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What Is a Pennyland ? 253 WHAT IS A PENNYLAND ? 253 I. WHAT IPENNYLANSA ANCIENR O D? T VALUATION OF LANDE INTH SCOTTISH ISLES . THOMASCAPTAIL Y . B .W . NF , K.N., F.S.A. SCOT. THE OBKNEYS.—The valuation of some of the lands in the Hebrides being given in "pennylands," it was considered desirable to inquire into e Hebrideth s e meanina e th term th d s f an wero ;g e under Norse domination, til ls suppose1266wa t i , d tha a solutiot n woul e besdb t found by an examination of the land system of the Northern Isles. The Orkneys continue e Norwegia th e par b f o to dt n kingdom till 1468, and even then, having been merely pledged to James III., they were still ruled by their own laws, which, as regards land tenure, were almos e oppositth t thoso et f Scotlandeo . t intendeno s i ente o t t dI r upo e histore tenurnth th f lanf yo eo n di e Isless sufficieni th t i ; o nott t e thae Eentath t l (whic s alsi e h th o Skatroll) e Earldoth f o , f Orkneymo , commonly called Lord Sinclair's Eental, and bearing date 1497-1503,—that is within twenty-nine years e separatioth of n from Norway,—has been preserved s beeha nd an , printed by Peterkin in his Rentals of the Earldom and Bishopric of Orkney.'1 This Eental, cited as the Old Eental, has been partially analysed s forme ha e followin basie d th th df an ,o s g investigation. e comparativelTh y fertil d flaan t e e Orkneylandth f o s se werth n i e eighth century inhabited by Picts and Culdees.2 The population must have been considerable, as seventy3 Pictish towers have been enumerated in the islands; so many places of defence indicate the turbulence and insecurity of that period. Of the Culdees or Scotic Monastic Societies, although we have no direct account, we can form a distinct conceptio comparisoy b n f likno e institution e Hebrides,th n o i sn d an 4 doubt many ecclesiastical sites yet bear the names which were bestowed 1 Loc. cit., Edinburgh, 1820. 2 De Orcadibus insulis. Munch, Brew Cronieon ATorvegice, p. 6. 3 Arch. Scot., vol. v. p. 93. 4 Cf. Keeve's Life of St Columba, passim; Skenc, Celtic Scotland, vol. ii. ch. vi., and vol. iii. p. 140. 4 25 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , APKIL 14, 1884. by them; even the places on which they were settled can still be e bailepointe th e Pict fotir,pet, e d d chinth d th f an an ,an do t outBu . of the Papar or Culdees, were destroyed or occupied by the Scandinavian desolators at the end of the eighth century, when the pet and baile, the enclosed e Celtilandth f so c people, becam Wickingse th e tun f eth o e th , rough wall surroundine tun-garSr, th Celtie s th d wa c an t sleibh,i g e th hill-side, was the breJdca, myrr, and. fell of the Northmen.1 Passing over a long interval, the land of the Orkneys, in the fifteenth century, was n respeci , f propertyo t , either Earl's (subsequently King's) land, Kirk-land or Uthal-land2 (OSal-land). The Earls of Orkney must from an early period have had mensal farms, and these arc marked in the Old Rental as "bordland," borSland, literally table-land; thus e Bulth , , Bol, f IS.Orfero , wher e Earth e l usually dwelt, was bordland;3 the north end (parish) of Hoy, and which was probably the Earl's hunting quarters, was bordland; and there were bordlands in Burray, South Sandwiek, Westray, Stronsay, and several e fertilth bol n ei s Isl f Saiidayo e . Unti e fifteentth l h centure th y Earl'f greao t ts no extent lans t daftewa e annexatiobu , th r Scotlano nt d it became a large estate, which was "set" to tenants for "mail" or rent. In 1503 nearly half the parish of Walls was the property of the earldom, and paid the highest mail or rent, viz., £3, 16s. 3d. Scots; but 1e vigorou Of.th d interestinan s g Oppressions e Islandsth f Orkneyn o i d an Zetland, y Col . b BalfouD . r (Maitlan d Abbotsforan d d Clubs). This wors i k indispensabl studene th o et Orkneyaf o t n antiquities. 3 This spelling is adopted from the Old Rental, as best representing the Orkneyan pronunciatio spellinf e oSal.no Th namef go f placeso alss si o copied dOl fro e mth Keutal. 3 In Scotland "Bordland" was usually attached to an adjacent castle. The 6d. bordlan f Myrkolo d , Caithness d probablha , ya castl ee tenttherth hn i e century (Or. Pr., . 753) volp . ii . Bordlan grantes di d wit Castle hth Invernesf eo s (Keg.. Gr bordlana Seal); d mark7 2 an f grantes do si d wit e Castlhth Urquharf eo 1509n i t , (ib). A 27 mark bordland is granted with the custody of the Castle of Dunoon, Cowal; and many bordlands are named in Perth, Fife, Wigtownshire, &c. "Bordland" has been changed to "Borlum" at Urquhart; and the writer in Macfarlane's Qeo. Colls,o definewh s "Borlum e "b a o plait " n land betwee countries,o tw n d ha " evidently "Borderland" in his mind, while in fact he was describing the "bordland" of Skipness Castle. Twenty-three "bordlands e e Beg.name. Sealth ar " Gr n i d between H24 and 1515. AVHAT IS A PENNYLANB? 255 the f Wallil "o boch al laue s H t i ds' tconqueis e mailth n ei erle b te Willia grandsire.y mm " Orfer n 1503Jdi 1 , . Scots2s , pai , d;£3 this su mmads i frop eanciene u mth t bordlanc e lan th e earldo df th o f d o l man "conqueis r eomitepe t m Willelmum. n 150I " 3 twelve parishes paid more thirteed an , n paid less, tha 2 Scotn£ f lanso d mailt thiA s. time English was to Scots money as 1: Sf-.1 Kirkland, church lands, would accrue in the usual manner, of which ther mane ear yRentald instance Ol n Gorsiiess I e .th n si , Kendala s wa , property " the quilk was called a baddis land, and because he drew bluid in the kirkyaird they tuik from him his said iij |d terre." Baddis-land s evidentli y Hot-land, from but, N. atonement, compensatione th y B . seventeenth century the bishopric estates had become "a greate thing sparsiany la d m thro'ou e hailth t l parochme f Orknaso d Shetlanyan d .... s landHi s. grew dayli adulteries a e d incesta Papaan sn [i sl sense] increased in the countrey." 2 Uthal-land, Oftal-land, e properte th TJthalmenth s f N.wa o y, , Oftalmenn, or Franklins; i.e., men who "owned" land simply by descent "withoud an t wreate. .... Thi rlawe landth f Norrowa so e b s y were equallie divyded among the children, he ane inquest founded upon a warrand of the superior3 and now he oft divisione of air to air, yt many hath not ane rig,4 or two, and in some places [a rig] is divyded in foure. Ab initio, they had never wreate."5 This system was only suitable so 1 Tytler's Hist. Scot., . 356-357 pp vol . iv . - Peterkin, Ork. Mentals, Documents relativ Bishoprithe to e For c Ork.31. p. , mannee th whicn i r h these "incests" (i.e., marriages withi forbiddee nth n degrees), became innocent, see the quantity of ducats sent to Rome through the .agency of Andrew Halyburton, I.e. Ledger, passim. 3 Of. Gifford's Hist. Des. Zetland, ch. vi.; Balfour, Oppressions, p. xxxiii ; Goudie, Pro. S.A. Scot., xvi. p. 183. 4 A rig was about 6 by 240 paces, which was considered to be sown by a firlot of oats.—N.S.A. Caithness, p. 145. 5 Peterkin, Documents, p. 20. Sometimes, among the confusion of ownership, a pennyland goes missing . Balfour,Cf i6.,p . ,17 . Oppressions, . xxxivp ; O.S.A., vol. xiv. p. 132. "In my young days I remember of a rigg in Tenston being divided claiminn intpartso womaa oma tw pare d a , other.e gan on t nth " "The writes ha r heard of an instance where runrig land had been so diminished, by frequent divisions, that the owner had only the tenth part of a ridge of fifteen feet in breadth."—MSS. WattT fro r . WmG M .. 6 25 PKOCEEWJNC E SOCIETYTH F O S , APltI , 188314 L . long as war, pestilence, and famine, supplemented by infant convulsions, drunkenness d murderan , , kept dow e naturath n l increase th f o e population a consequenc s a e t advancth bu ; f o f ecivilisation o e e th , constant subdivision necessarily led to poverty and degradation, and the want of a middle class left the uthal-men still less able to resist the rapacit Scottise th f yo h earldonatoriee feuarsd th s an d e Crownth an , f so . The moorland had at some ancient time been divided among the adjacent townships, and was the pasturage (hagi, N.) in common of those townships. Even 1 in the present century, before the recent partition e havinon e y moorogth fan rightf i , f commoso n could buil housda r eo enclose land with a dike before he was interdicted by the sheriff, the site of the house or the enclosed land became his private property.
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