In an earlier piece,
I referred to a note from April 14th 1884 in the Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland called 'What is a Pennyland? Or
Ancient Valuation of Land in the Scottish Isles'.
Its author was Captain
FWL Thomas and a recent exchange regarding the redoubtable Fred's
work in Harris led me to revisit his works in the online catalogue of
the National Library of Scotland.
In 1886 volume 20 of
the Proceedings appeared including a continuation piece that was
published posthumously, Fred Thomas having died at the age of 69 on
25 October 1885 at his home, Rose Park, in Trinity, Leith.
On page 211 of the
volume he states, giving his source as the Old Statistical Account:
“In Harris, 1792,
the ancient and still common computation of land was a penny,
halfpenny, farthing, half-farthing, clitag, &c.
A tacksman might
hold 20d.—that is, an ounceland; while a small tenant or crofter
usually held a farthing land.
The stock or souming
for a farthing land was four milk cows, three or four horses, and as
many sheep on the common as the tenant had the luck to rear.
The crop might be
computed, in general at four or five bolls, and the rent was 30 or 40
shillings, besides
personal service, rated at one day's work per week.”
In the 1895 Crofters Commission Report the souming of each croft in Strond was 1 horse, 4 cows and
20 sheep which I calculated* to be 68 'sheep grazing units', or sgu.
At the same time the
crofters in Direcleit were allowed just 4 cows and 20 sheep, or
52sgu.
A little over a century
earlier a small tenant was allowed 4 horses, 4 cows and as many sheep
as he could rear which means well over 96sgu were deemed acceptable.
This is one of the
clearest illustrations of how the imposition of crofts held direct
from the landlord contrasted with the lot of the small tenant renting
from a tacksman.
We may note, for
comparison, across the Sound of Harris that:
“In North Uist,
1794, the small tenants usually held a ½d. land, on which they kept
6 cows, 6 horses, and raised enough grain to keep them all the year
round.”
6
horses and 6 cows gives us 144sgu from a half-pennyland,
demonstrating once again that the lot of the small tenant was vastly
superior to that of the crofter a century later, and reinforcing the
difference whereby a crofter HAD to supplement his income in order to
survive.
*”The
grazing of stock shall be calculated on the footing of one cow being
equivalent to eight sheep, and one horse to two cows or sixteen
sheep. Source: Crofters Commission
Report 1896.
Source:
- THOMAS, F.W.L. 1886, "Ancient Valuation of Land in the West of Scotland: Continuation of "What is a Pennyland?"", Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Proceedings, vol. 20, pp. 200.
