Croft (land)
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A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas.
Etymology
The word croft is West Germanic in etymology, derived from the Dutch term kroft or krocht and the Old English croft, meaning an enclosed field.[1] Today, the term is used most frequently in Scotland, most crofts being in the Highlands and Islands area. Elsewhere the expression is generally archaic. In Scottish Gaelic, it is rendered croit (pronounced [kʰɾɔʰtʲ], plural croitean [ˈkʰɾɔʰtʲən]).
Legislation in Scotland
The Scottish croft is a small agricultural landholding of a type that has been subject to special legislation applying to the
The first planned crofting townships in the Outer Hebrides were Barragloum and Kirkibost (Great Bernera) which were laid out into 32 large "lots" of between 14 and 30 acres in the uniform rectangular pattern that would become very familiar in later decades. This work was carried out in 1805 by James Chapman for the Earl of Seaforth.
The first edition of the Ordnance Survey in 1850 clearly highlights the division of this land and the turf and stone boundaries built by the first tenants in 1805 are still in use today as croft boundaries. Kirkibost was 'cleared' of its tenants in 1823 and the 1850 mapping clearly shows roofless ruins on each parcel of land. The township was however re-settled in 1878 following the Bernera Riot four years earlier using exactly the same division boundaries set out in 1805.[3]
The
Crofts held subject to the provisions of the Crofters' Acts are in the
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives crofters the right to buy their land.
See also
References
This article incorporates text from Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary (1911). (Croitear)
- ISBN 9780198611868.
- ^ Chambers, W.R., ed. (1901). "Crofter". Chambers's Encyclopaedia. Vol. 3 (revised ed.). p. 575. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
- ^ JSTOR 60245142.
