Transhumance place-names in Perthshire

Abstract

In Perthshire, the 1st edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps record upland settlements, occupied in the summer months, which once played an important role in a transhumance economy. Only some of the name-elements used for these settlements were derived from specialist words directly connected with transhumance: shiel, airigh, ruighe, and bothan. The distribution pattern of each of these words is described and discussed within their cultural, historical and economic contexts, as is that of the remaining group of settlements which were named usually after topographical features. Upland pastures with no recorded settlements, the names of which imply links with transhumance and with pastoral farming, are also considered; the paper suggests how this ground may have been used by pre-Improvement agricultural communities in the Central Highlands.