[xcii] RETROSPECT OF THE GRANT ESTATES: WADSETS, LEASES, DAVOCHS, FORESTS, ETC.
Questions, of land rights have lately formed the subject of keen controversy in the Highlands, and are still engaging public attention. It is no part of the object of this work to discuss such questions, as the Grant country is happily not involved in them. But in this concluding chapter of the introduction to a work which relates to a large portion of the High lands, allusion may be made to the statements of certain writers, who assert that chiefs of clans took advantage of their tenants and vassals, and reduced them from being with their chiefs co-proprietors of the soil, to the position of mere landless men. Whatever may have been the case with other Highland chiefs, such a state of matters had no place under the Chiefs of Grant. Their relations with their tenantry and dependants have ever been of the most harmonious character.
In the beginning of this introduction, and also in the memoir of the late Chief of Grant, one instance has been given of the reciprocal affection which may be said to have been hereditary on both sides. It has been there shown how much he was beloved in life and lamented in death. But in nothing, perhaps, was his remarkable popularity more manifested than in the great rejoicings which took place when he was created Baron Strathspey of Strathspey. In many parts of Scotland the creation of a peerage of the United Kingdom in favour of a Scottish nobleman already holding a higher dignity might have passed with little or even no popular demonstration. But it was otherwise with the Chief of Grant. The enthusiasm of his people was unbounded. Upwards of thirty "enormous bonfires" illuminated the whole country. The very Spey seemed in a blaze of fire with the reflected brilliancy of such a general conflagration. Besides these fiery beacons, banquets, balls, triumphal arches, house illuminations, and other enthusiastic demonstrations evinced the joy of the Clan Grant at the honour done to their head. Such devotion could [xciii] only have been evoked in favour of the good chief who had always proved himself to be the father and friend of all his people.
The territorial possessions of the Grant family, far from having been taken by force from their dependants, were acquired by purchase or by gifts from the Crown in return for services rendered to the State. On the other hand, the clan, composed of the younger descendants of the family, and it may be also of natives of the soil who assumed the name of Grant, had never any other claim to the Grant estates than what was conferred by the narture of the tenures under which they held their respective possession from successive Lairds. These tenures were chiefly of two kinds - wadsets and leases.
WADSETS - This mode of holding, so far as the Grant estates were concerned, appears to have been inaugurated by John, fifth Laird of Freuchie, whose extensive purchases of land probably required him occasionally to borrow large sums of ready money. The wadset was of the nature of a mortgage, but it provided that the lands disponed should he. possessed by the holder of the wadset and his descendants, until the Laird or his successors repaid the sums advanced, and thereby redeemed the territory. The amount of money lent on wadset over any land was commonly no more than a sum of which the annual interest would equal the valued yearly rental of the land. This arrangement obviated the twofold transaction of the holder paying rent to the owner, and the receiving from the owner the annual rent of the sum lent to him.
While the wadset remained unredeemed, the holder of it was practically the proprietor of the lands. He was considered a lesser baron, and he could elect, and be himself elected to serve in Parliament. He was designated by the name of the lands. He sublet the whole or portions of them to tenants and cottars, who became his servants. They paid their rents and rendered services to him, and were controlled by him without reference to the actual feudal proprietor. This system saved the latter such trouble in dealing with a numerous tenantry. But it had [xciv] disadvantages which outweighed any supposed benefit. During the progress of the country, and the advance in the value of land, the benefit accrued not to the 'real owner, but to the holder of the wadset.
The Grants of Tullochgorm, who, in 1614, obtained for £2000 Scots a wadset of the davoch of land on the banks of the Spey which bore that name, were designated therefrom the Grants of Tullochgorm, and that family held the land in wadset until the year 1777. So attached did these families become to the ancestral possession, that it was frequently with the utmost reluctance they consented to its redemption by the chiefs, preferring rather to pay large annual feu-duties and considerable sums as grassum, which the rise 4n value of the lands justly demanded, that they might thereby obtain a prorogation of the redemption of the wadset. In the case of the Grants of Tullochgorm this was twice done, and the same favour was conceded in other cases also; but Sir James Grant, the successor of Sir Ludovick Grant, wisely resolved to discontinue the practice, and emancipate himself from the "gentlemen wadsetters," as they were called.
The system of wadsetting was not confined to Strathspey, hut was .from early times a recognised form of tenure in different parts of Scotland. On this subject, Mr. Lorimer, who in the interests of his pupil made a tour of several large estates in the Highlands, informed Sir James Grant that Lord Breadalbane had formerly had many wadsetters on his estate. His lordship described them as oppressors of the poor. He had redeemed all his wadset lands, and remarked with evident satisfaction, "I am now master of all my own estate." The system, Mr. Lorimer also stated, was still maintained in Argyllshire and the Isles, where the principal tenants or wadsetters lived like lairds, and the poor-subtenants and cottars were almost slaves. MS. Notes, dated in I763, by Mr. William Lorimer, tutor to Sir James Grant. at Castle Grant.
Wadsetting of lands, which was once so common a mode of lending and borrowing money on estates, is now almost entirely discontinued throughout the Highlands as well as the Lowlands of Scotland. The generally observed form of borrowing money on the security of landed estates is that of mortgage, as it is technically called, or on heritable bonds or bond for the sum borrowed, and a disposition of the lands to the lender in security of his loan.
[xcv] TACKS OR LEASES - The other form of tenure was that of tacks or leases, by which the lairds let one or more farms to tenants for a stated number of years, in return for a fixed annual rent. This rent consisted of money and grain with certain other "customs," such as butter, sheep, hogs, hens, capons, peats, linen yarn, etc., according to the products of the country. These payments in kind were in effect the marketings of the landlords, and being made at different times, according to arrangement, kept their larders replenished. About 1730, Sir James Grant converted the "customs" into money, as owing to his residing chiefly in London, they were of no avail to him. But when his son, Sir Ludovick, came to live at Castle Grant, he found he could get neither mutton nor fowls for his table, and was accordingly constrained to restore the "customs." In addition to these payments, the tenants were obliged to render services, with their men and horses, for a certain number of days yearly to the Laird, generally in tilling his lands, carting his peats, and such like labours. The leases contained irritancies of various kinds, providing that if the tenants were convicted of shooting at deer, killing black fish, moorburn, theft, or reset of theft, rebellion, etc., the leases should become null and void. These services and payments were ultimately entirely commuted into equivalent money payments.
In 1763, according to Mr. Lorimer, the services paid by each auchten (eighth) part yearly, consisted of two "carriage horses," or£6 Scots for each; two horses every three months, to carry stones, lime, slate, and timber, or £1, 10s. Scots for each ; two horses in the spring, to plough, manure, and harrow, or £1 Scots for each; and two shearers in harvest, or twelve shillings Scots for each
FEUING - Another form of land tenure known in Strathspey, as elsewhere was that of feuing, by which, for a sum of money and the payment of a yearly duty, certain lands were granted in perpetuity to the feuar. It was in this way that the Chiefs of Grant themselves obtained several of their baronies front the Crown and others, and the granter of the lands retained no other property in the lands than his rights of superiority. In only one [xcvi] or two cases, however, did the family of Grant resort to this mode of disposing of their lands, the chief cases being those of Ballindalloch, Rothiemurchus, and West or Elchies. For the purpose of creating votes, Brigadier Grant is said to have sold the superiority of these lands in 1713 to the then Lairds. Rothiemurchus was valued at £400 Scots, and Wester Elchies at twenty-eight years' purchase, and it is said a present of these sums was made by the Brigadier to the Lairds of Rothiemurchus and Wester Elchies. A proposal to feu out all the lands of Strathspey was at one time laid before Mr. Humphrey Grant, elder brother of Sir Ludovick Grant, the benefits of such a system being stated as twofold, namely, that he would he sure of his rent, and he would also thereby rear around him a body of men, all Grants, who would be well--affected to him, and fight for him. on all occasions. It is added by the narrator that Mr. Grant would probably have agreed to this proposal. "But, luckily, he died, and the scheme (lid not take place. It would have almost annihilated the family of Grant." Mr. Lorimer's Notes, 1763.
DAVOCHS - In accordance with the divisions of land common to the north of Scotland, the Grant estates were portioned into davochs and aliquot parts of a davoch. From the earliest times of charter records davochs have been the prominent designation of the principal divisions of land in the northern Highlands. Thus the parish of Kirkmichael, in Banff shire, is said to consist of ten davochs, Old Statistical Account, vol. xii. p. 426.and the Grant family possessed no fewer than fifty-two of these davochs in the parishes of Cromdale, Abernethy, and Duthil. MS. Notes by Mr. Lorimer in 1763 The "aucht-and-forty dauch of Huntly," in Strathbogie, was well known among the Gordon farmers, and is one of their favourite toasts at meetings. lnnes's Legal Antiquities, p. 273.
Opinions still differ respecting the origin and signification of the word davoch. Some consider the term to be derived from the two words, daimh. oxen, and ach, a field, importing as much land as could be tilled by eight oxen; Old Statistical Account, vol. xii. p. 426. while, among other hypotheses, it is maintained that "davoch" [xcvii] simply means the pasturage. Robertson's Early Scottish Kings, voL ii. p 271. In respect of extent, these davochs were composed of four ploughlands, each of which was sufficient to occupy one plough in a year. Two ploughlands formed a half-davoch. Ploughlands were again subdivided into two and the parts called auchten parts, each being the eighth part of a davoch, and these auchten parts were quartered into oxgates, the bovata terrae of the Regiam Majestatem, each of which contained thirteen Scotch acres; and thus a davoch was equal to thirty-two oxgates of land of thirteen acres each, or four hundred and sixteen acres. This was determined by law at an early period in Scottish history. "In the first tyme that, the law wes maid and ordanit, thai began at the fredome of halikirk and syne at the measuring of lands. The plewland thai ordanit to contene viij oxingang, the oxgang sail contene xiij akeris, the aker sall contene four rude, the rude xl fallis, the fall sall hald vj ellis." Fragmenta Collecta in Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. i. p. 751.
Notwithstanding this strict definition of the contents of a davoch, the fact remains that in reality it was an indeterminate quantity of land, and so was the oxgate. In some davochs there were ten or even twelve auchten parts, and few davochs were commensurate one with another. Some of the oxgates in Strathbogie, it is said, do not extend to six acres, while others contain nineteen. Old Statistical Account, vol. xix. p. 290.
THE MILL; TEINDS - Under the former management of the estates a prominent feature was the mill. It was erected by the landlord, who obliged all his tenants to have their meal ground at the mill, for which they paid to the tenant, or "goodman of the mill," a proportion of the meal, called multure meal, besides some small donation to the miller, who was the servant of the "goodman." Tenants who violated the rule of sucken or thirlage to a particular mill by going to another, were liable to the payment of astricted multures. In general certain lands were astricted or thirled to a certain mill, but in Strathspey a custom obtained of allowing, the tenants to go to any mill belonging to their landlord, provided they did not go to [xcviii] those of any other proprietor. It was claimed on behalf of this system that it made the miller careful and obliging, as he had to attract custom, and had no monopoly. He was paid by the tenants what was called dry multure, but this was ultimately commuted for money payments. The tenants thirled to a mill were also obliged to render certain services towards its maintenance and repair, and to assist in drawing the mill stones and timber.
Another peculiar custom observed and noted by Mr. Lorimer was, that in Sir Ludovick Grant's leases to his tenants, he always let " the teinds." By this clause in their leases every removing tenant was required to leave to his successor the tenth part of his corn, which tenth part belonged to the Laird. This custom, Mr. Lorirner suggested, was probably introduced after the long famine in King William's time, from 1695 to 1 701, when many tenants died, and the lands lay unpossessed. To assist and encourage poor tenants to take farms, corn or money had been given them to the value of the tenth part of what they might grow in a year, which on removal they were obliged to leave to the incoming tenants. Mr. Lorimer also mentions a proposal to sell this teind to the tenants, a step which he believed they would welcome. This was probably done by Sir James Grant.
FORESTS - The forests of Strathspey are portions of what once composed the great Caledonian fir forest, which is said to have extended from Glenlyon and Rannoch to Strathspey and Strathglas, and from Glencoe eastward to the Braes of Mar. Rothiemurchus is said to derive its name from the forests, its etymology denoting a great stretch of fir. Large tracts of country which are now peat-bogs show evidence of having once been included in this forest range, but the devastations of forest fires have changed their aspect and condition. Such fires were frequent, and one occurred accidentally in the forest of Abernethy in the year 1746, when nearly two and a half millions of trees were destroyed before the progress of the conflagration was arrested. On the occasion of another forest fire which 3s said to have occurred about 1770 and to have threatened disastrous consequences, the Laird sent the fiery cross through Glen Urquhart, to summon his dependants. These assembled to the number of five hundred armed with axes, but they [xcix] succeeded in arresting the progress of the flames only by cutting a gap, 500 yards in width, between the burning wood and the rest of the forest. Letter, Sir Walter Scott to Lord Montague, 23d June 1822. in Lockhart's Life of Scott, vol. v. p. 188.
The chief forests belonging to the Lairds of Grant were in Abernethy, where they extended for miles. In 1631, for the sum of £20,000 Scots, Sir John Grant of Freuchie leased them and other woods in Glencarnie for a period of forty-one years, to Captain John Mason, apparently acting for the Earl of Tullibardine. During that period all the trees in the forest were to be at the Captain's disposal for manufacture and transport. Reference has already been made to the mode of transporting wood by floating the logs down the Spey, their course being guided by men in currachs. A lease of the forests of Abernethy was made in 1728 to the York Buildings Company, who, after working for some time with the currachs, introduced for the first time into Scotland an improved system of transport by rafts. In these rafts large trees were lashed together and covered with deals and boards, and the men in charge being provided with benches and oars, worked the passage to Speymouth from the rafts themselves. This change in the mode of transport necessitated the removal of some rocks which impeded the channel of the river.
By the terms of the contract betwixt Sir James Grant of Grant and this Company, a lease of the forests of Abernethy was granted for fifteen years during which they were to cut and transport to sea sixty thousand fir trees. For this right the Company were to pay the sum of £7000 sterling in the course of seven years. The principal station of the Company was at Coulnakyle, which was also leased to them, and they began by erecting saw-mills and iron furnaces, and making roads and bridges in the woods. Their chief agent and superintendent was Mr. Stephens, who resided at Coulnakyle. He had formerly been a Member of Parliament, and such was the credit and influence of the Company, that for some years his notes of hand passed as readily for cash in Strathspey and the neighbourhood, as bank notes now do. It is said that the Company were very extravagant and profuse; that they used to display their vanity by making bonfires, and opening hogsheads of brandy to the people, and that on one of these occasions five persons died in one night through excess of drinking. [c] The Company ultimately became insolvent, leaving the place without clearing off their debt to the Laird of Grant, but also leaving among the inhabitants a knowledge of their improved system of working the forests, the effect of which was in some respects beneficial.
After the failure of this English company, contracts were frequently entered into by the Lairds for the sale of their woods, and one made by Sir James Grant with two London merchants for the sale of one hundred thousand of the best pines in Abernethy and Glencarnie, stipulated that his eldest son, Mr. Ludovick Grant, should become a partner with them. A still later contract was made in 1769 for the sale of one million choice fir trees of Abernethy and Dulnan, to be cut during the ensuing fifteen years.
Until a comparatively modern period no special regard was had to the utilisation of these vast forests, and little attention was paid to their culture. What existed was apparently of nature's own sowing. It is stated that the first and early method of making deals by splitting the wood and dressing it afterwards with the axe and adze subsisted for long in Strathspey. A high room in Castle Grant appears to be floored with deals iiiade in this way and never planed, the marks of the adze across the boards being still visible, and, it is added, such is the superlative quality of the timber, that though this floor appears to be of great antiquity it may continue as sound as it now is hundreds of years hence. This floor has also another mark of antiquity in the nails, their bonnets being as broad as a halfpenny. The price obtained for wood at no very remote period, was only one merk a year for what a man chose to cut and manufacture with his axe and saw. So recently as the early part of last century it was Is. 8d. a year, then the sum doubled to 3s. 4d., and afterwards the Laird, of Rothiemurchus (Macalpine) raised it to 5s. and one pound of tobacco. Old Statistical Account, vol. xiii. pp. 132, 133.
But during the latter half of last century, and more especially since that time, arboriculture in Strathspey and the other Grant possessions has been as much cared for as agriculture. The woods being formerly free to the tenants were subjected to many abuses. These freedoms were latterly prohibited, the woods placed under strict preservation, and in many cases [ci] the tenants were obliged to plant trees. Since the time of Sir James Grant or Grant, commonly-called the, good Sir James, no landed proprietor in the north of Scotland has exceeded the Lairds of Grant, now Earls of Seafield, in the extent of ground which they have planted, the greater part of which would otherwise be altogether unproductive.
The abundance of the Muniments of the family of Grant have necessitated the arrangement of this work in THREE VOLUMES. The FIRST VOLUME contains the history of the successive chiefs of Grant, who are traced from their advent in Scotland, and especially from their first settlement in Strathspey, through the varying vicissitudes of Scottish Highland life, for upwards of six centuries, down to the present time. This introduction, dealing with the territorial baronies which they have possessed, was deemed necessary and appropriate as elucidating and illustrating the memoirs.
The SECOND VOLUME contains selections from the immense collection of correspondence of the Chiefs of Grant, preserved at Castle Grant. These have been arranged in several sections - Royal Letters and Warrants; State and Official Letters, including several letters from the Marquis of Montrose and his rival Argyll ; Family and Domestic Correspondence, embracing letters from many of the most prominent Highland Chiefs and others connected with the Family of Grant. Another section of the correspondence consists of letters written by the famous Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, selected from a large number written by him to the Lairds of Grant and others. Lovat was an indefatigable correspondent, and many of his letters have been formerly published in his Memoir and in other works but the present is probably the largest collection of his letters which has ever been printed.' They afford plentiful illustrations the peculiar epistolary style of this distinguished Highland chief. Other sections of the volume of correspondence contain letters from Henry Mackenzie, author of "The Man of Feeling." who was a brother-in-law of Sir James Grant of Grant, from several members of the Grant family, and from the more distinguished of the cadets. Later discoveries of additional letters of importance have found room in a supplementary section.
[cii] The THIRD VOLUME of this work contains the more important Charter Muniments of the Family of Grant. They extend from the reign of King William the Lion, in the twelfth century, to that of Her present Majesty, Queen Victoria, and affect not merely the Grants of Grant and the clan, but much of the surrounding country, in fact the whole of the Scottish Highlands. Almost every form of legal document which obtained in the north of Scotland is represented, and they throw upon the manners and customs of the remoter inhabitants of Scotland a light which is peculiar to such antique witnesses. In addition to a selection of nearly three hundred documents printed in full, comprehensive abridgments have been added of upwards of one hundred more.
In drawing to a close my long labours on this protracted work, I am conscious that from its nature there must necessarily be found many imperfections which no amount of care, however anxiously bestowed, can altogether avoid. But while candidly confessing this, I can at the same time claim that much labour and anxiety have been undergone in order to attain to accuracy throughout all the sections of Memoirs, Correspondence, and Charters. The late and present Earls of Seafield cordially co-operated with me in every encouraging way, and they intrusted to me, with the most generous confidence, their extensive collections of Grant Muniments. All the gentlemen officially connected with the Grant estates have readily aided me when local questions had to be investigated. To many members of the Clan Grant. I have also been indebted for much valuable assistance, particularly in reference to the pedigrees of the cadet branches. Although
printed in tabular form only, these pedigrees contain the essence of thousands of documents and records. My own assistants have afforded me willing and valuable aid. To all these contributors of assistance in various forms, too numerous to particularise without the risk of omissions, I have endeavoured, from time to time, to express my grateful acknowledgments.
WILLIAM FRASER
EDINBURGH, 32 CASTLE STREET,
June 1883.
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Volume I Introduction (xi) |
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