Harris
Principal Sources
Old Statistical Account, Vol X, No XXVIII, pp 342-392, by Rev. Mr John Macleod, published Edinburgh, 1794.
New Statistical Account, Vol XIV, 1845 (on original completed in 1841)
RMS II (2420) 1498
RMS IV (2093) 1572, (2964) 1579-80
RMS VII (458) 1611
RSS II (4976) 1542
ER XVIII p 421 1547-8
Retours (Inverness) 9 (1585), 45 (1626)
GD221/4281 1754 Tack of Bernera (or NRAS 3273/4281 1754)
NRAS 2950 (Dunvegan Papers) specifically:-
NRAS 2950/1/73 1698
NRAS 2950/1/92 1768
NRAS 2950/2/5 1710
NRAS 2950/2/487/2 1680 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/487/6 1684
NRAS 2950/2/487/9 1685 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/487/14 1697 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/487/16 1701 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/487/18 1703 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/485/11 1706 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/485/12 1707 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/485/13 1708 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/485/27 1724
NRAS 2950/2/487/20 1724
NRAS 2950/2/487/21 1724 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/487/22 1735 Rental
NRAS 2950/2/487/23 1735 Rental
NRAS 2950/1/381/1 1741 Rental of Taransay
NRAS 2950/1/381/4 1769 Copy Tack
NRAS 2950/2/487/24 1746 Rental Kilbride parish
NRAS 2950/2/487/25 1746 Rental Kilbride parish
NRAS 2950/2/487/26 1746 Rental Kilbride parish
NRAS 2950/2/487/27 1746 Rental Kilbride parish
NRAS 2950/2/487/28 1754
NRAS 2950/2/487/29 1754
NRAS 2950/2/487/30 1754
NRAS 2950/2/487/32 1769/1778 Rental
Book of Dunvegan Vols I & II, Aberdeen, 1938 & 1939
RHP 26 Plan of the subjects between Otternish and Hoe Beg, Inverness-shire, 1776
RHP 8729 Plan of tracts of ground offered for fishing stations at Tarbert & Bunaveneader, G Langlands, 1789
RHP 8738 Description of lands in RHP 8729, 1788-9
RHP 24963 March between Lewis & Harris (1850 & 1853)
RHP 46258 Earl of Dunmore’s property, by J Wyld, 1871
Blaeu, Map of Lewis & Harris (NLS Digital Map Library – online)
W Bald, Map of Harris (1804-5) (NLS Digital Map Library – online)
JB Caird, Early 19th century Estate Plans, in Togail Tir, ed. F. Macleod, Stornoway, 1989. (Harris = pp 56-61).
Fraser-Mackintosh Collection, Inverness Reference Library, Excerpta e Sasinarum Registris Vice-Comitatum de Inverness, Vol 2 No 400 (1825), Vol 3 No’s 713 & 748 (1838).
WF Skene, Celtic Scotland Vol III pp 429-31
Bill Lawson, Harris, Edinburgh, (2002)
The Old Statistical Account, p 366, writes:
The whole of this estate, like most other estates in the Hebrides, is occupied by three different orders of tenants; 1st, principal tacksmen or gentlemen; 2nd, small tenants; 3rd, cotters.
The common and ancient computation of lands in these countries is by pennies, of which the subdivisons are halfpennies, farthings, half farthings, clitigs, etc. [For explanation of these terms see Glossary via main page of blog.] Of these a gentleman, according to the extent of his tack, possesses a vast many, perhaps 20 pennies, perhaps many more. This reckoning comprehends muir, pasture, and arable lands, for which the tacksman pays so much yearly rent in the lump, during the currency of his lease. Of this extensive possession he may subset a third or a fourth. Each sub-tenant in Harris generally holds the division of a farthing, for which he pays, according to the supposed value of the lands, from 20s. [20 shillings] to 40s. [40 shillings] in money, besides personal services, rated at a day’s labour per week, to the principal tacksman.
Fortunately the Macleod Archives contain comprehensive rentals from the latter part of the seventeenth century. These are included in the Harris table and we can be confident that Harris contained 5 ouncelands of 20d each.
Nowhere in early documents does it specifically say that Harris was 5 davachs. The only ‘evidence’ I can offer is from the ‘Scotsman’ column of 1887 quoted under Lewis. In his article Donald MacKinnon claims that “the people of Harris still speak of the five davachs of Harris”. However we know from Skene’s late sixteenth-century source (Celtic Scotland Vol III p 430) that Harris was 20m Old Extent. We can derive the same figure from Retours (Inverness) No 9 of 1585 and No 45 of 1626 where the ratio of ouncelands to merklands in Old Extent is 1:4. This implies that Harris was 5 ouncelands or 100d. I find 109d of which several are doubtful. Brechline I cannot place and Taransay may only have been 11d if we include Cliasamol. (NRAS 2950/1/73 of 1698 also gives 2d Esansrugh, 1d Maclay & Fladay and 3d Lanshisher. I do not know where these are – although there is a Fladay by Scarp – and I am not certain of my reading of the text). Furthermore I suspect Berneray was only 1 ounceland or 20d and that the value of 25d includes other properties. If we adjust the total in the light of these qualifications it drops down to 101d. From the evidence available in other parts of the Northern Hebrides it seems reasonable to assume that in Harris ouncelands and davachs were equivalent.
There are few references to places in north or east Harris. This is because in mediaeval times the main settlements were always on the sites with agricultural potential. The emphasis was on growing crops, not grazing animals, and the pennyland assessment reflects this. Poorer units which offered little more than grass were attached as pendicles to more important farms elsewhere. They may well have had precise valuations but these are mostly lost to us.
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