Crofts and Crofters: Definitions, Derivations and Consequences

Abstract

The historical derivation, development and diffusion of the terms ‘croft’ and ‘crofter’ are explored in the light of the argument that their translation into Gaelic casts doubt on the existence of a ‘crofting community’ in the late nineteenth century. Tracing the use of the terms indicates transmission of the terms ‘croft’ and ‘toft’ into Lowland Scotland from England in the medieval period. Translated into the farming practices of Lowland Scotland, this saw the term ‘croft’ widely applied to the infield of the fermtouns. The early eighteenth century saw the rise of the term ‘crofter’ in the north-east of the country. The association with high-quality land and the place of the croft in the graduated farming system that emerged gave both terms a degree of status, with crofters in particular being part of a rich set of cultural practices. As Highland tenurial practices changed, so the terms ‘croft’ and ‘crofter’ were imported through the agency of those influenced by Lowland practices of agricultural improvement. However, the terms entered a very different material and cultural context. The association of both ‘croft’ and ‘crofter’ with the gulf between small tenant and sheep farmer and with terms which when translated into Gaelic might have less than favourable connotations suggests that they might not have provided to-hand resources for the construction of collective identity. Tracing the origins of the terms helps correct an imbalance in the historical account which tends to downplay the rich material and cultural practices of the crofters of north-east Scotland.