It's Spielberg time again, boys and girls, so I filmed a little afternoon recce on a forgotten monument that is situated in the heart of Dunrobin Woods (between Golspie and Brora).

This video was just a bit of fun but it does have serious undertones. The monument in question was build in 1858, having been funded by the Duchess of Sutherland in memorial of one James Loch (1780-1855) who was not so much the architect, but rather the engineer of design behind the Sutherland Highland Clearances. James Loch was such a bastard that fifteen thousand people from the area were forced to relocate from inland to seacoast districts between 1811 and 1820, with many folks boarding ships to start life afresh overseas in the New World.

Loch's methods are described as aggressive and cruel "so as to mould and control the lives of the ignorant and credulous people". In fact, he was so controlling of those who lived on Sutherland Estates land that young people had to go to his agents for permission to marry.

I can only speculate, but perhaps the fact that he was such a callous bastard is the reason why this monument has been left to rot in the heart of Dunrobin Woods.