Crofting

After the clearances, the surviving settlements were re-organised into crofts. Instead of a cluster of houses in the centre of communally worked fields, each family was allocated its own plot of land (croft) on which to build houses and outbuildings. The land was not enough to provide a living for the family who had top undertake other occupations like fishing and specialist crafts, but many sought to emigrate to a better life across the oceans.

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From the mid-nineteenth century, the population of Assynt continued to fall as young people went south to the cities or abroad in search of greater opportunities. Since the First World War, Assynt has experienced change on a scale greater than ever before. However, in recent years Assynt has become renowned for several community buy-outs the first of which was the much-publicised purchase by the Assynt Crofters purchase of the North Assynt Estate.