Garmoran Summary

Garmoran

 

Robertson’s Index p 100 No 2 and RRS VI (73) give details of a charter of 1343 by David II (see also APS XII Supplement p 7 and Munro ALI p 208). This granted the 8 ouncelands of Garmoran to Reginald, son of Roderick of the Isles. Garmoran is specified as Moidart, Morar, Arisaig and Knoydart. This serves to confirm the pennyland assessment totals viz:

 

Knoydart 3 ouncelands or 60d

Morar 1½ ouncelands or 30d (North & South 15d each)

Arisaig 2 ouncelands or 40d

Moidart 1½ ouncelands or 30d

Total 8 ouncelands or 160d – (see map of Garmoran)

 

These 8 ouncelands are probably also mentioned in APS I p 91 when the sheriffdoms of Skye, Lorn and Kintyre were established in 1292. The incomplete text reads that the sheriffdom of Skye is to include ‘octo dauaux de terra ….’ (8 davachs …) of what is likely to be Garmoran since the following lands are the Macruari possessions in the islands.

 

RMS I App I No 114 is a charter of David II to Angus, son of John of the Isles. Along with Islay, Kintyre, Gigha etc it includes

 

viginti quatuor unciatas terrarum que dicuntur Morware.

(twenty four ouncelands called Morware)

 

The corresponding item in Appendix II, Index B (p 561), of the same volume refers instead to:

 

the 24 merk land of Moror, near the lands of Mull

 

Superficially this appears to match quite well with the assessment of Morar but the detailed breakdown for that area suggests that North & South Morar were actually worth a total of 30 merklands. Moreover ‘unciatas’ or ouncelands are clearly to be preferred to merklands as the unit in question. An alternative interpretation of ‘Morware’ would be Morvern but this was only worth 10 ouncelands (100 merklands). However I think that at this early date the territorial designations we are now familiar with were not fully fixed. Perhaps Morvern was the term used to describe the whole area west of Loch Linnhe except for Ardnamurchan. Morvern would then include Morvern proper (10 ouncelands), Garmoran or ‘rough Morvern’ (8), Sunart (3), Ardgour (2½) and Kingairloch (1). This would make 24½ ouncelands in all. I cannot explain the half-ounceland discrepancy but it is easy to see that the total might have been ’rounded’ to 24 ouncelands. (See map of ‘Morware’. See also Watson, CPNS p 123 for similarity between the names Morvern and (Loch) Hourn which, I suggest, would be the northern boundary of ‘Morware’).

 

There are a couple of references to the overall value of Garmoran which I have tried to square with the other land-assessment data. RMS I App 1 No 9 of c. 1309 lays out the Macruari estate in some detail although not all the lands of Arisaig, Morar or South Uist are included. RMS I App 1 No 114 of c. 1341 specifies 24 ouncelands of Morware as above. RRS VI (73) of 1343 specifies the 8 ouncelands of Garmoran as consisting of Moidart, Morar, Arisaig and Knoydart. It also lists the Macruari possessions in the islands – Uist, Barra, Eigg and Rum. Acts of Parliament of Scotland I pp 168-9 of 1367 twice mention the lands of Garmoran. The first (p 168) looks to be describing an old extent of £200 (300m) while the second (p 169) implies an annual render of 300m (£200). (At one time of course an extent and a render would have been the same).

 

RMS I (412 & 551) of 1371-2 specify 300 merklands of the late Alan MacRuari and list the possessions as Moidart, Arisaig, Morar and Knoydart (i.e. Garmoran) plus Uist, Barra, Rum, Eigg and St Kilda. RMS I (520) of 1371-2 lists the Macruari estate again and, by deducting the values of other lands listed there, we can estimate this as 300m. The evidence seems to be consistent. The Macruari estate was thought to be worth 300m or £200.

 

The problem is that the total value of Benbecula (24m), South Uist & St Kilda (72m), Barra (60m), Eigg (30m), Rum (6m) and Garmoran (160m) comes to 352m (if we reckon Knoydart as 60m). To resolve this dilemma it may be that we should follow RMS I App 1 No 9 which implies that the Macruaris may not have owned all of Arisaig or Uist, and possibly even Morar. Perhaps the portions of these districts that they didn’t own took the total down from a theoretical maximum of 352m to about 300m.

 

The data is more consistent with RMS II (3440) of 1510 which implies that Garmoran extended to £108 (162m) old extent. If Knoydart was 60m (which is what I would expect on the basis of the rest of Garmoran) then the total of Knoydart, Morar, Arisaig and Moidart would be 160m which is very close to the central government figure.