GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
BANK (EARTHWORK): linear or curvilinear construction of earth, turf and stone,
often, but not always accompanied by a ditch.
BARN: a building used primarily for the storage of hay, grain and farm equipment, or
as a shelter for livestock. See also, THRESHING BARN, KILN BARN, HAY BARN.
BLACKHOUSE: a dwelling comprising byre, barn and living quarters, with walls
consisting of inner and outer dry stone facings with an insulating turf core. This is a
specific building style found in the Outer Hebrides and West Highlands. See also, BYRE
DWELLING.
BOILER HOUSE: a building housing a boiler, often connected to a steam engine
house. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
BUILDING: a roofed structure to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or
contents. Normally used where the specific function of a building is not known. Often
found in association with farmsteads, they may include labourers cottages, shepherds’
bothies, or be related to activities such as hunting and fishing.
BUILDING PLATFORM: a levelled area cut into a slope, generally regular in shape,
upon which a building was constructed.
BYRE: a cow shed.
BYRE DRAIN: An artificial channel constructed within a BYRE to convey waste
product to the outside, possibly to a MIDDEN. Often evident as a slight depression
running along the middle of a building and exiting under the building’s end wall, a
corner, or via a doorway.
BYRE DWELLING: a rectangular building of late- to post- medieval date, comprising
a dwelling for people and accommodation for animals under one roof. Only use where
there is evidence for both functions (the presence of a BYRE DRAIN normally indicates
that animals have been housed there; the presence of windows is good evidence for
human habitation).
BUCHT: see SHEEPFOLD.
CART SHED: a building used for housing carts and implements, often open-fronted.
CHARCOAL BURNING PLATFORM: an area of flattened or compacted ground used
for charcoal burning.
CLACHAN: see TOWNSHIP.
CLAMP KILN: a temporary kiln, in which the fuel is interspersed with the material to
be fired. See also, CORN DRYING KILN, KILN, LIME KILN.
CLEARANCE CAIRN: an irregularly constructed, generally unstructured, mound of
stones. Often, but not necessarily, circular. Normally a by-product of field clearance for
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
agricultural purposes. Use for Field Clearance Cairn. See also: FIELD SYSTEM; RIG
AND FURROW.
CLEIT: a small stone building used for storage.
Click Mill: see HORIZONTAL MILL.
CORD RIG: narrow ridges representing the surviving surface traces of later prehistoric
cultivation. The rigs measure up to 1.30m in breadth. See also, RIG AND FURROW,
BROAD RIG; LAZY BEDS.
CORN DRYING KILN: a structure used for drying cereals. It is normally circular and
may be freestanding, built into a natural slope or forming part of a kiln barn. Corn
drying kilns are often wrongly described as ‘lime kilns’ on the 1st Edition Ordnance
Survey maps. They may be distinguished from each other by their location – corn
drying kilns tend to be located within, or close to settlements; lime kilns tend to be
situated more distant from settlements because they produced an unpleasant smell.
N.B. disused corn kilns were sometimes re-used as lime kilns. See also, CLAMP KILN,
KILN, LIME KILN.
CORN MILL: see GRAIN MILL.
CROFT: a small farm or holding. In the Scottish sense, this refers specifically to
holdings created for the resettlement of agricultural tenants from shared tenancy
agreements to smaller areas of normally coastal land. Crofts were not large enough to
permit the tenant’s continued subsistence and thereby ensured his dependence upon
the landlord for paid labour. Associated with improvement period agriculture.
CROFTING TOWNSHIP: a regular, linear arrangement of CROFTS (house and
rectangular plots), typically situated in coastal locations throughout the Highlands and
Western Isles. Associated with improvement period agriculture.
CROPMARK: a buried feature revealed by the uneven growth of a crop.
CRUCK FRAMED BUILDING: a building in which pairs of curved timbers form a
bowed A-frame to support the roof independently of the walls. For a definition of
CRUCK, CRUCK SLOT and CRUCK POST, see the Architectural Glossary.
CULTIVATION REMAINS: traces left by past cultivation, in the form of upstanding
features, subsoil marks or cropmarks. See also: CULTIVATION TERRACE; LYNCHET;
RIG AND FURROW; FIELD; FIELD SYSTEM.
CULTIVATION TERRACE: a strip of land on a slope, which has built up over
prolonged use to provide a flat surface for the cultivation of crops. See also: FIELD
SYSTEM; LYNCHET; RIG AND FURROW.
DAIRY: a building or group of buildings used for the making, processing, storing and
selling of milk. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
DEER PARK: a large, enclosed area where deer are kept. Used for hunting in the
medieval period but now largely ornamental.
DOOCOT: see DOVECOT.
DOVECOT: a house for doves and pigeons, with openings and provision inside for
roosting and breeding. Use for dovecote and doocot. Normally associated with
improvement period agriculture.
DOVECOTE: see DOVECOT.
DROVE ROAD: a road or trackway specifically used by drovers or herders to drive
their animals to market.
DYKE: a drystone or turf wall forming a linear barrier. See also: HEAD DYKE.
EARTHWORKS: remains of walls and buildings reduced to almost ground level and
covered by earth or turf. See also, BANK.
ENCLOSURE: an area with defined boundaries. Normally defined as rectilinear or
circular, according to shape. Isolated enclosures may be associated with unrecorded
buildings and can indicate the location of settlements, even when these can no longer
be seen. In these cases the enclosure may be a relict yard or garden plot associated
with an unrecorded farmstead. Where they are not associated with buildings, they may
be stock or sheep enclosures, with a bothy or store. See also: TATHING
ENCLOSURE/FOLD; PLANTICRUB.
ENGINE PLATFORM: a rectangular or square platform on which a steam or
combustion engine is mounted to drive machinery. Normally associated with
improvement period agriculture. See also, HORSE ENGINE PLATFORM.
ESTATE: an extensive landed property, usually in the country.
FANK: see SHEEPFOLD
FARM: a tract of land, often including a farmhouse and ancillary buildings, used for
the purpose of cultivation and the rearing of livestock, etc.
FARMHOUSE: the main dwelling house attached to a farm.
FARMSTEAD: a farmhouse and ancillary farm buildings forming a group. Normally
comprised of one to five buildings, with one or more related enclosures. Farmsteads
with no special plan or layout are pre-improvement. Those displaying elements such as
a courtyard layout, a separate farmhouse, or large L-shaped or T-shaped range are
likely to date from the improvement period. Farmsteads located in areas of unimproved
ground are likely to be pre-improvement settlements.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
FARMYARD: a yard or enclosure attached to a farmhouse, usually surrounded by
other farm buildings. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
FENCE: A construction of wood or metal used to enclose an area of land, a building,
etc. Associated with improvement and post-improvement period agriculture.
FERMTOUN: see TOWNSHIP.
FIELD: an area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of
Livestock. See also: STRIP FIELD; CULTIVATION REMAINS; FIELD SYSTEM; RIG AND
FURROW.
FIELD BOUNDARY: a fence, wall or other boundary enclosing a field, or that appears
to have once been part of a field. See also: HEAD DYKE; LYNCHET.
FIELD CLEARANCE CAIRN: see CLEARANCE CAIRN
FIELD SYSTEM: a group or complex of fields which appear to form a coherent whole.
Normally applied to enclosed fields. May include rig and furrow, cultivation terraces,
lynchets and field walls or dykes. Field systems on the eastern fringe of the Highlands
often have curved sides, suggesting that they are enclosures of reverse-S rig (see RIG
AND FURROW). Those on the west coast are more irregular in plan.
FISHPOND: a pond used for the rearing, breeding, sorting and storing of fish.
FORD: a shallow place in a river or other stretch of water, where people, animals and
vehicles may cross.
GARDEN/GARDEN PLOT: an enclosed piece of ground devoted to the cultivation of
flowers, fruit or vegetables and/or recreational purposes. Normally attached or
adjacent to a dwelling house. See also PLANTICRUB.
GRAIN MILL: a mill where grain is ground to produce flour. Also referred to as a corn
mill. Often located by a burn or served by a pond and/or a lade.
GRANARY: a building used to store grain, especially after it has been threshed or
husked.
HAY BARN: a special type of barn, lacking a threshing floor, usually with open walls,
intended for the storage of hay only. Normally associated with improvement period
agriculture.
HAYLOFT: a loft used to store hay, usually situated over a stable or barn. Normally
associated with improvement period agriculture.
HEAD DYKE: a boundary dyke used to separate the agricultural land of a township,
farmstead or crofting township from rough grazing. They are common, but not
universal, features of pre-improvement landscapes. Normally runs in a sinuous course,
following the natural contours of the landscape, making it readily distinguished from
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
improvement period boundaries that tend to be straight, regardless of topography.
HEDGE: a barrier or boundary normally formed of broadleaved tree species such as
beech, hawthorn, holly. etc. kept regularly trimmed to control their height. Normally
associated with improvement period agriculture.
HEN HOUSE: see POULTRY HOUSE.
HOLLOW WAY: a way, path or road hollowed out of the ground through extensive
use over a long period of time.
HOME FARM: a farm, normally one of several on a large estate, set aside to produce
food for the owner of the estate. Associated with improvement period agriculture.
Normally associated with improvement period agriculture. Use for mains farm.
HORIZONTAL MILL: a water mill in which the mill wheel is set horizontally within the
water channel, and turns a mill stone directly without the use of gears. Use for Click
Mill.
HORSE ENGINE: a wheel which is turned by a horse in order to provide power. Used
in mines, manufacturing and farming. Normally associated with improvement period
agriculture. Use for horse gin.
HORSE ENGINE HOUSE: a round, square or polygonal building that contains a horse
engine. Commonly found on farms next to the threshing barn, where it is used to
power the machinery. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
HORSE ENGINE PLATFORM: a circular platform, on which a horse harnessed to a
central gear-wheel moves in order to drive machinery. Normally associated with
improvement period agriculture.
HORSE GIN: see HORSE ENGINE.
HUT CIRCLE: a low, circular or oval bank of turf, earth or stone, which represents the
remains of a roundhouse of later prehistoric date.
ICEHOUSE: a semi-subterranean building used to store ice, for the preservation of
fish, meat and other foods, cold drinks and medical supplies. Found in the grounds of
large 19th century houses and also close to harbours used by fishing boats.
INFIELD: enclosed land and fields located closest to a farmstead or township, which
were regularly manured and cropped. Normally associated with pre-improvement
agriculture.
KAIL YARD: see GARDEN PLOT; PLANTICRUB.
KILN: a furnace or oven for burning, baking or drying. Use specific term where
known. See also, CLAMP KILN, CORN DRYING KILN, KILN BARN, LIME KILN.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
KILN BARN: a barn incorporating a corn drying kiln.
LADE: an artificial channel carrying water from a stream or river to a water mill.
LAMBING PEN: a small enclosure where ewes are kept at lambing time. Often found
in the corners of ruined buildings, built from reused stone from the original building.
Associated with improvement period agriculture.
LAZY BEDS: spade-dug cultivation ridges, often used for growing potatoes. Used for
cultivating ground which is too steep or too small an area to be cultivated by plough.
Most commonly seen in the West Highlands and islands. See also: RIG AND FURROW;
BROAD RIG; CORD RIG.
LIME KILN: a kiln in which lime is made by calcining limestone. Used in an
agricultural context, for the production of quick lime for fertilizing fields or the
production of lime mortar. May be circular or rectangular and range from simple
CLAMP KILNS to more sophisticated draw kilns. Lime kilns may be distinguished from
corn drying kilns by their location – corn drying kilns tend to be located within, or close
to settlements; lime kilns tend to be situated more distant from settlements because
they produced an unpleasant smell. There is a close correlation in the location of lime
kilns and limestone outcrops in Aberdeenshire and Perthshire. Normally associated with
improvement period agriculture.
LONGHOUSE: sometimes used to describe a long, rectangular building
accommodating humans and animals under one roof (with or without internal subdivisions). The preferred term for describing such a structure, if evidence of shared
occupation (e.g. byre drain) is present, is BYRE DWELLING. Long buildings with no
definite evidence of shared occupation, should be described as BUILDING; this could
be qualified as ‘long building’ or ‘long range.’
LYNCHET: a scarp or bank defining the upper and lower boundaries of a field.
Formed as a result of the gradual downhill movement of soil loosened by ploughing.
See also: CULTIVATION TERRACE; FIELD BOUNDARY.
MAINS FARM: see HOME FARM
MIDDEN: a refuse heap used for both household and animal waste, often associated
with a building or settlement. May be identified as a low sunken hollow, or, a small
mound, outside a BYRE or BYRE DWELLING.
MILL: see CLICK MILL, CORN MILL, GRAIN MILL, HORIZONTAL MILL, LADE, MILL
POND, THRESHING MILL, WHIN MILL.
MILLPOND: the area of water retained behind a mill dam for driving a mill.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
MIDDEN: a refuse heap used for both household and animal waste, often associated
with a building or settlement. May be identified as a low sunken hollow, or, a small
mound, outside a BYRE or BYRE DWELLING.
MODEL VILLAGE: a planned village or settlement. Normally associated with
improvement period agriculture. Many Scottish examples were built in the eighteenth
and nineteenth century.
OUTBUILDING: a detached subordinate building. Use specific type where known. Use
for Outhouse.
OUTFIELD: rough grazing belonging to a township or farmstead which was
intermittently manured and cropped. Normally lies between the township’s regularly
cropped infield ground and the head dyke. Normally associated with pre-improvement
agriculture.
OUTSHOT: an appendage or extension to a main building, added at a later date.
PARK: an enclosed piece of land, generally large in area, used for hunting, the
cultivation of trees, for grazing sheep and cattle or visual enjoyment. Associated with
improvement period agriculture.
PEAT CUTTING: a site where peat is cut for use as fuel. Use for Peat Bank; Peat
Digging.
PEAT ROAD: a track leading to peat cuttings, used by tenants to transport peat to
their farmsteads or townships.
PEAT STAND/PEAT STACK: a structure on which peat is dried or stored.
PEAT STORE: a fuel store for the storage of peat. Often an open-fronted lean-to
building added to the end of a dwelling.
PEN: a small, open enclosure used for animals.
PENDICLE: a small dependent holding of a farm.
PIGSTY: an enclosure for pigs that includes a covered pen and a yard. Normally
associated with improvement period agriculture.
PILLOW MOUND: an artificial mound used to farm rabbits. Usually flat-topped and
rectangular, and often surrounded by a shallow ditch.
PLANNED VILLAGE: see MODEL VILLAGE
PLANTATION: a group of planted trees or shrubs, generally of uniform age and of a
single species. Often enclosed by earthen plantation bank.
PLANTICRUB: a small square or rectangular enclosure used for growing root crops,
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
usually without an entrance. Use for Planticrue. See also: GARDEN/GARDEN PLOT.
PLANTICRUE: see PLANTICRUB.
POLICIES: the improved land surrounding a Scottish country house. Normally
associated with improvement period agriculture.
POND: a body of still water often artificially formed for a specific purpose. See also:
FISHPOND; MILL POND; RETTING POND.
POULTRY HOUSE: a structure providing accommodation for poultry. Normally
associated with improvement period agriculture. Use for hen house.
QUARRY: an excavation from which minerals are obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.
Use more specific term where known.
QUARRY SCOOP: a shallow depression in the ground, caused by the small-scale
quarrying of rock or other minerals.
RETTING POND: a small natural or artificial body of water used for the prolonged
soaking of flax straw, in order to soften the woody tissue and enable the fibres to be
separated. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
RIG AND FURROW: a series of ridges (rigs), separated by furrows, created by
ploughing. The appearance of rig varies depending upon the length of time that it was
under cultivation and the type of plough that was used. A distinction is often made
between ‘broad rig’ and ‘narrow rig.’ Broad rig measures between 4.5 and 20 metres in
width and typically displays a curve in the shape of a reverse ‘S.’ It was created using a
heavy wooden plough harnessed to teams of oxen, and is normally thought to date
from the medieval period. ‘Narrow rig’ is post-medieval in date and is characterised by
straight, narrower rigs. It was created by lighter ploughs, harnessed to smaller plough
teams. Narrow rig was also created by the nineteenth century steam plough. See also:
CORD RIG; LAZY BEDS; CLEARANCE CAIRN; CULTIVATION TERRACE; FIELD SYSTEM.
ROUNDHOUSE: a circular or sub-circular dwelling, largely timber-built, although it
may have a stone or earth wall base. See also, HUT CIRCLE.
SAW MILL: a site in which logs are converted to timber by running them through a
series of saws. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
SAW PIT: a place where tree trunks were sawn into planks by hand. Normally
associated with improvement period agriculture.
SETTLEMENT: a group of dwellings and associated buildings and structures.
SHEEP CREEP: square opening made in the lower part of a dyke, allowing sheep to
pass through. Sometimes made so that the upper layers of stone can be removed to
create an opening large enough for cattle to pass through (a "cow-creep"). Associated
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
with improvement period agriculture.
SHEEP DIP: a place where sheep are washed and treated with chemicals to clean
their wool and combat disease and parasites. Associated with improvement period
agriculture.
SHEEPFOLD: an enclosure for collecting, sorting and controlling sheep. There is much
regional variety in their form and function – many have been converted from preexisting farmsteads or buildings; others may have been purpose-built. Associated with
improvement period agriculture . Use for Bucht; Fank; Stell.
SHEEP HOUSE: a building for sheltering sheep. Associated with improvement period
agriculture.
SHEEP SHELTER: a structure or enclosure, usually in a remote or upland location,
which provides shelter for sheep in severe weather conditions.
SHIELING: upland pasture to which animals were driven on a seasonal basis. For
structures associated with shielings use SHIELING HUT. Shielings are associated with
the place-name elements ‘aridh’ or ‘arigh’ (in Gaelic-speaking areas); and ‘sheil’ (in
Scots speaking areas).
SHIELING HUT: a small dwelling of stone or turf, occupied on a seasonal basis by
people tending animals on upland pastures. Includes all structures associated with
shieling activity, i.e. huts for domestic accommodation, dairies and stores, etc.
Associated with pre-improvement agriculture.
SMALLHOLDING: a holding on a smaller scale than a farm.
SMIDDY: see SMITHY.
SMITHY: a workshop used by a blacksmith. Use for Blacksmiths Workshop, Shoeing
Forge, Smiddy.
STACK STAND: a circular or square platform upon which a stack of hay or grain is
built. May be a solid stone platform onto which the stacks were built directly, or a
group of stones onto which wooden slats were placed to form a raised platform.
STACK YARD: a farmyard or enclosure containing regularly built stacks of hay or
grain. Often contains stack stands.
STOREHOUSE: a building in which goods or items are stored.
STRIP FIELD: a long, narrow field, usually enclosed by earth and stone banks or
drystone dykes. Strip fields normally have parallel sides, c.5m to 25m in breadth.
Associated with pre-improvement agriculture.
TATHING ENCLOSURE/FOLD: a small area of land that was prepared for cultivation
by enclosing cattle in it overnight for several months. The tathing enclosure was
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
AND LANDSCAPES
created by building a temporary turf dyke to hold the cattle. Afterwards, the dyke was
normally knocked down. Traces of these dykes and enclosures are often still visible on
hillsides.
THRESHING BARN: a barn usually containing a single, central threshing floor, with
opposing doors on its long axis. Often sited with its long axis facing the prevailing
wind.
THRESHING MILL: a mill which contains machinery for separating grain from chaff.
Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
TOWNSHIP: a group of dwellings, associated farm buildings and land, held by two or
more joint tenants usually working the land communally. Townships may range in size
from around five buildings, with enclosures, to over twenty. Their limits are often
defined by a HEAD DYKE. Use for Clachan, Fermtoun. See also, CROFTING
TOWNSHIP, FARMSTEAD. Associated with pre-improvement period agriculture.
TRACK: a pathway, either built or beaten down by the passage of pedestrians,
vehicles or animals. Use for Trackway.
VILLAGE: a settlement with private dwellings and other buildings, showing an
element of organisation, but being smaller than a town and with a simpler form of
organisation and administration. Normally forming a nucleus along a road or street.
Distinct from a CROFTING TOWNSHIP in so far as its houses are associated with small
garden plots, as opposed to rectilinear fields. See also, MODEL VILLAGE.
WHIN MILL: a mill used to crush whins (gorse) for animal fodder.
WINTERING COURT: large, partly-enclosed, roofed court in which animals are
wintered indoors. Normally associated with improvement period agriculture.
YARD: a paved area, generally found at the back of a house.