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40With so much land now ploughed up, the crops that were grown
0:23:40 > 0:23:45reflected the need to cheaply feed both the people and the horses.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52This is Montgarrie Mill near Alford in Aberdeenshire,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55which was at full capacity during the war years.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Oats were one of the most important cereals being processed in mills
0:23:59 > 0:24:03throughout Scotland, feeding humans and animals alike.
0:24:03 > 0:24:04In fact, demand was
0:24:04 > 0:24:08so high for what Scotland could produce that agriculture boomed.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15But it was short-lived, and the artificial boom of the war years
0:24:15 > 0:24:17was followed by a major downturn.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Men returning from the front saw their jobs elsewhere.
0:24:21 > 0:24:27The removal of the Corn Protection Act in 1921 opened up competition from abroad.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39Cheap imports, a move to a larger scale farming and increased mechanisation -
0:24:39 > 0:24:43all reasons why in the 1920s there were far fewer people
0:24:43 > 0:24:46working the land than ever before in Scottish history.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01World War I changed rural Scotland for ever.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Farms, communities, estates were all ripped apart by the loss
0:25:05 > 0:25:08of men and the impact that had on those left behind.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13In my opinion, the book that best encapsulates that whole period is this.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I read this for the first time just a couple of months ago.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It's a wonderful, wonderful book.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27The novel is based here in the Howe of the Mearns,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31an area like many others that was profoundly affected.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Its author would have witnessed these changes at first-hand.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39The fictional community is called Kinraddie,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43but it is closely modelled on the Parish of Arbuthnott.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47I have come to the local Kirk to meet Jim Brown,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49chairman of the Grassic Gibbon Centre.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51Jim, how are you?
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Good to see you. Welcome to Arbuthnott.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56This is where the novel begins, in this church?
0:25:56 > 0:25:58This is where it starts, this is
0:25:58 > 0:26:03mentioned at the start of Sunset Song and the church with its history
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and its fine windows would have really intrigued Grassic Gibbon.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Like all the great writers, they write about where they have been,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16and the Arbuthnott is very much the country community that is all over
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Scotland, be it glen or a village community, Arbuthnott is the same.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23- Shall we have a wee wander, then? - Certainly. We'll have a look at Kinraddie.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32The main theme of the book is change,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36seen through the eyes of the central character, Chris Guthrie.
0:26:36 > 0:26:37A crofter's daughter,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41torn between her love of the land and the yearning for an education.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46"You hated the land and the coarse speak of the folk,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49"and learning was brave and fine one day.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54"And the next you'd waken, with the peewits crying across the hills, deep and deep,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59"crying in the heart of you. And the smell of the earth in your face.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02"You'd cry for that. The beauty of it.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05"And the sweetness of the Scottish land and skies."
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Tell me, Jim, what was this community like,
0:27:08 > 0:27:13this landscape like, before the First World War when the novel was set?
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Certainly far more trees at that time, before then
0:27:18 > 0:27:24all the small crofts, smallholdings, all tenanted land.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27How would you say the war affected this area?
0:27:27 > 0:27:31The countryside hadn't changed since the Victorian times, very stable.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35And suddenly, the start of the war was the real catalyst for change.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39I think Grassic Gibbon covers it well as a community,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43because it started off with just a rumour of war,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and then first guys started to go and then a main character, Chae Strachan went,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49and then he covered desertion.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52He covered all aspects of the war at that time.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58"Once the place had been sheltered in life,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01"it poised now upon he brae, in whatever storm might come.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05"The woodmen had all finished by then.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07"They'd left a country that looked as though it had been
0:28:07 > 0:28:09"shelled by a German army."
0:28:11 > 0:28:15The First World War provides a climax, and with the end
0:28:15 > 0:28:20of the war comes the sunset of a people and of a whole way of life.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23The novel ends at the unveiling of a community war memorial,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26with the Minister reading a dedication to the men lost.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32"These were the last of the peasants, the last of the old Scots folk.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35"A new generation comes up that will know them not
0:28:35 > 0:28:38"except as a memory in a song.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41"We are told that great machines come soon to till the land
0:28:41 > 0:28:44"and the great herds come to feed in it.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48"Nothing that has been said is true, but change."
0:28:50 > 0:28:54It concludes with a loan piper playing Flowers Of The Forest,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57an ancient Scottish song that has become the official
0:28:57 > 0:28:59lament to the fallen of World War I.
0:28:59 > 0:29:05PIPER PLAYS "FLOWERS OF THE FOREST"