Please read Understanding catalogue records for help interpreting this information and Using footage for more information about accessing this film.

Title: EDGELAND

Reference number: 4721

Date: 1986

Sponsor: Channel 4 Television

Production company: Pelicula Films

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 52 mins

Description: Documentary investigating the crofter's lot and the somewhat fractious relationship the crofting industry has had with the UK government, throughout the 20th century.

Shotlist: [REEL 1] int. train carriage, men discussing crofting issues. GVs crofter herding sheep and cattle along track; lobster fishing; peat cutting (1.44) Edgeland (1.56) talking head crofter (2.41) sheep shearing; tractor moving hay bales in field; talking head crofter; herding sheep into pen (3.51) gvs highland landscape (4.40) stills; talking head crofter concerning the (governmental) Napier Commission (investigation committee examining the current state of crofting) (6.18) herding sheep on hill side (6.54) talking head chairman of HIDB (7.59) talking heads crofters on train - this is a government propaganda film, 1943, with the intention of promoting hydroelectricity as the solution to the highland problem (8.35) Dam and river at Cruachan H.E. station; American troops question crofters about the Scottish land surrounding them and associated government policy (propaganda film again?) (10.05) construction site + lorries at Invergordon smelter (12.46) Scottish land court in session on island of Tiree (13.35) l/s over Tiree landscape; small aircraft landing on airstrip (15.07) talking head airtraffic controller (15.50) l/s over bay area showing croft houses + landscape; talking head explaining considerations when buying crofting property, then concerning the system of tenancy of crofting land (18.48) talking head of Crofters' Union, Tiree branch; fire engine drill at Tiree airport (20.15) gvs at sheep market; sheep herded into pens (22.05) v. brief m/s Caledonian MacBrayne ferry approaching the island ; l/s landscape (22.59) talking head crofter, shearing sheep (23.35) talking head HIDB landuse expert, cuts between: gvs fish hauled off fishing boat in buckets; sheep shearing ; landscape (27.49)...

...[REEL 2]
int. train carriage, crofting discussion (0.58) talking head crofter (2.14) gvs tree felling in forest (3.09) crofter herding sheep and talking head, at Loch Carron, Wester Ross (4.32) gvs Skye ferries (route now serviced by bridge) (5.27) brief shot B & B house signs; talking heads bemoaning the amount of disused land (8.00) gvs stone ruins of old buildings of former communities, now emigrated; talking head crofter (10.07) stills; gvs sheep herding, cuts back and forth to talking head Margaret McPherson, who was appointed head of the enquiry into crofting conditions, 1950s (13.43) talking head crofter; herding sheep into pens (14.20) int. Tallisker distillery; talking head crofter (15.33) sheep shearing; talking head leader of the crofters' union (16.44) gvs meeting of the Crofters' Union; man feeding fish in fish farm (19.05) gvs mussel farming, cuts to talking head Crofters' Union leader, cuts to tree felling (22.33) peat cutting (23.06) landscape gvs; ecs (24.09)