The old Highland tinkers had no relationship to Romany Gypsies, I remember the last of them on the roads of Argyll in the 1950's
They made tincraft, kettles and cans, from where came the "tinker" name, they also sold hardware from baskets and played pipes or fiddles(usually very badly)....they carried their homes on their backs and formed bow tents from ash and hazel saplings.
On the East Coast many were employed in seasonal agricultural work
They are long gone and sadly missed by those who still remember them.
They have been replaced by the scrap metal merchants, and cowboy builders who con the elderly all over this part of Scotland.
They now have the protection of Special Status Group, which keeps them above the law on most occasions.
Maccoll said it all in "Thirty foot trailer"

Like the "Working Class", the "Travellers" are a part of history