IV. ANCIENT VALUATIO E WES LAN F TH F NO SCOTLANDTO N I D : CON- TINUATION OF " WHAT IS A PENNYLAND?" BY THE LATE CAPT. THOMASL . W . F , E.N., F.S.A. Scot. formea n I r communicatio suggestes wa t ni d tha "e ouncelanth t d f "o e Orkney e equivalenth th s swa a previou f to s Pictish uni f valuationo t , called a "davach";1 it will now bo argued that Scotland north of the Islee th Foi'tsl Clydbeforal d hd an ninthe ean e th century were divided into davachs; that in so much of Scotland as came under Norse domination, the davach was succeeded in name by the ounceland ; and that in the twelfth or thirteenth century both davach and ounceland were valued in knight's fees, or in multiples or fractions thereof, The uni lanf o t d valuation wit Anglo-Saxone hth e hideth s , hida;swa the fourth parn ioctet, f a whico ts wa hjugera, yokeland, latterln i y North Britain a husbandland, . Hida translates i earliese th n di t Latin charters by terra aratri,2 a ploughgate—as much land as could be 1 Proc. Sac. Anliq, Soc., vol. xviii. j>. 258. 2 "xxx aratorum," No. 15, A.D. 611, Birch ; Cart. Sax., " trium aratorium," No. 36, A.D. 675. ib , ANCIENT VALUATIO LANF O N 1 SCOTLANDN DI 20 . ploughed by eight oxen in one season.1 Many other words are used to translat eneee hida,w t d onlbu y notice here terra familiae, lane f th 2o d a family r rathero , , household, which must have included many individuals, for the mere father, mother, and children could neither have used nor required the work of eight oxen. After the Conquest, Scotlandn i d an hida , usualls ei y called caruoata, carucata r plougheo - land, and contained 120 English or 104 Scotch acres. In Scotland, I, loua (corrupted to lona), I Cholumchille was estimate Bedy db contaio at n five famittum,3 terras familiae—that , fivis e hides or ploughgates ; but throughout Pictavia, from the time there is any record, the unit of land valuation was the davach, ddbacli. That the davach was the same as the ploughgate admits of indirect proof, for e wesd nortth an tn f Scotlan i o h a davacd s synonymousi h witn a h ounceland; now, the ouncelands of the Orkneys, probably so named in the ninth century, contained a ploughgate.4 The extent of surface of land ploughed by a team of oxen6 must have varie e landd th qualitgreatle e f soilth , o th alss a ,f y oyo la wit e hth by the weight and size of the oxen, which, it may be presumed, varied as much between different parts of the country before the Conquest as afterwards; a team of Highland kyloes would make but little way over the stiff clays of the south of England. It must therefore be most fallacious to reckon any fixed number of acres to a hide or ploughgate, until custo established mha dtheoreticaa n plac i lnaturaa f eo l measure. Davach, ddbach, ddbhach, doet occutopographicaa no s s a r l termn i Ireland, nor n Walesi ' s therefori t i ; e Pictish t wouli d dan ; probably 1 Seebohm, Eng, Vill. seq.t e Com.,2 6 . p 2 "x familiamm,' . 179No , A.D. 749, Birch, Cart. Sax.; Beda, Ece. Hist., passim. Beda, Ecc. Hist., Bk. iii. oh. iv. 1 PTOC. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xviii. p. 276. Many are the explanations given to this much-vexed word, e.g., Davach—four ploughgates ploughgate on ; epagus; ; distric f countryo t lota ; a certai, n portion of land; a farm that keeps 60 cows ; a farm adequate to the pasture of 320 cows ; about eight miles long and four broad ; literally the pasturage; a carucate bourn ; a deey poolr an deeo py r wellt holloan o ,p pi r o , w lande [i ncaldror th o ]t likva n; ea a flax dam ; a vat, kieve, or large tub ; a huge lady ; Fingal's mother ; a throw or blo ventur a wit handlesb t wo a tu htw a e; . 202 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S, APRI , 188612 L . be represente n modedi m Gaeli damhacli,y b c where damh, oxenox = , and ach is an augmentative particle, giving the sense of " abounding "n i ; thus, earn, heaa f stonespo ; carnach, placa manf eo y cairnso s ; davach, damhach, dabhach, will mea nfula l tea f oxenmo . stils i n ora a t lI l traditio Inverness-shiren i n , tha a davacht , always pronounce modern di n Gaelic, daach, da'ach,s muca s h wa lan couls da d f Banfo . A f , S ploughee . b 0 teaa e season e th y f moxed b on o d n ni an , state s originait s "n i l acceptatio t i nmeans s muce a b n h ca lan s a d ploughed by eight oxen."1 The same result is found for Inverness-shire, where in early ages, and even in quite recent times [1808], the extent or yearly value was estimated by the " daugh, the aughten part [and] the boll."2 JSTow, "a boll's sowing of bere " is a convertible term for an acre of arable land,3 and the writer states that "an aughten part" contain bollx ssi s sowing, othen i 4 r words x acressi , . This is provet da Elgin, wher n "a e auchtee n part" varied fro mx acres. si fou o t 5r Therefore Dr Robertson is wrong in supposing that an "aught or aughten part" corruptioa appear e b eighthn a o st f o n than parti r t fo , case a " daugh " would contain but 48 acres ; whereas if an " aughten part" be the eighteenth part of a "daugh," a davach will contain 108 acres, whic s halmosi t exactly (104) a moder, n ploughgate. Thers i e still further proof that a davach might contain but one ploughgate. In the Exchequer Rolls, 1458, in which are the accounts of the " Camer- arius ultra Spey," they charge themselves with the " firm of xl s do Westrehalfdavoch," and of xl s de Esterhalfdavoch," in Ardmannoch (Cromarty), i.e., £4, or six marks for the whole davach.6 But as a bovate (oxgang d beeha )n devastated, they deduc s fro x mt their former account. The firm for the whole davach was 80s.; they deduct 10s., or one-eighth bovatee on lose f th so r , consequentlfo , e wholyth e davach was eight bovates or one ploughgate. Again, in 1568, a charter was granted " of the half of the east quarter of the lands of Dalcarty (Ding- 1. A., S Banff . vol.'.xii0 427. p . 2 Agr. Swr. Inverness-shire,. 75 . p 3 Agr. Sur. AberdeensMre, p. 75. 4 Agr. Sur. Inverness-shire, p. 75. 5 0. S. A^Elgyn, vol. v. p. 17. 6 Scot. Exch. Rolls, vol. vi. p. 463. - . ANCIENT VALUATION OF LAND IN SCOTLAND. 203 wall), namely, an oxgang."1 As a quarter always means a quarter davach in the northern counties, a half of a quarter davacli, or one- eighth oxgaten provea s i , e eighd b an o ,dt t oxgate dav.ache th n si . But it is unquestionable that in the eastern counties a davach con- tained four ploughgates. In the Gordon Eental of Badenoch, 1603, against " Clone, four pleuches," there is the marginal note " Macomtosch s thiha s dauch "Bannachar,feed n i an ; " also four ploughgates calles ,i d a "dauche."2 Between 1661-70, Gordon of Straloch wrote that in Aberdeenshir e districteth s (regiones f countro ) y were divided into pagi or " daachs," which contained as much land as could be broken up by four ploughs in one year, but that then, owing to more land having been cleared of wood, the arable land in a " daaeh " was more than doubled.3 180y B davac0a f ordinaro h y extent required three time e numbesth r of cattle to labour it that were formerly employed. But the davachs must have varied considerabl superficiesn yi , for "oxengatee somth f eo s in Strathbogie are not 6 acres, others above 1 9 acres." 4 A list of lands in the barony of Murthlach, Banffshire, belonging to e Bishoprith f Aberdeeno c e middls e madfifteentth th wa ,n f i eo e h century, and the descriptions and firms of those lands are in the Eental of the same Bishopric, in 1511, as below :5 — MTTRTHLAK. c. 1150. 1511. f Villa de Lekachy and' . , , I Sandlekacliy £ s. d. I „ Perthbeg . Perttbeg . 1 pig. 8 bov. 400 , , Petvach1^ . Larthquh8 e 6 3 1 y an . .. d Pettawa . .. y 1 davach \ ^illa de Rynes • • Belland . .2 pig. ... 6 13 4 , , Drumloche1 bovpig6 2 . r1 Auchlothty . 80 . 0r 1 davach \ Villa de KeiUl i „ Petglass . Petglasy. 2 boypig6 s1 .. 800 davach Terre de Cloueth . Clouetht . .2 pig. 16 bov. 800 Pr.,. Or 1 vol. ii., Dingwall. 2 Mis. Spalding Club, vol. iv. pp. 209, 300. 3 Blaeu's Atlas, Aberdeen. 4 Ehynie, . A.,S . 0 vol . xix . 290p . 5 Beg. Epis. Aberdonensis, . 251volp . i ,. 369. 4 20 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S , APEI , 188612 L . Pro e aboves plaii mth t e i fifteentn,th tha d sixteentn i tan h h centurie a davacs h contained four ploughgates 2 bovate3 r o ,s (oxgates). The extent of a davach cannot be traced farther back, for no fraction of a davach is ever expressed in acres, only in halves and quarters.