In the spring of 1854, one of the most notorious incidents of resistance to the Highland Clearances took place at Greenyards in Strathcarron, when Major Robertson of Kindeace attempted to evict his tenants to make way for more profitable sheep farming.

It was reported by The Inverness Courier that the Sheriff Taylor at the head of about thirty-five men traveled from Tain and arrived at Greenyards at about dawn.

However, during the violence, fifteen or sixteen women were seriously hurt, some requiring medical treatment, as the police appeared to have used their batons with great force.

Sheriff Mackenzie later gave an account in which he said that the large number of people who had arrived to resist had been signaled to the spot by gun-shots.

There was afterwards universal feeling among the people of Ross-shire and Sutherlandshire that the sheriff's conduct was reckless and there was indignation and disgust at the brutality of the policemen on the women which had left pools of blood on the ground.