Islay – Sources for Land-assessment
Since the land-assessment pattern for Islay is complex and important I have laid out the principal sources in some detail. This list is not exhaustive but it covers many of the essential documents. In chronological order they are:
1408 – The 1408 charter has been dealt with on a number of occasions:
National Archives of Scotland RH6/218 – original document
National Archives of Scotland RH6/218A – early transcript of RH6/218
W Reeves, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol V 1850, pp 230-234.
National Manuscripts of Scotland, II, No LIX, Edinburgh, 1870
C Fraser-Mackintosh, The Last Macdonalds of Isla, pp 89-95, Glasgow, 1895.
J Cameron, Celtic Law pp 212-219 & 242-246, Edinburgh, 1937.
WD Lamont, The Islay Charter of 1408, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol 60, Section C No 4, Dublin, 1960.
RW Munro, Acts of the Lords of the Isles, pp 21-27, Scottish History Society, 1986.
1494 – RMS II (2216) This list makes more sense if read in conjunction with ER XV p 675 of 1528-9 where it is repeated. See also Historical Manuscripts Commission 4th report, p 479.
1499 – Book of Islay p 28 ff. As above this should be read in conjunction with ER XV p 675-6 of 1528-9.
1506 – ER XII p 709, Part Rental.
1506 – RMS II (3001). As above this should be read in conjunction with ER XV p 676 of 1528-9.
1507 – ER XII pp 587-590. This is simply a money rental .
1509 – ER XIII pp 219-221. This is simply a money rental .
1528-9 – ER XV pp 675-6.
1538 – ER XVII pp 750-1
1539 – RSS II (3098) – Knokrenissale estate.
1541 – ER XVII pp 611-620 & 633-641. Two versions of a tack & rental.
1542 – RMS III (2835). Maclean lands. Repeated in RMS VII (1628) of 1617.
1545 – RMS III (3085). Largely repeated in RMS IV (1272) of 1558.
1553 – RMS IV (800) – Knokrenissale estate.
1558 – RMS IV (1272). This is largely a repeat of RMS III (3085).
1561 – Rental of the Bishopric of the Isles in CRA p 3 ff.
1562 – RSS V (I) (1112). Tack of c. 163m. Also in Book of Islay pp 67-9.
(This and the tacks of 1562-3, 1564 & 1583-4 are essentially the same lands).
1562-3 – RSS V (I) (1259). Tack of 176m.
1564 – RSS V (I) (1879). Tack of 160m.
1583-4 – RSS VIII (1743). Tack of 168m.
1587-8 – RMS V (1491) & CRA pp 161-171. These deal with Iona’s lands in Islay and are repeated in RMS VII (1628) of 1617.
1598-9 RMS VI (870) – Knokrenissale estate.
1609 – RMS VII (109) – MacBeth charter.
1614 – RMS VII (1137) – Repeats and adds to 1541 rental.
1616 – RMS VII (1386) – Oronsay’s properties.
1617 – RMS VII (1628) & Book of Islay pp 353-361. Lands in 1542 above are repeated – as are the church lands of 1587-8.
1623 – RMS VIII (547) – Oronsay’s properties.
1624 – AS II (177) – Oronsay’s properties.
1664 – Book of Islay p 411 Ochtomoir etc.
1686 – Book of Islay pp 490-520 – Rental.
1722 – Book of Islay pp 521-544 – Rental.
1733 – Book of Islay pp 545-554 – Rental. Also in Day Book of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield pp 9-19.
1741 – Book of Islay pp 554-559 – Rental.
1751 – AVR (Argyll Valuation Roll – copies in NAS, Mitchell Library (Glasgow) and Argyll & Bute Archives, Lochgilphead.
1779 – Day Book of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield pp 108-9. Rental.
1780 – Day Book of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield pp 194-204. Rental.
1798-9 – Day Book of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield pp 206-213. Rental.
The Lossit estate is also dealt with in AS II (165) 1617/1623, (556-7) 1635/1636, (643) 1639, (1127) 1664.
Other sources:
RSS II (4600) 1542
RSS IV (1497) 1551-2
Historical Manuscripts Commission Fourth Report p 480, No’s 121-4, (1609-1629)
Argyll Retours (33) 1628, (67-8) 1662, (93) 1695
AS I (409) 1659
AS II (166) 1623, (194) 1625, (225, 231) 1627, (257) 1628, (266, 299, 305) 1629, (407) 1632, (639) 1639, (921) 1656, (1044) 1662, (1117) 1663, (1126) 1664, (1406) 1668
Maps
There are copies of maps and plans of Islay in the National Archives of Scotland under RHP No’s 10964-11113. Also RHP 30971 – Glenegadale 1828.
BL Add MSS 11803 A – From the collection of Sir Joseph Banks bequeathed in 1827. This map of Islay may have been copied c. 1772 when Banks visited the island. In his party were artists such as J Clevely. A number of place-names in the map have been copied incorrectly and suggest not only that it is the work of a non-Gaelic speaker but also of somebody who was completely unfamiliar with Gaelic place-names. It is almost the same as the map in Smith’s Book of Islay (between pages 552 & 553) which was taken from Macdougall’s surveys of 1749, 1750 & 1751 and engraved in 1848.
In a footnote on p 215 (Birlinn edition) of his Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides (1772) Thomas Pennant writes:
“I am greatly indebted to Dr Lind … for a beautiful map of the isle from which I take my measurements”.
From this it sounds as if Pennant saw another copy of Macdougall’s survey.
Books
WD Lamont has also written on land-assessment in Islay in:
WD Lamont, Old Land Denominations and Old Extent in Islay, Part I in Scottish Studies 1957, pp 183-203; Part II in Scottish Studies 1958, pp 86-106
WD Lamont, ‘House’ and ‘Pennyland’ in the Highlands and Isles, Scottish Studies Vol 25, pp 65-76.
WD Lamont, The Early History of Islay, Dundee, 1966.
JG Macneill, New Guide to Islay, Glasgow, 1900
D Maceacharna, The Lands of the Lordship, Port Charlotte, 1976.
F. Ramsay, (ed.), Day Book of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield, Aberdeen University Press, 1991.
D Caldwell, Islay – The Land of the Lordship, Birlinn, 2008
G Gregory Smith, The Book of Islay, 1895
L Ramsay, The Stent Book of Islay, 1890
P Gammeltoft, The place-name element bolstadr in the North Atlantic area, Copenhagen, 2001
J Bannerman, Studies in the History of Dalriada, Edinburgh, 1974
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