SCJ'.Sftf'R’f wavi SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY FIFTH SERIES VOLUME 16 Scottish Planned Villages Scottish Planned Villages edited by Douglas G. Lockhart EDINBURGH Printed for the Scottish History Society Scottish History Society 2012 The date on the spine refen to the nominal year in the Society’s annual series of publications. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-906245-25-5 Printed in Great Britain \!0,2 J CONTENTS Preface vi List of figures ix List of plates x INTRODUCTION 1 Early planned villages in the North East and the Highlands: agricultural improvement, textile manufacturing and fishing 36 The planning process: surveying the site, advertisements, village regulations and recruiting settlers 54 Agriculture, lotted lands and peat mosses 119 Fishing and harbour development 149 Textile manufacturing 201 Suburban communities 238 The final years of planning 248 Appendix: List of planned villages 252 INDEX 268 vi PREFACE My research on planned villages began in August 1970 in the public library at Strichen in Aberdeenshire when I was preparing an undergraduate dissertation on the planned villages of Buchan. Strichen was one of the first generation of villages planned in the North East in the 1750s and 1760s. Alexander Fraser, its founder hoped to create a small market town populated by textile manufacturers, tradesmen and agricultural labourers, some of whom also rented fields in the neighbourhood which enabled them to keep cows and horses. The layout of the village, characterised by straight streets connected by lanes with houses facing directly on to the pavement, still bear witness to careful planning. The library contained a significant number of manuscripts and ledgers that had been in the estate office until the sale and break up of Strichen estate in the 1920s (these papers are now at Aberdeenshire Library Headquarters, Oldmeldrum). It was immediately apparent that the planning and day-to-day management of villages had generated a variety of different documents such as plans, building regulations, rentals, reports and memoranda, and correspondence. These contributed immensely to the successful completion of my dissertation but also made me aware of the potential of such sources in investigating the role of planned villages in the changing economy of Scotland during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Research for my Ph.D., which focused on the North East, brought to light further types of sources, including newspaper advertisements that announced the founding and expansion of villages and chartulary books and other property records that could be used to study migration into new communities. Over the last thirty years, geographical coverage has been extended throughout Scodand and comparative research has been carried out in Ireland where village development has many parallels with that in Scotland. The research has involved visits to the National Archives of Scodand (formerly the Scottish Record Office), the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Ireland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the British Library, and to University libraries and local library and archive centres throughout Scodand and Ireland as well as several in England. When I began research, the literature on Scottish planned villages was limited to a few book chapters and papers in journals. That which existed was largely based on secondary sources such as the Old and the New Statistical Accounts and local histories. From the outset, a major Vll objective was to examine contemporary source material that would explain the origins of the planned village movement, help identify the extent of village planning and throw light on the motives of landowners and those who settled in the new communities. In addition, attempts were made to locate papers that were still in private ownership, mainly to gain an insight into village planning on estates that were owned by particularly influential landowners and who might be expected to have played a key role in the development of this type of settlement. As a consequence, the documents reproduced in this volume have been drawn from a wide range of contemporary sources a number of which were originally studied in estate offices and in the offices of firms of solicitors. Some illustrate the early phases of village development while others have been selected as commentaries on the planning process, part-time farming and efforts to establish manufacturing industry and fisheries. A number of documents throw light on the difficulties experienced by landowners trying to create viable communities. I am grateful for the assistance of many individuals and organizations. I owe much to Professor Tom Devine and the late Professor John Butt who provided students in the Department of Economic History at Strathclyde University with a thorough grounding in Scottish economic and social history. The late Mr Alan Small whose advice and encouragement while supervising my Ph.D. research in the Department of Geography at Dundee University was invaluable. Visits to archives have been supported by a University of Dundee postgraduate studentship and by grants from those Universities where I have been employed: The Queen’s University of Belfast, Glasgow, Swansea and Keele, and from the British Academy and the Scouloudi Foundation (formerly The Twenty-Seven Foundation). Many archivists, librarians, landowners, estate factors, the staff of sheriff clerks’ offices and solicitors have generously assisted with my enquiries and gave me access to papers in their custody. The maps were drawn by Mr Andrew Lawrence, cartographer in the School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Keele University. I am indebted to the owners of muniments for their permission to publish extracts: His Grace the late Ian, 12th Duke of Argyll, Mr E. Berkeley, factor, Fettercairn Estate, Mr G.S. Burnett-Stuart, Sir James Cayzer, Lord Crawford of Balcarres, Sir Archibald Dunbar of Northfield, Mr Andrew Dingwall-Fordyce, Sir William Gordon Gumming, Mr Alex Gordon-Duff, Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk, Mr James Ingleby, Mr Andrew M.H. Matheson, Mr Robert Maxtone- Graham, The Earl of Seafield, Lord Strathnaver, Mr George M. Watson, the late Earl of Wharncliffe’s Trustees, the City Archivist, Aberdeen for Aberdeenshire Archives, Angus Council: Angus Local Vlll Studies Centre, Argyll and Bute Council Archives, Libraries, Information and Archives, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh City Libraries, Glasgow City Archives, Highland Council Archive Service, The Isle of Mull Museum Trust, Moray Council: Local Heritage Centre, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, The Guildry Incorporation of Perth, Staffordshire County Record Office, Stirling Council Archives, University of Aberdeen Library, University of Glasgow Library and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (formerly Scottish Landowners’ Federation). The Trustees of the National Library of Scotland are thanked for permission to quote from the Delvine Papers and Saltoun Papers. I wish to thank Mr George Dixon for the photograph of lotted lands at Grantown-on-Spey and for drawing my attention to several references among estate papers relating to these lands. Items from the records of Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Forfar Sheriff Court, the British Fisheries Society, Fishery Board for Scotland, Forfeited Estates Papers and Gordon Castle Muniments are published with the approval of the Keeper of the National Archives of Scotland. I would also like to thank Sharon Adams, SHS Publications Secretary who has undertaken the difficult and time-consuming task of preparing this monograph for publication. Lasdy, this volume is dedicated in memory to my father, Thomas Grant Lockhart (1910- 2003). I have benefited considerably from his lifelong interest in the Scottish countryside and its history. Douglas G. Lockhart Keele, Staffordshire December 2004 ix LIST OF FIGURES, MAPS AND TABLES 1 Edzell, Angus 1592 [NLS. Acc 9769 personal papers 4/1/97.] 2 Aberchirder, Banffshire 1823 [NAS. RHP 31272.] 3 New Leeds and crofts, Aberdeenshire 1849 [NAS. RHP 38059/19.] 4 Johnstone, Renfrewshire 1782 [Glasgow City Archives, TD 832/8/3.] 5 Guildtown and Caroline Place, Perthshire 1835 [Incorporated Guildry of Perth, Plans of the Estate of Craigmakeran surveyed by W. & J. Chalmers, 1835.] 6 Scone, Perthshire 1795 [Estates Office, Scone Palace, Plan of the Grounds about Scone House with the Old Village and New Feus ... By Andrew Coch, 1795.] 7 Examples of proposed buildings in selected planned villages [NAS. RHP 10029; NAS. GD 345/1015/152; Sir J. Sinclair, An account of the improvements on his estates in Scotland, London, 1812, p. 67 and 71; NLS. Deposit 313/3591/4, Plan of intended village of Pittentrail, 1815.] 8 Maryton, Fife 1825 [NAS. RHP 30441.] 9. Map: The distribution of planned villages 10 Table 1: The lotted lands of New Pitsligo Figures 1-8 and table 1 are between pages 35 and 36. The map is between pages 253 and 254 LIST OF PLATES 1. Main Street, Bowmore, Argyllshire [reverse title] The main street links the distinctive round church, built in the late 1760s, and the harbour. The village was extensively advertised in the Glasgow Journal and the Edinburgh Evening Courant in 1766 and 1767. Its successful foundation was often mentioned when the founding of fishing villages was a popular topic for debate in the mid 1780s. 2. Burnett Street, Stuartfield, Aberdeenshire [between pp. 118 & 119] Stuartfield was founded in 1769 by John Burnett, an Aberdeen merchant and was first advertised in the Aberdeen Journal on 23 January 1769. It attracted tradesmen and agricultural labourers and for a time had a flourishing linen industry. The streets meet in a large square and surrounding the village was a large area of lotted lands farmed by its inhabitants. 3. Grantown-on-Spey, Morayshire, from the West, c. 1868 [between pp. 118 & 119] The photograph was taken by Alexander McIntosh Urquhart (1824- 90), a local house painter and merchant, and shows a typical harvest scene on the lotted lands.