In 1707 when the two Parliaments of Scotland and England were joined with the Treaty of Union did anyone ask ‘What currency shall we use?’ Whether they did or not the Scots currency was replaced by that of England – and yet it wasn’t.

Those of our readers of a certain age will remember when the UK changed over to decimal coinage – 15 February 1971. For a time some shopkeepers placed tickets with the ‘old money’ price and the ‘new money’ price on products. That didn’t last for long because shoppers suspected that rounding up of prices was going on.

The old money was very complicated when you were doing sums at school. 20 shillings to a pound. 12 pennies to a shilling. 240 pennies in a pound. And there were coins like three penny bits, half crowns, florins, sixpence, half pennies (ha’pennies), and before all that there had been farthings. Although decimalisation changed our coinage for some people the old words hung on.

The UK also changed over its measurements to metres, centimetres etc although even to this day most people still use feet and inches, pounds and ounces (for weights), and miles for long distances. It’s a mixed picture of measurements today – and that’s exactly what happened after 1707 – people in Scotland mostly carried on using Scots money, and Scots measurements.

Just to complicate things even farther – Orkney had measurements which dated back to its Norse past which also mixed in with the Scots ones.

When the landowners started the process of enclosing and dividing up the Commonties in each parish in Orkney the first thing that had to be done was to survey, measure, map, and value. This article is part 3 in a series based on my research project into changes in landownership in Orkney. Part 1 gave a brief introduction of how people lived in Townships where they farmed and shared the Commonty – an area for summer grazing. Part 2 covered the Lost Words of the Landscape.

The enclosure of the Commonties in Orkney got underway in the 19th century – later than other parts of Scotland – and when the surveyors got going they also employed different measurements, depending on who they were. There was very little consistency – but this didn’t seem to be a major issue so long as the particular Commonty being divided up was done so with ‘fairness’ and was measured accurately ( in whatever form was used).

Here are some examples:

Division of the Parish of Sandwick 1859. Surveyed 1853 – The amount of the Commonty to be divided amongst the landowners bordering it: 4,208 acres and 59 decimal parts of an acre.

The two largest landowners got the largest share of the divided Commonty (land that was for generations used by all the people of the Townships for cutting peats and grazing their animals.)

• William G. Watt of Breckness : 1,328 acres, and 537 decimal parts of an acre; valued rent £1,031, 6 shillings, 6 pence.
• The Crown: 992 acres, and 898 decimal parts of an acre; valued rent £3,466, and 3 pence.

Stromness Commonty, surveyed in 1848, the amount to be divided amongst the landowners 3,777 acres and 014 decimal parts of an acre. Valued rent £2,006, 5 shillings, 9 pence, and 8/12 of a penny. It was divided in 1859.

The two largest landowners being:

• William G Watt of Breckness : 1,135 acres and 508 decimal parts of an acre; valued rent £552, 6 shillings, 2 pence, and 6/12 of a penny.
• James Riddoch Pollexfen of Cairston: 484 acres and 030 decimal parts of an acre; valued rent £408. 14 shillings, 8 pence, and 2 /12 of a penny.

Just for contrast : James Gorie at the Cot of Citadale received 918 decimal parts of an acre valued at £1; and John Robertson of Ness received 084 decimal parts of an acre, valued at 3 shillings and 4 pence.

There was a large Commonty in Birsay which was surveyed in 1850 and divided up in 1856. The amount to be divided up between the landowners was 10,748 acres and 020 decimal parts of an acre, value rent £3,775, 4 shillings, and 1/12 of a penny.

The two largest landowners were:

• The Earl of Zetland: 7,684 acres and 867 decimal parts of an acre; valued rent £2,564, 8 shillings, and 6/12 of a penny.
• Robert Brochtie Esq of Swannay: 458 acres and 226 decimal parts of an acre; valued rent £171, 19 shillings, and 11 pence.

The Parish of Harray was completely different than all the other parishes of Orkney because it had 87 landowners all sharing in the division of the Commonty.

“This arises mainly from the fact that the parish of Harray is one where the ancient Udal tenure of Orkney and Shetland – transmitted to them from their original connection with Denmark – is retained in more instances than in any other part of the county” – Joint Minute February 28 1855, Division of the Commonty of Harray.

The Commonty of Harray consisted of 5,294 acres and was surveyed in 1849. It was divided in 1855. Rental value £346, 5 shillings Sterling.

(Sterling means it was valued in the ‘British’ currency. The valuators do not always state in their reports whether they are valuing in Scots or Sterling and this makes quite a difference.)

However, the State of Claims published in 1850 the measurements are in Scots units.

There are no large landowners, and some of the measurements are indeed small.

• Thomas Corrigall of Northbigging, Mirbister claimed 2 farthings and 8/12 parts of a farthing land of Northbigging, Mirbister, Land + Feu duty totalling £16, 6 pennies ,and 1/2 penny.
• Nicol Leith of How claimed half of the land and houses of How in Overtown, Land + Feu duty totalling £25, 15 shillings, 1 penny, and 1/30 of a penny.
• James Anderson of Appiehouse in Bimbister claimed 1 farthing Udal land and 2 farthings and 1/2 farthing feued land of Appiehouse and Cott of Fevan in Bimbister; Land + Feu duty totalling £14, 12 shillings, 8 pence, and 4/12 of a penny.
• Peter Spence of Gorn in Germiston claimed 1 pennyland of Gorn and 7 settings mailing under the house of Biggings in Germiston; Land+feu duty totalling £33, 10 shillings, 2 pennies, and 1/2 penny.

Harray was the exception.

The Commonties of Kirkwall and St Ola were divided at the same time. They were surveyed in 1848 and divided in 1859. There were 2,595 acres and 315 decimal parts of an acre to be shared out between the landowners.

The two largest landowners were:

• James Baikie Esq of Tankerness who received 629 acres and 136 decimal parts of an acre
• Claim for Papdale: 433 acres and 480 decimal parts of an acre.

In the parish of Holm problems arose because the people of the parish of St Andrews had been in the habit, for generations, of sharing in the Commonty which was then divided up for the use of Holm landowners only. The 4,767 acres were surveyed in 1844, sketched out and divided in 1845.

It was mostly divided between The Graemeshall Estate and The Crown with only small allocations to 8 others.

Both The Crown and the Earl of Zetland, feature as landowners in nearly all of the parishes in Orkney receiving lands carved out from the Commonties.

When the Commonty of Stenness was surveyed in 1812, the measurements were in Scots acres, Roods, and Falls. It was divided in 1815.

• Lord Armadale for Appiehouse and Brodgar received the largest share of the Stenness Commonty in various allotments: 51 acres, 3 Roods, 29 Falls; 7 acres, 1 Rood, 6 Falls; 262 acres, 36 Falls; 1,362 acres, 3 Roods, 17 Falls; and 560 acres, 2 Roods, and 6 Falls. Valued at £395, 8 shillings, 9 pennies, and 7/9 of a penny.
• William Miller of Stromness received 179 acres, 3 Roods, and 23 Falls; Valued at £19, 17 shillings, 2 pennies.

It should be noted that there were 12 Scots pounds to the English pound (Sterling) . The Scots penny = 1/12 of penny Sterling; 1 Scots shilling = 1 penny Sterling. 1 Scots pound = 20 pence Sterling. 12 pounds Scots = 1 pound Sterling.

When the Commonties were divided portions where appropriate were set aside for schools, ministers’ houses, roads, quarries, and moss (peat cutting) – the source of fuel.

The Commonty of Orphir was surveyed in 1813 and divided in 1823. It was measured in both Scots and Imperial units. It totalled 6,358 acres, and 16 Falls Scots; and 8,018 acres, and 73048 decimal parts of an acre Imperial.

The two largest landowners were:

• Robert Heddle of Melsetter who received 810 acres Scots (1,021 acres, and 55859 decimal parts of an acre Imperial)
• Robert Moncrieff of Houton who received 730 acres and 13 Falls (920 acres and 76439 decimal parts of an acre Imperial).

Some of the very small portions of land shared in Orkney were in a Cowsworth . There were 10 Cosworths of land to one pennyland.

The Scots units of area were abolished in 1824 and replaced by Imperial measures based on the yard, over a hundred years after the Treaty of Union.

Fiona Grahame

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