Agrarian Economy

In the parish, as was the case in most of Scotland in the 17th century, a type of basic strip farming was used called the Runrig.  Runrig was a system of land tenure where each member of a fermtoun or farm was allocated several detached rigs or portions of land. This allotment was made by lot and rotation on an annual basis. It was at best a community affair with the best land never in the continuous possession of one family (¹).

The initial division was made on the basis of sunshine and shadow as well as drainage. The division was therefore supposedly fair however landowners could easily reallocate rigs to different people. It is not clear to what extent the proprietary runrig was used in Speymouth due to the fact that there were very few landowners, basically the Innes family owned most of the land prior to it being sold to Duff and the Gordons. Nonetheless informal arrangement may have been made so that groups of sub-tenants grouped together to communally run the fermtouns.

Although sub-tenancy were not per se inherited the stability of families through the decades in Dipple, Essil and surrounding parishes suggests that there was a similar stability of “employment”.  The division of the runrig would have been complicated with inheritance.  As the division of land was made on the basis of the suitability of the land for growing it could easily lead to a situation where two inheritors of the runrig rights would have been bequeathed alternate rigs across the whole runrig. With marriage and potential sale of the land itself, very complex divisions arose.

An Act of Parliament of 1695, ‘Anent Lands Lying Runrig’ came into being to address the issue. The communal or proprietary runrig was considered “highly perjudical to the … improvement of the nation by planting and enclosing”. The act attempted to alleviate the situation by allowing only one of the proprietors involved, if he or she so wished, to force through a division of the land, rather than require the consent of all. If all were in agreement a division could be made without resort to legal process.

If investment was to be made with subsequent improvements the proprietary runrig need to be reconsidered and a single ownership model brought into existence.  The likelihood is that given the single nature of the ownership of the land itself by the Innes’s and the Gordon’s the improvements would have been made simply by the estate with decisions made by the estate management and without recourse to the tenants.

The evidence suggests that the fermtoun rarely had sufficient to be able to trade and was basically subsistence farming.  Smout (²)argues that the fact that there were few roads in Scotland compared to England was not because of the geography but more because there was little or no trade.  Any grain that was traded was that which was paid to the landowner as tax or payment for the land.

Examples of runrigs can be seen all over Scotland and Morayshire.  From aerial photos we can see the clear marks of runrigs close to Dipple these have been documented by the RCAHMS (http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/76924/details/dipple/) along with other examples with the Speymouth parish.

Probably one of the key issues was the use of lime in Scotland. The acid soil required liming to improve the growth. This techniques was used in the 17th century but became wider in its application during the 18th century. (³). That there were few roads meant that access to lime was not always easy and for this areas far from quarries would have been expensive. In the OSA for Speymouth The Minister makes note of the fact that the best farmers use lime . This suggests that the other did not.

Fertiliser was generally cow dung although being so close to the coast there may have been some seaweed used. The OSA refers to the people of Garmouth collecting seaweed for fertiliser.  The distance is about two miles to the mouth of the Spey and is relatively flat where oxen could bear a cart.  Seaweed, or seaware as it is known in Scotland, is an invaluable form of fertilizer, containing as it does more nitrogen and potassium than manure, though less phosphorus, making it ideal for sandy soils that are usually deficient in potassium (Fenton 1978).  Seaweeds have the potential to be utilised in a number of ways, only one of which is consumption as food (Clarke 1976). Seaweed may have provided an important winter fodder for livestock and even today in northern parts of Scotland sheep can be seen on beaches grazing on the exposed kelp beds.

In 1745 Linneus reported the mixing of boiled bladder wrack with bran to produce pig food on North Ronaidsay. At that time black faced sheep were fed exclusively on seaweed for ten months of the year, only being put onto pasture during the lambing season (Bell 1981).  In places such as Sanday it is still possible to trace the long used tracks that were used to cart seaweed up from the shore to the farmsteads. There is documentation from 1730 parish records from Garmouth forbade the collection of seaweed on the Sabbath –  so clearly by then, at least, it was a well used fertilizer.

If fields were not properly rotated and fertilized and failed to produce a decent crop they would then be left for 4 or 5 years – this led to a number of economic problems.  Sher⁠ (⁴) sums up part of the basic economic problem of the fermtoun and runrig system:

“Cultivation patterns were characterized by the standard problems besetting pre-industrial nations in Europe: too little fodder for extensive animal husbandry, too little manure for extensive fertilizing of fields, rudimentary ploughs and other agricultural equipment, inability or unwillingness of landlords and farmers to deviate from time-honoured traditions—hence small yields, little if any surplus to generate capital, and the necessity of leaving fields fallow for long periods to replenish themselves. The Scottish variation on this traditional pattern was the division of each farm into a constantly cultivated ‘infield’ adjacent to the farmhouse, comprising only about 20 per cent of the arable land but receiving almost all the available dung, and a surrounding ‘outfield’ where most of the land at any given time was not cultivated.” 

The infield outfield system was relatively complex and rotation was achieved through the direct presence of the livestock and their subsequent manure (shown in green in the following table) as well as directly spread from the manure collected in the byre (shown in brown)(⁵):

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Common Grazing
Outfield
Infield
Byre / Yard

The use of carts was not common in the 17th century (⁶):

Goods were carried in sacks or creels on the backs of horses, or in tumbrils with wooden wheels which revolved with the axles. It was in this primitive fashion that manure was transported to the fields and peats from the moss. Carts were not in common use in the Lowlands till 1760, while in the north the old method of locomotion lasted much longer.

The crops themselves that were most commonly sown were Bere and Oats.

Bere, pronounced “bear,” is a six-row barley – the evidence suggests that it is probably the oldest cereal in cultivation in the British Isles and was common all over Scotland and Northern England. It is thought to have been brought to the British Isles by the Vikings as early as the 9th century. Bere is a locally domesticated crop that has adapted to growing in soil of a low pH and with a short growing season with long hours of daylight. It is therefore perfectly adapted to the northern climes of Morayshire. It was sown in spring and harvested in the summer and is given the name as “the 90-day barley” because of its rapid growth. Bere has also been traditionally used in the manufacture of beer and whiskey in Scotland.

It is susceptible to frost so early harvesting was crucial. Equally it is weak strawed and susceptible to foliar disease, especially mildew.  If grown with lower levels of, or even no lime, Scots Bere will not be as high yielding as barley on the same soil.  The mildew and lack of frost resistance make the crop susceptible to changes in the climate – excess rain or earlier winters meant that the crop could easily fail from one year to the next.

Bere gives a seed-yield ration of about 1:4 whereas Oats only gives 1:3.  Often Landlords required payment in Bere as it was easier to sell further afield. The price of Bere however was at best described as unstable due to many factors. Value could also be added to the bere crop by its brewing and sale as ale.

The fiars were prices fixed for grain by town councils and counties for their jurisdiction. The fiars were set throughout most of the 16th century and all of the 17th century by sheriffs, which held annual courts to determine the prevailing price of the commonest sorts of grain in their counties. The fiar records for Elgin during this period are very scanty and the best nearest records come from Aberdeen. The following table shows the fiars that are available for Ferme Bere from 1603 – 1682. The price has been decimalized for quicker assimilation.

Year	Month of Court	Price (£ s d)			Price	Comment
1603	8	3	6	8	3,3
1618	8	4	6	8	4,3
1619	7	3	6	8	3,3
1628	7	7	10	0	7,5	Possibly a wet late spring & summer - at least in Scotland.
1629	7	6			6	Possibly a wet period, sufficient to cause much shortage of foodstuffs produced from the land.
1630	7	4			4
1631	7	4			4
1632	7	6	10	0	6,5	Possibly a notably wet period, ending with a frost. In 1633 A 'great storm' in the Scottish border region, when vast numbers of sheep perished; severe frost.
1649	7	7			7	Apparently a famine this year in the north of England & Scotland because of the impact of rains and the civil war. Generally a 'poor' year with the weather impacting upon agriculture: cold/dry spring after severe winter & periods of heavy rain.
1650	7	7	13	4	7,7	Parliamentary forces occupy Elgin. In Scotland, a poor season, with frequent periods of cold/frost, wind & rain.
1651	7	7	13	4	7,7	Drought that bought Òeven greater dearthÓ than 1650
1652	7	7	6	8	7,3	In 1652, the summer of this year was noted for 'extraordinary drought' across the whole of Scotland, with high temperatures and little rain - great impact upon agricultural production
1655	8	4	13	4	4,7
1665	8	4			4
1666	8	4	6	8	4,3
1667	10	5	6	8	5,3
1668	7	4			4
1669	8	4	3	4	4,2
1670	8	5			5
1676	10	3	16	8	3,8
1677	8	3	16		3,8
1678	8	3	10		3,5
1679	8	3	13	4	3,7
1681	9	4			4
1682	8	6			6	Very wet Spring

What is clear that both political but to a much larger extent weather had a major effect on the price of the crop and therefore on society as a whole. The fragility of the agriculture would have reflected in every walk of life. The parish accounts indicate that the main source of revenue for most farms in the northeast of Scotland was the sale of oatmeal – of course only when there was surplus from after paying for rent in kind, feeding the family and workers and keeping sufficient seed for the following year. These were by far the most common crops grown in the region, and oats usually accounted for 2/3 of the grain output with the balance being bere. The addition of potatoes and turnips did not come until later (⁷).

Among vegetables many of our commonest were not found, as —came into use or they only cultivation later in the century. Turnips or “neeps,” they were always called—were only in a few gardens; onions were in none, being all imported from Holland or Flanders ; and only at the residences of a few rich and enterprising gentlemen were potatoes grown.

Sir Archibald Grant, second Baronet of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire to the South began to enclose his estates and introduce new crops such as turnips and clover in the 1720s but widespread use came much later.

What are to be noted are the double years of problems, other fiar records shows high prices and there are reports of famine in 1623 / 1624, 1650 / 1651 (see above), 1673 / 1674. The reason for this was because the crops failed so badly in the first of the pairs of years, that people were forced to eat part of the seed crop for the following year thus reducing the crop in the second year. Generally 25% -30% was kept for seed for the following year (⁸) – when this percentage could not be kept because there was not enough to the pay the rent and feed the families in the fermtoun then the consequence were hunger and famine.

There is evidence to suggest that there was great care taken over the oats that were kept for the following year. Close to Speymouth in Inchkeil in Duffus a grain pit was discovered in the ground. The oats which made up the majority of the seeds found had been burned – there were regular fires in the pit – and it is suggested that this was to sterilise the grain. Furthermore the grain was weed free that shows meticulous management of the seeds or winnowing of the crop. This was an important part of the farms management and output.

From the Dipple kirk sessions we have a first hand results of famine and its results. In July 1660 Colin Innes was brought before the Kirk Session to explain why he and his tenants had not being paying his stent for the schoolmaster. He explained that it wasn’t by choice but simply the crops had failed and soon as the good Lord saw fit to send him a good harvest he would pay up. Between 1658 and 1663 five of Colin Innes children died.

At the very end of the century a series of very poor years harvest led to what is known as the Seven Ill Years – more a reference to the biblical seven years rather than 7 actual years.. The first three of these years came about because of trade wars with France which was based on protectionism as well as slump in trade with the Baltic nations. Added to this stress were four terrible harvests (1695, 1696 and 1698-99) – here the double years of poor harvest meant that little or no seed could be kept for the following years sowing.

There is however evidence to suggest that these poor harvests were less arduous for Speymouth as other parts of Scotland where it is estimated between 5% – 10% of the population died. The following extract () from 1798 shows that the farmers in Moray were faired better:

It may likewise be observed, as another evidence of the excellence of this climate, that in the famine which prevailed over Scotland for 7 years in the end of the last century, owing to the cold and wet seasons, the land in Moray was all that time so productive, as to spare considerable quantities of grain ; and it is well ascertained, that in those years of dearth, people came from the county of Angus to buy oatmeal at the rate of L1 10 s. the boll, to be carried across the Grampian mountains, at the distance of about 100 miles.

It is interesting to note that rents were paid in kind and therefore monetary inflation was not a concern as long as the rent was fixed in the number of bolls of grain that had to be paid. If the Laird made more money through the sale this was not passed on to the tenant – this would have been thecase in the Seven Ill Years. Equally if land prices rose due to inflation (through rising demand) then the tenant was theoretically protected.

There are clearly a number of sheep around as in 1642 John Innes of Garmouth is identified as a “wool-dealer and skynner”. The business was continued by his son Andrew Innes until at least 1665.

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